- It's safe to say that the Chicken Lips crew have senior status in the leftfield disco universe. Longtime starting-line act for the UK Bear Funk label, the Lips and the label deserve as much credit for stoking the fires of edgy, weird disco-derived dance music as their perhaps better-known Norwegian counterparts.
Followers of Bear Funk would be understood, however, if they've felt pangs of confusion when peeping the label's output as of late: the thrill of discovery and exploration has seemed to be on the wane, with offerings starting to lean towards formula and calculation. What had begun as a captivating combination of effervescent atmospheres and slow-mo rhythms has started to melt into loungey muzak. Such is the danger when a brand takes on a life of its own, and creativity finds itself threatened by the fetters of other agendas. Thus the news that Chicken Lips have broken ground on their own label, the cleverly christened Lipservice, is an occasion for finger-crossing, in hopes that the Chicken Lips' dance floor magic can enjoy a bit of a reboot.
On their inaugural label release the Lips masquerade as Zeefungk and the results are, for the most part, promising: the Chicken Lips sound is in full effect, marrying crisp metallic live-kit to analog pulse and sizzle. Zeefungk offers up two robot parts, the "Lips" and the "Eyes." Put these two organs next to each other, however, and the labial's got an edge over the oracular. The A-side feels a bit sluggish and rote, the kind of track that mostly serves to make you wonder what the DJ's gonna drop next. It's not particularly clear what it's doing in the opening slot, especially when its flip-side counterpart is distinctly more engaging.
"Robot Lips" pops with a clave-led riff and descending hand-plucked boogie bass. Stir in some analog wiggle and synthetic sheen and you've got exactly the sort of loose-hipped android swagger that's been Chicken Lips stock in trade from the get-go. Too bad it's stuck here bringing up the rear. Sandwiched in the middle, "Feast of Freeks," taken from the Lip's 2002 Extended Play album and appearing here in newly edited form, is the easy standout: a floor-burner with low-slung live bass, foregrounded hi-hats and a plethora of agitated squiggles and echo explosions. So why, when putting together their maiden Lipservice release, did the Lips reach back to a seven year-old track? Let's hope it's not for want of ideas, but rather an appeal to the past designed to secure the future.
Tracklist A1 Robot Eyes
A2 Feast Of Freeks (Kotey's Tape Edit)
B Robot Lips