Vitaminsforyou

As a fan of Bryce Kushnier's early albums, full of decaying ambience and gentle melodies, this transition to dance floor provocateur takes a second to absorb. Vitaminsforyou was always a little beat-happier than its Intr_version label-mates, graduating from the glitch patterns of I'm Sorry Forever and For Always to the more ambitious pop/microhouse of The Legend of Bird's Hill. This new album is much more straightforward in style and much less inspired in reach. Kushnier appears to have been studying the current playbook of artists like Crystal Castles or Junior Boys - artists that strive to make tasty, empty calorie dance treats. This playbook consists of the following steps: listen to '80s tracks by bands like Dead or Alive or Bananarama and then try to replicate them. It's one of those occasions, sadly, where success in the process equals aesthetic failure.