Moloko Catalogue

Moloko Catalogue

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Released three years after their final album, Statues, a Moloko best-of was long overdue. Fortunately, the straightforwardly named Catalogue delivers an impeccably edited collection of the duo's eclectic, ahead-of-the-curve music, gathering their biggest hits and key album tracks. Gorgeous romanticism, drop-dead style, and a funky sense of humor -- not to mention Roisin Murphy's charismatic vocals and Mark Brydon's forward-thinking production skills -- were the key ingredients in Moloko's freewheeling mix of dance, pop, and rock, all of which are on display throughout Catalogue and especially on its first five tracks, which are, not coincidentally, the duo's most popular singles. "Fun for Me" and "Pure Pleasure Seeker" are quintessential examples of Moloko's sexy, mischievous take on dance anthems; "The Time Is Now" and "Familiar Feeling" are searching-but-glamorous ballads; and of course, the pair's breakthrough single "Sing It Back" is as alluring as it is inventive. Unlike some best-ofs, which have to stretch to fill out an album's worth of tracks, Catalogue is a welcome reminder of how strong Moloko's overall body of work is. From Do You Like My Tight Sweater?'s "Day for Night" and "Where Is the What If the What Is in Why?" to the title track of Statues, each song on the collection holds up. Catalogue's only flaw -- if it can be called that -- is that it doesn't include many of the flights of fancy that made Moloko's albums so distinctive. The closest the collection gets to the duo's deeply kooky side is the cryptic but irresistible shuffle of "Indigo" and the playful pop of "The Flipside." This is a minor drawback though -- Catalogue is a great Moloko primer, and any newcomers charmed by the songs here have even more to discover on the full-length albums. [The 2006 Echo edition included a live set from Brixton on a second CD.]

Moloko ‎Things To Make And Do Japan

Moloko Things To Make And Do 

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Considering the esoteric materials that make up Moloko's unusual sound (trip-hop, funk, drum'n'bass, and a decidedly bizarro pop ethic), the group's music is surprisingly coherent and accessible. Things to Make and Do, the English duo's third full-length platter, is as strong as anything else they've done -- Roisin Murphy's singing style, which combines a wild variety of voices and textures, from impassively chilly to gorgeously lilting to gleefully offbeat, is instantly recognizable and endearing throughout, while Mark Brydon's broad compositional palette runs the gamut from irresistibly straightforward rock/dance grooves ("Indigo") to highly stylized electro/hip-hop programming (the Timbaland-esque "Absent Minded Friends"). Just enough live instrumentation is added to the songs to make them sound varied and human (check out the nylon-string guitar in the flamenco-flavored "The Time Is Now," which faintly recalls Basement Jaxx's "Rendez-Vu") and it adds a timeless quality to the music overall. The duo never falls into any of the clichés of any of the genres they exploit, managing instead to sound consistently fresh, adventurous, and enjoyable. Highlights include the buoyant "Somebody Somewhere" (featuring a rare vocal turn by Brydon) and the flawless, inscrutable "Indigo" (with its nonsensical chant: "Ramases! Colossus!"). Moloko is the best at what they do mainly because they are the only ones doing it