Mini Compo: The Past’s Future Dance Punk

By Alif Omar Mahfix • 13 Sep 2012 in Detonate

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LapSap’s and Twilight Actiongirl’s DJ Xu couldn’t be more different than the much less recognised Jit Woei of Nightlife Camera and The Beads fame. For one the respective genres they represent on their own are so disparate that when compared they are not just apples and oranges, they’re algae and cardboard boxes.

Dichotomy has never been an obstacle in the post-postmodern 21st century though, especially in music. A singer-songwriter partnering with an electro DJ? At best that would only make music fans orgasm and at worst it would pique their curiosity, which we suspect is exactly the kind of reactions Xu and Jit’s collaboration as Mini Compo could generate.

Sounding like something inspired by ’80s-skewed sci-fi visions of a late night drive through KL, the duo’s music is the bastard child of everything from Kraftwerk, Yazoo, Pet Shop Boys, David Bowie to even traces of cantopop legend Sam Hui. And this makes for yet another interesting contradiction, Mini Compo makes music that is evidently reverent to retro synth-heavy pop but draws heavily on Xu’s own electro styling.

Currently ‘2econd Gear’ and ‘Give Away’ are the only tracks released under the Mini Compo name. Both could easily be mistaken for a modern pastiche of ’80s synth pop but under the capable hands of Xu and Jit, the sound concocted has more to it than just nostalgia-worship. Owing as much to Giorgio Moroder as they do Diamond Rings, the two songs are pure indie pop by way of the bleeps and bloops of electro that express what the genre best articulates; unadulterated emotions.

Like the music, Jit’s lyrics are concise, simple, and heavy on repetition. The success of this formula is dependent on your threshold for modest and anachronistic music, like Jit sings on ‘Give Away’ – “for some less is more, for some more is not enough.”

We personally think it’s adequate.