After WéMè Records released Lov3 and the Vol. 1 12” came out on Planet Mu a couple of years ago, Syntheme has been taking her time working on new material to release as her debut album Lasers ‘N’ Shit. Now if you are into English typed as you get in the dictionary (and you can’t be if you’re reading this) the only thing that’s sh1t about this album is the spelling of the track titles.

This must be a fairly new obsession as Vol. 1 contained tracks with simple titles; ‘Easy’, ‘Medium’, ‘Hard’, ‘Red’, ‘Yellow’ and ‘Blue’. The album kicks off with ‘Mimtro’ and ‘Wazpz’ which are dreamy-funk 303 acid tracks but the whole album is lifted with the mighty laser mirror balled disco of ‘Red’ that’s so sharp; strings that are like razor blades and a in a neat two and half minutes format. The greedy pig in me would say we could do with a Disco 45 extended mix but there’s the rest of the album to fall in love with.

‘Finnial’, ‘Csiris’, ‘Hard’ and ‘Scotch Paper’ are full on 100mph drum pattern with hard knob twiddle. ‘Eqxq’ is slower (in acid terms), whilst ‘Qarth’ has a lighter (even feminine) touch.

And just to prove it’s not all head bangin’ beats, I love the downtempo electro jazz of ‘144a Acacia Overdrive’ (film noir for Pinkie Brown?) and if you’re more of Jean-Michel Jarre synth type, there’s ‘Thraqqqwa’, ‘FabaceaeCPea’ and the longest track, ‘Mexicone’ (a bit dark-gothic that one). There’s more of the dark side with the moody electro boogie of ‘Easy’ but there’s no doubt that Lasers ‘N’ Shit is the the spawn of Phuture with the power of the trademark high pitched squelch of the Roland TB-303 synthesizer.

This is an album full off proper acid tracks and Planet Mu are really hitting it at the moment as this follows Neil Landstrumm’s ravestep Lord For £39) and not forgetting Last Step’s 1961. (Also, don’t forget last years’ Harmless compilation by Justin Robertson, The Art Of Acid if you’re in need of a 101)

If your into your vinyl more than CDs, Vol. 2 and Vol. 3 12s are to follow with some of the album tracks (‘Qarth’, ‘Eqxq’, ‘Finnial’) together with some brand new ones.

And what with high profile gigs like Braindrop (London’s Scala, 27th February) with a shed load of acts (notably our favourites Aquasky and Drums Of Death), the word on Syntheme is going to spread fast; like a laser; believe me, no shit.

Reviewed: Syntheme - Lasers ‘N’ Shit (Planet Mu) Cat. No. ZIQ213 (Format CD : 2LP Release date: 2nd February 2009
Tracklisting:
1 Mimtro (3:20)
2 Wazpz (4:28)
3 Red (2:30)
4 Eqxq (2:38)
5 Csiris (3:07)
6 Scotch Paper (3:47)
7 Qarth (3:25)
8 Xwc (4:00)
9 Frf3k Up! (1:59)
10 144a Acacia Overdrive (3:24)
11 Heat (2:38)
12 FabaceaeCPea (3:21)
13 Easy (2:35)
14 Medium (3:43)
15 Hard (1:57)
16 FrackZ (2:23)
17 Thraqqwa (4:10)
18 Finnial (2:25)
19 Mixicone (5:11)
20 Electro Reading (1:56)

Links
www.myspace.com/syntheme
www.myspace.com/lousticks
www.last.fm/music/Syntheme
www.braindrop.co.uk
www.myspace.com/bunemusic
www.planet-mu.com
www.mewelesite.be
www.myspace.com/wemerecords
Brighton Rock (1947) on imdb