Keep one thing in mind as you approach Analog Worms Attack: too much low-end can hurt you.
Mr. Oizo's Analog Worms aren't the common or garden variety. What we're talking about are sonic worms on a Tremors or Dune scale -- sparse, deep, resonant stretches of sub-bass analog rumble, punctuated by blips, squirts and squelches of melody. We're talking about low-end that can hit the resonant frequency of your skeletal system and pop your internal organs like balloon animals.
Or how about this: Analog Worms Attack is to your speakers what Dr. Jack Kevorkian is to your sick grandmother.
If you've spent any time in Europe lately, you might be familiar with Mr. Oizo's "Flat Beat," which appeared in a string of Levi's Sta-Prest ads and featured Flat Eric, a muppetish creature with a taste for bass. "Flat Beat" is included here, in audio and video form, so that you can watch Flat Eric vibrate in glorious Quicktime.
The newer material on Analog Worms Attack builds on the "Flat Beat" foundation, deepening the bass, employing far bigger beats and punching up the twanky melodies. Mr. Oizo, a.k.a. audio/video wunderkind Quentin Dupieux, tosses in vocal samples and the occasional scratch, as needed. You probably won't find yourself humming tunes like "The Salad" or "Inside the Kidney Machine," but they'll stay in your head for a while -- probably accompanied by extensive temple-rubbing.
Above and beyond its listening pleasures, Analog Worms Attack is eminently useful. In summer, you can cool a room with the regular bursts of air it elicits from your subwoofer. You can also use Analog Worms Attack to dislodge stubborn ceiling tiles, paint, artwork, mouldings, windows and light fixtures -- or just rid yourself of a troublesome downstairs neighbor. Or simply use it to demonstrate the distinction between "interesting" and "mesmerizing".
Let's not kid ourselves: Mr. Oizo is pretty much a one-trick pony. If his trick doesn't enthrall you immediately, your music-buying money will be wasted. This is almost certainly not an album that you'll listen to for the rest of your adult life, so if that's what you're after, look elsewhere. This one's purely for short-term fun.
