HAPPY MEALS - IF YOU WANT ME NOW
[5.88]
But does it come with a free toy?
Claire Biddles: Happy Meals are a synth duo signed to Night School Records, a Glasgow-based label who consistently work with the most interesting musicians in the city – Rose from Strawberry Switchblade! Roxanne from Veronica Falls! – as well as international pop weirdos such as Molly Nilsson and The Space Lady. It’s maybe a grand claim, but I think they’re the best group currently making music in Glasgow. Their songs are poppy and bright but still on the strange peripheries of the city’s rich tradition of electronic and dance music. “If You Want Me Now” is a beautiful disco cut that feels European and outward-looking, as much for its inherent archness as its French-language verses. It goes on forever, the vocals tripping over themselves blissfully for 6 and a half minutes – the tiniest glimpse of a Glaswegian lilt in the chorus the only thing anchoring it to the ground.
[9]
Tim de Reuse: It’s undeniably refreshing to hear that 303 acid squelch being used in a context other than “The artist is Richard D. James” or “The artist wants to sound like Richard D. James.” It’s one step below the Amen break in recognizability, often used as a menacing and mechanical element, but way in the back here it’s ticklish and otherworldly, just poking through the fairytale haze. Sure, nothing here is terribly new in itself, but it gives confident nods to a whole bunch of different genres, and when everything folds together at the end it’s a brief but satisfying magic trick.
[7]
Katherine St Asaph: New pinnacles in pre-emptive hatred: a synthpop duo called Happy Meals – a whole quarter pound of McSubversive Wordplay! – whose vocals are off key and whose instrumentals sound like they’d sell their left buttcheeks to have made Amiga music in the early ‘90s. But to my endless self-scolding, I love a hundred songs like this and am well on track to love a hundred more.
[8]
Thomas Inskeep: Happy Meals want to find out how many different synth/keyboard sounds they can fit into one single. At various times this sounds like a) early Chicago house b) early Goldfrapp c) video games, all with reverbed low-mixed vocals on top in both English and French. Unfortunately, it doesn’t really cohere.
[4]
Alfred Soto: I see duos like this at Wynwood bars: the dude behind his keyboard reproducing Chromeo and Holy Ghost! blips, the woman struggling to give spectral chords and received wisdom the mess of lived experience.
[4]
Katie Gill: It’s a trip reading the YouTube description: “electronic avant pop duo” is a phrase reminiscent of the brilliant blog Why I Deleted Your Band’s Promo Email. This is also apparently “pop music, pure and from the source” – a bit rich considering that the song is five minutes of synthetic, overproduced nonsense that uses every preset on the Casio keyboard.
[2]
Ryo Miyauchi: The chorus arrives at the right time to make sure my mind’s not elsewhere, drifted away by the Casio warmth. It’s less a wake-up call than a reminder that there’s someone on the other side, and she wants something in exchange. “Teach me all you know” – that’s a tall order, but the ease of the music delivers it like anything but.
[6]
Joshua Copperman: Unsettling synth sounds! Slapback delay effects! Language-hopping! All of these not-so-disparate things come together to produce something that resembles both New Order’s poppier moments and Stereolab’s more eccentric ones. The result is intensely captivating – this slow-burner definitely feels like five minutes, but it’s still difficult to focus on much else when listening.
[7]
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