Out of the Club Into the Night

Album Review

Listeners looking for the great indie-dance crossover hit of 2008 can call off the search: Planetakis' single "Pogo in the Shoes of Kylie Minogue" is an instant classic, with a deadpan nonsense lyric delivered in a posh female anti-diva voice over one of the most irresistible dance-pop beats since...well, Kylie Minogue's "Can't Get You Out of My Head," actually. In fact, it's such a good song that — in an impressive display of unapologetic shamelessness — the original version is followed immediately in the album's track listing by the deconstructed funk remix by DJ and producer Hans Nieswandt, "Pogo mit Hans," rather than the more usual method of sticking the remix at the album's end. It's as if the Cologne-based duo of singer/keyboardist Jenny Fey and guitarist/producer Robert Drakogiannakis are saying "We know this song is the reason you bought this album, so here it is again." However, although "Pogo in the Shoes of Kylie Minogue" is certainly the most immediately appealing song on Planetakis' second album, the duo shows a fair knack for blending dancefloor beats with urgent, almost punky indie guitar pop songs. Songs like the bilingual opener, "Raus Aus der Wirklichkeit," and the fist-pumping anthem "Money, Sex and Alcohol" have the sardonic spunk of vintage Blondie, while more overtly club-oriented material like "Jamez Bønd, Son of a Bitch" and "Hell or Holiday" retains enough verse-chorus-verse popcraft to remain interesting for seated listeners as well, à la Screamadelica-era Primal Scream. And hidden in the middle of the album there are two clever, ultra-catchy pure pop songs, "Messages" and "No Faith No More," that would immediately gain the attention of LCD Soundsystem fans. Out of the Club into the Night might get overshadowed by its terrific first single, in much the same way that !!! have never matched "Me and Giuliani Down by the Schoolyard" in most listeners' minds, but it's a more than worthwhile slice of electronic indie pop.