Miss Kittin and the Hacker : Two :: Review

Miss Kittin and the Hacker’s second album together, “Two” is a dark electro pop record that is at times sarcastic, airy, and cold. Miss Kittin (Caroline Herve) sings the majority of these tracks in a deadpan style often playing off the beats and rhythms that the Hacker (Michel Amato) is cooking. The beats and rhythms are heavily influenced by the electro and club sounds of the 80’s but updated for a post modern chilled out world. The spacey “The Womb” opens the album sounding like something dragged from the German underground. Images of shiny black patent leather and latex crowd my mind as the propulsive beats push it further into the abyss. The rubbery synths of “1000 Dreams” offers a nice change of pace and comes close to sounding like a darker Kylie Minogue.

“Two” shines when the songs break the typical verse chorus verse formula and jump the track. Tracks like “3 PPPO” and “Indulgence” are more rooted in the noise terrorist rhythms than pop music and offer a juxtaposition to what came before. The jokey and kitschy workout of Elvis’ “Suspicious Minds” seems out of place on the album, but maybe that’s the point. The album closes with the foreboding “Ray Ban” and a blissed out reprise of “1,000 Dreams.” “Two” is an album unafraid of the future as it gleefully drags the ghosts of the pasts along with it.

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