Ciao!

DJ Tiga came to prominence as a recording artist by doing unusual cover versions. He made his mark by electro-fying Corey Hart’s Sunglasses at Night in 2001 and then turned his hand to Nelly’s still fresh Hot In Herre. On his debut album, 2006’s Sexor, he stumbled on Talking Heads Burning Down The House as perhaps the phrase If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it is uncommon in his native Montreal. Sexor was modelled for cherry picking with You’re Gonna Want Me and Pleasure From the Bass exceptional club tracks, though it didn’t hang together as a fully realised album. Ciao! is heaps better: the fun stoopid club stuff is top-loaded and the second half of the album should be more rewarding with longer, more thoughtful excursions into electro pop. The song writing has improved and this might be partly down to the services of a fellow Canuck, Gonzales, who has also written hits with Feist. Tiga has also assembled a well heeled production team with Soulwax and James Murphy assisting on the like the lush, unfurling Gentle Giant and Beep Beep and Jesper Dahlback and Jori Hulkkonen lending weight to the loopy techno like last year’s monster Mind Dimension. Lyrically there’s a lot of froth – Shoes in particular concerns fancy footwear and sex – though Love Don’t Dance Here Anymore surprises. And if that title sounds familiar then you might also note references to songs by A Guy Called Gerald, The The and even Joe Jackson. Genius steals is certainly part of a phrase that Tiga must be familiar with. He has, however, made it through this highly enjoyable dance pop romp without resorting to a cover version. Has he finally found the sound of his own voice? Almost. (8)