Robi Insinna's Headman, the name sounded like it was inspired by a "blue movie," a.k.a. an adult movie, and it wasn't until the very last track that through various innuendo-laden lyrics, Mr. Insinna playfully addressed his alter-ego and fellow collaborators who joined him on the CD.
"On" is a strange album and cannot easily be categorized other than perhaps under Electro-Pop, Disco Geek, or the newfangled Disco-rock/Punk-Funk Movement. It's avant-garde and I'm not too sure if this is a good thing or not—at least not yet. Will 2007 mark the resurrection or exsanguination of these types of genres? Only time will tell whether people will embrace these types of music or whether this stuff stays around, much less afloat.
For pretty much the entire length of the sixty-one minute CD, the word "sleazy" came to my mind as I listened, due largely in part to the silly, abject lyrics and the eccentric mix of vocal talents provided by the likes of Ben Rymer and Erol Alkan, Anton Spivac, Tara, Ed Laliq, and Matt Safer of The Rapture and Stephen Dewaele of Soulwax. Unfortunately, I just wasn't getting a feeling for the flavor of this sort of rock-disco-funk hybrid.
For the mix of male and female vocalists along with some instrumentals that I had to endure through, I attempted to picture myself hearing any one of the twelve tracks in various alcohol-selling establishments. Instantly, I thought that a few of the songs could possibly play to the beer drinking populus, but not so much the martini-swilling crowd. But even as I made my way, albeit painfully, through to the middle of the CD, I thought that even if I was in some lounge bar, about to drink my fourth beer, I'd be wondering who would play such off-kilter music, but more importantly looking to see what facial expressions the ladies had on their faces.
Stand-out tracks—surprisingly, there were a few…
Track 1—Suspect: The first track is analogous to the first few minutes of a movie—either you'll like it or you won't, and I liked this song's vocals provided by Anthony Roman (bassist for the post-punk band, Radio 4) but after this song, it was an uphill battle to like very much else.
Track 4—So Now!: An instrumental song that I was somewhat surprised to find but happy to know was there along with two others. These three songs weren't awe-inspiring as much as they were fillers for the schlock that is used to surround these non-vocal tracks.
Track 5—Do U Feel: Robi Insinna's only vocals and a pretty good New Wave song.
Non-standout tracks—
Track 6—Moisture: Sounded awfully a lot like George Baker's "Little Green Bag" and did little for me because it reminded me of that classic.
Track 10—So Disgraceful: Was just that and then some. Tara Narayanan's vocals did absolutely nothing to inspire any 'grace'... and then some.
Track 12—Everybody: Drunk or sober, a smarmy song.
Granted, this stuff is not for everyone but I found much of it silly. Robi Insinna/Headman has remixed the likes of Franz Ferdinand, Royksopp, and Mylo, and is one of the supposed originators to usher in the new era of New Disco-rock along with the Punk-Funk Movement, but both are still in their respective infancy and thus still in an experimental phase. Even though I didn't appreciate Headman's "On," I believe that these two genres will branch out in their due time, but I also feel that the backbone to these types of songs, namely the beats and rhythms (along with the lyrics), need to be fleshed out in order to be viable and commercially successful.
