Django Django - Django Django

Really, there is no way to describe Dalston via Edinburgh’s Django Django other than ‘quirky.’ Apparently taking their name from Django Reindhart’s stuttering teacher, who struggled to call the legend’s name on the register, the quartet is made all the more intriguing due to their sudden disappearance after debut single ‘Storm,’ only reappearing three years later. Live, they’re just as ‘odd’: cheaply made visual aids matched by their attire’s quirk – one of their more interesting shows being a support slot for Mr Motivator.

It’s no surprise, as that paragraph suggests, that ‘Django Django’ is an outlandish LP. Opener ‘Introduction/Hail Bop,’ with its schizophrenic synths and punchy latter half, just screams ‘Made in the Dark’ era Hot Chip, whilst ‘Zumm Zumm’ sounds like Alexis Taylor and co living it large in a tropical paradise. Better yet is single ‘Default’ – a cacophony of the most wonderfully eccentric robotic samples. Meanwhile ‘Waveform’ has deep harmonies and zorbing bass lines redolent of Everything Everything, and as ‘Life’s a Beach’ suggests, they replicate the Beach Boy’s trademark surf pop in spectral perfection.

‘Django Django’ is a true DIY record: bedroom recorded with certain samples formed from Sellotaped vinyl, its ramshackle eccentricity only cements the band’s peculiar personality further. ‘Firewater’ takes Super Furry Animals’ ‘Golden Retriever’ and transforms it into a cool, swaggering acoustic number, whereas ‘Love’s Dart’ and ‘Hand of Man’ sees them become a tamer Beta Band circa ‘Hot Shots II.’

Despite the rather gimmicky ‘Skies Over Cairo,’ ‘Django Django’ is the debut every band should make. Filled with enough “WTF!?” moments, the former art school student’s debut is interesting as the band themselves. It’s the perfect embodiment of their character delivered at an often frantically infectious pace.