Second-Rate Fluff.

Are these guys kidding?  Is Wallpaper’s new EP, T Rex, a parody of vapid electro pop, from its judicious use of vocoder, to its lyrics about seduction and cell phones, to its refusal to spell its song titles correctly?  ‘Everytm We Do It’ is a tasty enough piece of fluff, combining a catchy refrain with a repetitive structure that begs dance club play, so maybe Ricky Reed and Arjun Singh are taking themselves seriously.  It certainly sounds like they’ve studied the Prince playbook, and they appear to be amused.  The introduction to the title track even invokes funk, so maybe these guys are trying to keep things old school (skool?), trying to do right by their danceable progenitors.

But here’s the problem: This music doesn’t sound like Sly Stone or Prince; with its blindingly shiny harmonies and utterly shallow lyrics, this stuff sounds more like *NSYNC.  Wallpaper’s music skims the most superficial charms off of more substantive electronic music-hence the band’s occasionally charming use of synth and their obvious affinity for infectious melodies-but hangs that meat on thin, brittle bones.  There’s little overarching songcraft here, and even less attention to detail.  If this isn’t an exceptionally straight-faced satire of vapid electro pop, then it is itself vapid, boring, lazy electro pop.  And either way, it’s not particularly worthy of your attention.

Drew Messinger-Michaels