(Downtown) MSTRKRFT is like the ditch weed you smoked in high school: fun at the time, headache-inducing, and completely fucking embarrassing to pull out during moments of social one-upmanship. But this is also why no one gets originality points for hating on these guys’even they know they’re retarded. Who else but MSTRKRFT would have a track ‘featuring Ghostface Killah’ and let him clock in exactly eight words? Who else but these poseur knuckleheads would front like they couldn’t remember last night’s ‘party’ when, in fact, they spent it reading the Tape Op message board? The evidence points to Jesse Keller and Al-P being a lot more cynical than anyone is giving them credit for, which begs the most important question of them all: is this really what you have to listen to these days if you want to get laid at the techno show?
It could be. Perhaps the hardest thing to swallow about MSTRKRFT is that their brotronica is a pretty clear window into why no one cares about finely-honed techno records anymore. The tracks on Fist of God are what people dance to, not think to. Disco records were being burned at the stake 25 years ago making the same assertion, yet it seems that even stupid dance music isn’t immune to chin-stroking reverence. Not that MSTRKRFT is the next Telex, but chastising them for giving us exactly what we want is ridiculous.
Besides, Fist of God is surprisingly decent if you can manage to divorce it from its lame context. The previously mentioned Ghostface track, ‘Word Up,’ impersonates gritty Chicago house convincingly while the N.O.R.E. & Isis-led ‘Bounce’ is just complete cheese, but catchy when drunk. Most impressive is that once you hear the new MSTRKRFT, you can tell that it’s MSTRKRFT’despite the legions of blog pandering wannabes who cop their every plug-in. That must prove there’s some sort of art at play. Is there anything here you can flex your head to? Of course not. This is music you use to get over yourself’if you want to feel smart, go read a book.

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