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After five years, Junior Boys prove their relevance on new album

Soren Spicknall
WIIT STATION MANAGE R

It’s been 12 years since Junior Boys
first took the world by storm with their criti—
cally— acclaimed debut, Last Exit. The duo were
one of the pioneers of the warm, R&B—influ—
enced techno—pop sound that characterizes so
many of to day’s festival lineups and club playl—
ists, and had a run of forward—thinking albums
between 2004 and 2011 that are considered
by those in the know to be landmark releases
for dance pop as a whole. The sound created
by collaborators Jeremy Greenspan and Matt
Didemus has become an influence for count—
less current artists, with particular parallels
found in Twin Shadow’s first two albums and
Caribou’s latest two, and Junior Boys will al—
most certainly go down in history as one of the
founding acts of this decade’s obsession with
reinterpreted “indietronica”.

That said, Junior Boys’ re—entry into
the field after a five—year absence comes with
a great deal of risk, given that the scenes they
helped create have largely caught up to and
even moved past the styles the duo crafted
early in their career. With a brand new album,
Big Black Coat, Junior Boys have set out to
prove that they’re still at the top of their game,
and that they can continue to innovate without
losing what makes their sound unique. They
could have played it safe and let their legacy
be what it already is, but instead they’ve gone
back to work becoming tastemakers once
again. And for the most part, they’ve achieved
it.

Big Black Coat opens up on one of
the most percussive tracks of Junior Boys’ ca—
reer so far, though it may be unfair to attach
the word “percussive” to anything on the al—
bum. This first track, “You Say That”, relies
on an eclectic mixture of different drum kit
tools for structure, but its underlying tone is

pure Junior Boys: shifting patterns of bass and
midrange synths paired with conscious, per—
sonal lyrics. The songwriting underpinning
Big Black Coat is based on the concept of the
romantic and personal struggles of random
men sighted walking around the small city of
Hamilton, Ontario, the home of both mem—
bers of Junior Boys. While this is largely in line
with the mood of previous releases from the

 

Image courtesy oflunz'or Boys

group, at times the lyrics of the album seem
less genuine than on Last Exit or So This Is
Goodbye, and even border on contrived once
or twice. After all, there’s only so many times
that Greenspan can say the word “baby” before
it becomes a writing crutch rather than a real
endearment.

Didemus and Greenspan draw from
a decidedly retro toolkit to create the sound—

scape of Big Black Co at, washing each track in
warm, nostalgic synth tones (a composition
process which actually helps highlight depar—
tures from tradition all the more effectively).
Other reviewers have pointed to a strong dose
of early Detroit techno present in the mix; I
don’t have the expertise required to make that
assertion myself. What I do know, though, is
that the heavy reliance on vintage electronics
manifests itself as both a blessing and a curse.
Tracks like “M&P” and the transformed soul
cover “What You Won’t Do For Love” show just
how inventive the duo can be with a limited
sonic palette, demonstrating their natural tal—
ent for music construction. On the other hand,
the practically yawn—inducing “Over It” and
“No One’s Business” get stuck in a bog of disco
tropes, sounding akin to a caricature straight
out of last year’s tongue—in—cheek Kung Fury
soundtrack. The problem here is that Junior
Boys are completely serious in their presenta—
tion, and at times their explorations into new
genres sound more regressive than reinven—
tive. At 50 minutes long, it wouldn’t hurt to
cut some of the less compelling filler here and
there.

When it comes down to it, though,
Big Black Coat is not going to be remembered
for its more middling compositions. The vast
majority of the music on the album marks a
turn in Junior Boys tastes toward late Disco
and early House, and will be remembered as
such. Junior Boys have managed to reunite
and make something simultaneously fresh
and familiar, something that others pull off
rarely. Though it’s not going to change the in—
dependent music landscape or leave the crit—
ics speechless quite like Last Exit did a dozen
years ago, Big Black Coat makes a strong argu—
ment for Greenspan and Didemus’s continuing
relevance and leadership in what has become
an increasingly crowded genre. 6.8/ 10

Players combat truck collisions in ‘Clustertruck'

Austin Gonzalez
OPINION EDITOR

Clustertruck is a trucking fun time.
This chaotic game is all about not falling off of
trucks. Developer, Landfall Games, has been
working on Clustertruck since September of
2015. These three guys from Stockholm say
they focus on gameplay above all else. Based
on the success of their equally fast paced mul—
tiplayer dogfighter, Air Brawl, and party game,
Square Brawl, I have no doubt Clustertruck
will be a smash hit as well.

Currently in alpha stages of devel—

opment, Landfall Games is sending out select
builds randomly to those who sign up on their
website. I received my key after a few days and
I’ve only stopped playing to write this article.
Gameplay is rather simple and intui—
tive. The basic scheme is WASD to move, Shift
to sprint, and Spacebar to jump. Your objec—
tive is to reach the end of the level without
touching the ground. Sounds easy enough,
except for the fact the platforms you jump to
and from are erratic semi truck drivers and the
world will try to kill you. Whether it’s upwards
firing pistons, closing crevices, head on colli—

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Adverfise in

sions, or just uneven terrain, the trucks will go
flying and so will you. It’s a true Clustertruck.
The style is decided low—res, as we said earlier,
the focus is on the gameplay. I found the con—
trols to be a bit loose (or sloppy), but that may
be due to me using a keyboard in place of a
controller. Keep in mind this game is still in
alpha. By the time the full game is released, I’m
sure everything will tighten up.

The full game will include over 100
unique levels, 10 different worlds, an endless
mode, in—game level editor, and more! Even in
the alpha there are menu slots just to tease you

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with the upcoming options and super—pow—
ered upgrades you can earn to enhance your
Clustertrucking experience. I highly recom—
mend heading over to their site http://www.
landfallgamestudio.com/ and requesting a key.
There’s no risk you’ll regret it, because at this
point it’s still completely free.

Need something to tide you over un—
til you get your hands on an alpha key? Check
out Landfall Games’ channel on YouTube to
watch the game grow and check out newly re—
vealed content.

 

Images courtesy of Clustertruck