Bag Raiders: Bag Raiders (Modular)

By Marney Beliveau  •  02 Nov 2010 in Music

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Australia has always been an enigma to me. A large island, some would say continent, in the middle of nowhere, populated by descendants of convicts and home to the worlds most dangerous animals. Yet somehow this strange place produces some of the best dance music out there right now. Bag Raiders being no exception.

Despite the horrible name, the tunes are great. After a string of 7” releases on the Bang Gang label (Aussies: good with music, bad with words), some remixes of Cut Copy, Sneaky Sound System and others, and two chart climbing singles – ‘Turbo Love’ and ‘Shooting Stars’ – Bag Raiders is here with its first self titled, full length album. If anything, it was worth the wait.

Bag Raiders is a mix of sounds pulled together by dreamy vocals, neo romantic synth and lyrics over the trials and tribulations in relation to the fairer sex. Heartache seems to have calmed the duo down, trading in their old heavy electronic noise laden sound for a groovy hooks and smooth as butter vocals.

‘Castles in the Air’ open the album with an escalating vibe that could take over dancefloors as much as any piano driven song could. Bag Raiders really shine on ‘Gone Away’, reigning in that Chromeo-esque sound but in a less camp way. The love-it-or-hate-it track will most likely be the instrumental ‘Snake Charmer’ – tribal infused for a unique sound that gets a bit repetitive, building up anticipation but refusing to climax.

Bag Raiders’ is a mix of electro pop anthems, funky electronica with a romantic undertone. A great album for grooving, chilling or whatever it is they do down on convict island.

Listen to: ‘Castles in the Air’, ‘Gone Away’, ‘Shooting Stars’
If you dig this, then you’ll dig: Chromeo, Flight Facilities, Classixx
Rating: 4.5

For more on Bag Raiders check out their myspace page.