True Panther Sounds
As an ever-increasing number of bands compete for your hard-earned time and money highly buzzed releases have a habit of being dead on arrival. Every once in a while though you can still count on albums like Tanlines’ Mixed Emotions to come shake you out of that post-millennial cynicism and listener fatigue. Despite multiple delays and false starts the debut from the electro-minded Brooklyn duo of Eric Emm and Jesse Cohen is one that lives up to any promises made hitting that sweet spot right between beat-oriented club music and smartly crafted pop. And Tanlines do it the old-fashioned way: throwing down hook after hook as they twist and turn their songs into an album that’s as fun as it is moody (see title: Mixed Emotions ). Sure the duo packs in their fair share of Balearic beats and tropical grooves — something you could argue is a bit played out by 2012 — but thanks to some cleverly layered production work and mixing courtesy of renowned engineer Jimmy Douglass (Jay-Z Björk The Roots) nothing ever feels old and tired. Rather you get the opposite where you have two musicians at the start of what could be a brilliant career. Well at least until the backlash catches up with them.
