Ursula 1000

When your press release spends most of its space talking about which television programs and commercials have featured your music, you know you're not exactly a critical darling. Upon listening to Mondo Beyondo (the seventh LP from Alex Gimeno's alter-ego, Ursula 1000), it's clear that his one-dimensional, heavily stylized electro is tailor-made to be digested in 30-second increments. Songs like "The Elegant Oracle," "Stinger" and "Don't Get Your Panties in a Bunch" are simply paint-by-numbers, groove-laden go-go and cha-cha that work because of their undying loyalty to the genre. However, it's Gimeno's expected foray in modern funk ("Disko-Tech" and "Baby Laser Love") that positions Ursula 1000 as a second-rate Fatboy Slim. "Hey You!," featuring Fred Schneider from the B-52s, might just be the definition of musical bankruptcy ― a song built upon a cash-a-paycheque, half-assed delivery. Mondo Beyondo is an album that speaks to absolutely no one, except maybe the producers of Desperate Housewives.