Are you feeling sexy? If the answer is no, that is about to change once you press play on Pixel Grip’s Perceptide the Death of Reality. The grooves on this album will stir your loins in a way that will have you side-eying that jar of Vaseline you’ve been too depressed to touch in weeks. There is a bit of foreplay to set the mood as it opens with an atmospheric pop song that simmers with introspection. Rita Lukea is very aware that singing is a lot like sex, as it requires putting your heavy breathing in all the right places, which she has mastered on “Bet You Do.” This gives the song a sensual slither that licks your ears and tells you to turn the lights off. 

Things drip with even more sex when Rita grinds her hips into the dance floor with the nineties techno sound that gets a more dark wave influenced sheen for “Stamina” where she asks daddy to come over and fuck her over and over, as dark wave influenced throb undulates beneath her demands. They are not just here for your erotic delight, as Rita gets angry on “Reason to Stay,” which is another industrial-influenced banger. 

At times the songwriting asks you to picture a world where Lady Gaga did not roll off an assembly line with of two dozen, producers and writers, catering to the record label’s focus groups,  her songs for her and she did not give a shit about keeping up with the Joneses on the radio. What this ends up sounding like is a song similar to “Insignificant.” When the vocals occupy a more ghostly place in the song, the results are not unlike Chelsea Wolfe’s more electronic output, though the grooves are more dance-oriented. These comparisons do not diminish the band’s personality, which sets them apart from the other electro trashy, dark waveish, sex-pop that I have come across this year. 

Not far from the brooding club-churning throb projects like Boy Harsher are grinding out these days, a song like “Split.” Rita’s wider vocal range gives their sound more depth and almost brighter emotional colors to her delivery. This album celebrates sex and is not depressed about any hang-ups involved with it. “Last Laugh” has an awesome groove, making it one of the album’s best songs. “Work or Shut Up” is on the more booty-shaking end of the nineties electro spectrum. “Jealousy is Lethal” has a playful melody that is more pop than not. “Gonna Be Faster’ is more like an indie pop ballad. It is easy for this album to fall into heavy rotation, as it’s got the pop hooks without the pre-fabricated pop bull shit that comes with what is played on the radio these days. There is a solid dose of retro vibes lubricating the ear-holes nicely for penetration. This album is highly recommended to anyone who wants transgressive pop music with hooks that linger like a cocaine drip at the back of your throat and is as infectious as an STD, but burns less when you piss. 

Buy the album here:
https://ffm.link/3vmwnxa

9 / 10
WIL CIFER
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