Pitchfork

What separates Simian Mobile Disco from other knob-twiddling dilettantes is the duo's acute pop savvy. On debut album Attack Decay Sustain Release, James Ford and James Shaw seldom forget that memorable hooks are more important than highfalutin concepts, packing each track with sugary analogue beats and never letting them outstay their welcome. "3 Pin Din", from their new self-titled EP, retains SMD's spirit of play but not the same sense of focus. Like "Tits & Acid", also featured on the EP, "3 Pin Din" tosses out acid squelches the way an NBA inside man throws elbows.

You've got your blips. You've got your bleeps. You've even got your high-pitched squeaks (all technical terms). A heavily distorted drum sound holds the noises in place, and a spooky sci-fi synth makes several appearances, too. A few times one of the chords has me imagining the track might jump into Akon's chorus from "We Takin' Over", but of course it never does-- neither is there any other, lesser hook. Instead, the squeaks (and the bleeps) grow irritatingly strident, as if Ford and Shaw are getting their wacky experimental side out of their system. Fine, but they're better at pop.

MP3: > Simian Mobile Disco: "3 Pin Din"
[from the Simian Mobile Disco EP; out now in digital form and due in stores 07/24/07 on Interscope]