After much delay, deliberation and about a third of the tracks released as singles over the preceding two years, Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaur’s debut album Trouble has been released. Something about this album makes one addicted. Somewhere on this album you will find a track that will get you beyond hooked and eventually the other tracks will follow. Whether it is the hard hitting synth in “Household Goods,” the shy playfulness of “Garden,” the choirboy vocals of “Trouble” or “You Need Me On My Own,” or the oddly hypnotic “Tapes and Money,” or “Panpipes” you’ll always remember the first TEED track.
It is a celebration of electronic music, wrestling it away from uninspired, uncreative things that the genre is very quickly being linked with and defined by. One can tell that Orlando Higginbottom (yep, even his name is fun) gets a good bit of inspiration from UK house or garage. The difference is his skills as songwriter and singer, not just a vocal loop (though “Your Love” shows that TEED can do this superbly as well) which allows a more personal touch with emotion and yet, it’s still music you can play in a club and dance to.
But on the other hand, other un-ignorable inspiration comes from 80’s synth pop, that makes the whole thing so weird but oh so perfect. There is no one definitive sound with this album, and yet when you think about it, TEED absolutely has a unique style. It may be the vocals, or the variety of skills and sounds. Regardless what it may be musically, it is definitely noticeable in the personality this album has. On top of that, his live shows consist of confetti cannons and he performs with large (no, think bigger than that) Native American headdresses. What’s not to love? (Speaking of which, he’s on a North America Tour throughout July and August of this year.)
– Nick
KZUU 90.7fm 