Album: Frank Genius is Star Struck
Author: Paul Simpson
Publication: Foxy Digitalis (source)
Date: 07/07/2009

The latest release from experimental composer Frank Rothkamm is a "digital cantata" set in San Francisco in the early '90s.

His previous release was an album of piano variations on the Spongebob Squarepants theme, and this album continues to explore decidedly non-highbrow aspects of popular culture, specifically pop and dance music (Madonna and C&C Music Factory samples abound), and even a little pornography.

The majority of the album's tracks are uptempo and flow into one another, and certainly resemble early '90s dance music. However, the album remains closer in spirit to John Oswald's plunderphonic experiments rather than Girl Talk's intentionally danceable pop collages.

In other words, it just has this air of "composer making commentary on pop culture" rather than something that would actually get you moving in a club. It is enjoyable, especially for people like me who grew up listening to the type of music sampled here, but perhaps it's a bit too meta to warrant repeated listenings.

6/10

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