The Faint | Danse Macabre | Saddle Creek

Every so often I wonder whether the tight-gas-station-jacket-and-Chuck-Taylors (no longer Made in USA! Sulk, sulk, sulk) uniform fits me a little too well; perhaps I’m a little too enthralled by skinny white kids with guitars and maybe electronic music has its upsides. I figure, if my aesthetics are wrong, then the much-talked about Faint will show me the error of my ways.

Fortunately for my worldview, I am pretty much nonplussed.

I mean, I like Danse Macabre in the same way I like Dead or Alive. Every note seems so intricately placed to be weirdly sleazy; it’s kind of charming. But though the bass frequencies may be perfectly attenuated to thump me in the chest, it can’t quite get past my sternum and my heart longs to hear “You Really Got Me” or “Just What I Needed.” The Faint’s use of analog synthesizers and live instrumentation is widely touted, but all I hear is Depeche Mode. And while I’ll admit to not projectile vomiting during Depeche Mode songs, they can’t pry me away from the bar, either. The Faint’s popularity with the indie cognoscenti is a complete enigma to me, since Depeche Mode-style electropop has been out there for years under the moniker “Depeche Mode.”

Now if you’ll excuse me, someone’s playing “My Generation” and I must dance.

[DJ Fatkid is often told he mustn’t, for the love of God, dance]