Review: The Bloody Beetroots - Romborama

If you imagine Daft Punk and Misfits having some sort of strange lovechild and what that would sound like, you would have a pretty good idea of what The Bloody Beetroots are. I realize this description is not entirely original (as I lifted it from their myspace page), but it really is the best way to describe this Italian duo of electro-punks.

Although they've been remixing and creating original tracks for a couple years now, it is only now that they are getting around to releasing a full-length album. Known as Romborama, the Beetroots' first stab at a full-length album is a bloody good one. Although fans that have been following these DJs will hear more than a few songs they've already heard before, Romborama makes sure to throw in plenty of new tunes as well as re-workings of old favorites to keep the whole thing from sounding like a random collection of their back catalog.

The first thing to understand about The Bloody Beetroots' music is that it is heavy. Almost every track on Romborama straddles a fine line between dance and mosh music, only to usually end up on the dance side of things. This makes sense, of course, because they are DJs, and thus love to make people dance. However, songs like the album's opener, "Romborama," do seem to be a little off-putting at first. With a siren-like synth riff and a screaming Justin Pearson (The Locust) in the background, the song makes the impression that the rest of the album is going to be full of over-the-top intensity that can only be appreciated by a select few, but after a little time with Romborama, it becomes more and more obvious that this is not quite the case.

The second track, "Have Mercy On Us," for example, shows that the Beetroots aren't completely obsessed with balls-to-the-wall intensity. This little track--while having a really dark, goth vibe to it--is very melodic and catchy in many of the same ways that Justice's † appealed to so many. Despite the immediate appeal of hearing more Justice-like tunes, the Italian duo is careful not to spend too much time in this territory, which, thankfully, prevents them from being labeled bargin-bin Justice knock-offs. Instead, they tend to go heavier with a mix of punk and classical vibes. This is most likely due to the fact that the brain behind most of the production work, Bob Rifo, joined a punk band after studying classical music in school.

There are occasional flashes of hip-hop on the album as well, like the rhymes laid down by The Cool Kids on "Awesome," as well as the re-purposing of that same beat for Marracash's "Come La." The sound of having the same beat on two tracks in the same album may sound a bit silly, and that may be; but, the album's got 21 tracks, with the 're-purposed' one at the very end, so it seems a little more like a nice little bonus than an attempt to create two legit songs using the exact same instrumentation.

The album does start to lose a little steam around the half-way point of Romborama with tracks like the fidget-mess that is "It's Better a DJ On 2 Turntables." The song is just so far removed from everything else on the album, and it shows it with its simplistic opening riff and ridiculous, off-the-wall bass storm that it leads into. Then, there's "Talkin' In My Sleep" that is only a slightly altered version of their previously released "Detroit (Ghetto Edit)," not that this is necessarily a bad thing; it is just a little disappointing for anyone expecting a new track at that point.

Another departure from the more standard, Bloody Beetroots fare is "Second Streets Have No Name." The intro seems a bit slow with its light, string-filled intro and auto-tuned lyrics that speak of seeing "the sunset strip in your eyes / I will drive it down," but the progression into the more beat-backed chorus is simply one of the best moments offered up in Romborama. It's just a shame that the song transfers back and forth between it and the auto-tuned and light-hearted sections that bookend the song.

For many familiar with The Bloody Beetroots' older works, there are plenty of new twists on old favorites that will be sure to hold a new level of intrest. The aforementioned "Talkin' In My Sleep" uses a new set of vocal samples, while songs like "Yeyo" and "I Love The Bloody Beetroots" simply benefit from higher production quality this time around. "F*cked From Above 1985" probably benefits the most from its new treatment, as it gets some production love in addition to a fresh coat of vocal work, but pretty much all of the older Beetroot tunes sound better on Romborama.

There is one previously released track that doesn't benefit from any sort of new treatment, however. "Butter," for some reason, seems to make it on to Romborama without being touched in the slightest. I don't really know why this is either, as its unaltered state seems to make it stick out as easily the most dated sounding track in the whole bunch.

Towards the end of the album, a couple excellent, yet significantly different sounding versions of "Warp" can be found in addition to the puzzling-yet-novel "Little Stars" among a smattering of equally as interesting and entertaining tracks. Simply put, the back-half of this album really picks up again and doesn't stop until you reach the repeated beat track that is "Come La."

So, by album's end, The Bloody Beetroots seemed to have laid an astounding number of cards on the table. While some of them don't seem that great, the sheer number of quality tunes to be found on this compilation of 21 tracks far outweigh the cons. It's not a perfect album by any means, but Romborama stands now as possibly the best gateway into The Bloody Beetroots' world, which is all you really need to ask for from a debut.