Mahi Mahi – (Re) Move Your Body

Mahi Mahi – (Re) Move Your Body / 2005 Corleone Records / 10 Tracks / http://www.mahimahimahi.com / http://www.corelonerecords.com / Reviewed 24 May 2005

Mahi Mahi play a bizarre, fun band of herky-jerky dance music that has as much to do with The Locust as it does with Gigi D’Agostino. In fact, during tracks like “I Can’t Hear You”, the unnecessarily clunky drumbeats of the track even begin to recall the demo-led recordings of Wesley Willis and a Ritalin-fed Atom and His Package. The aforementioned “I Can’t Hear You” has a synth/drum dichotomy that is tied to the rock-led side of the band, eventually creating something that is where Deadsy has always tried to be (and has always failed). In fact, the rock/synth mix is the obverse of the music that Nine Inch Nails does and Mahi Mahi succeeds in this genre where so many bands have failed (the previously mentioned Deadsy, Victory’s atrocity Giles and “You’ll Rebel To Anything”-era Mindless Self Indulgence).

The intensity of “I Can’t Hear You” is not recreated in toto for “Forever Endeavor”, but the Frankenstein-style dancing associated with the very angular sound of Mahi Mahi returns with a vengeance during this track. “654321” has a drum machine breakdown even as the vocals on the track, distorted beyond all belief are made into a trans-vocal format that acts in the realm of instruments. The title track on “(Re) Move Your Body” stretches the patience of Mahi Mahi’s fan’s patience, as the synthesizers lock themselves into a position not once, but twice during this period in long expanses that begin to drone on at about the five-second mark. It is on “Right Now” that Mahi Mahi finally takes up the standard of electro-dork pioneers Devo, all while infusing the track with equal parts Ministry and their own sound to make something completely new. The Spartan feel of “Let Him Go” is another step in the expanding of Mahi Mahi’s sound, but the track itself only really stands up when the vocals really begin to assume their rightful place on the track.

The harmonics that open “Acoustic Fence”, along with the “You Dropped A Bomb On Me”-like vocal effects, really make for a fitting ending to this disc, which honestly can say that it had plumbed the depths of differing genres and style and came back unscathed. The tracks, even if they do start slowly or do grab onto a random weak note here or there are still the paragon of strong arrangement and inspired song-writing. The out-there nature of the tracks on “(Re) Move Your Body” may turn some off, but this is a good album nonetheless.

Top Tracks: Acoustic Fence, I Can’t Hear You

Rating: 7.8/10