Bad Machines - Telling Lies

  by Anastasia Grabov

published: 28 / 8 / 2005

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Their PR company has described Bad Machines as a primarily electronica band, which may be a bit deceitful considering it veers between bad girl snarls and a sweetness that my brother called "Dawson Creek music." That’s pop music. Appealing to the widest audience possibly. And what’s wrong with that? Michelle Margherita provides slightly childlike vocals, at times swimming in Sixpence None The Richer style innocent wholesomeness before switching to adolescent rebellion, particularly on 'Two Heads' and 'Kids'. “I fell in love with Siouxsie Sioux and I don’t know why,” she sings. Paul Scott is the brains behind the technology in these tracks. Emailing files to each other between Margherita’s Brixton and Scott’s Sydney, they have created a diverse album that’s hard to define. The first track, 'Two Heads', sounds like its about to slip into Lenny Kravitz singing “I want to get away…” but those electro beats are added quickly enough for Margherita to introduce herself as an incarnation of her teenage years’ punk idol. The next track signals a change of direction, towards the sort of quirkiness that would not look out of place in a Harajuku babydoll dress. 'Folkways' places all its weight into the pit of your stomach. Almost makes me wish I was in a gut wrenchingly sad love dilemma. This would be perfect background music for Joey to run through the harbour to Dawson’s house to, with the rain blurring the warm café lights in the background. It’s really 'Autobahn' that should pave Bad Machines’s road. It’s much more grown up. Hints of the eighties plus indie guitar strums plus Margherita at her most melodic make for a modern take on Blondie. Some of the tracks in this album, including 'Two Heads' and 'South Coast' were played on an Australian Big Brother eviction show, proving that even the big guys have taken note of Bad Machines’ commercial appeal. Will it be long before people start asking ‘Who’s that band?’ Watch this space.

Track Listing:-

1 Two Heads
2 South Coast
3 Does It Ever Really Happen?
4 Telling Lies
5 Schadenfreude
6 Folkways
7 Kidz
8 Autobahn
9 Mood #2
10 Nu Tommorrow
11 Fighting to Stay as You're Sliding Away

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