If there’s one French word to have in the good ‘ole lexicon, it’s Minuit. Please believe, once it came to this writer’s attention that this New Zealand trio was an ‘electronic breakbeat’ band, fears of repetition and falling short of great ideas (in light of some music heard recently–not by this band) began to show themselves. Thankfully (only because luck has nothing to do with it), Minuit’s I Went to This Party and There Were 88 Guards with Guns is chock full of variety and sheer enjoyability. Though not technically their debut album, it is their official ‘debut’ for those who aren’t ‘down under.’ Basically, it is a culmination of their first two albums- the best tracks taken from both- to make up 88 Guards (the official abbreviation of the album’s title). Lazy, wave-like grooves to relax to: rock-heavy tracks: electric swells and stabs: in-your-face drums and ever-interesting vocals can all be found on this ‘debut.’ Ruth Carr, the lead vocalist, is an extremely enthralling singer. On one track (’The Boy with the Aubergine Hair’) it sounds like she’s wearing a retainer at certain moments while on ‘Suave as Sin,’ her delivery matter-of-factly without being over-the-top angry. And for the record, ‘Lock the Doors, Block the Roads’ does the whole somber/atmospheric thing amazingly well: as though they burned an overcast day onto a cd. It is definitely electronic and definitely breakbeat, but you’ll sing along all the same.
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