Tokio Airport's mash-up of sounds and styles makes it difficult to pigeon-hole. Dub reggae, rockabilly, Serge Gainsbourg-esque French song, punk decadense, industrial noise, new wave synth-pop and cabaret music all make an appearance, all filtered through Metal Boys unique electro sound. The driving dance rhythms, catchy melodies and female vocals(this time in English) show a new interest in playing with popular and accessible forms, while the production is anything but. And if the pop catchiness of some of the shorter songs has you humming along but wondering if they've lost their edge, the album features Carbon 14, a six and half minute electronics tour-de-force that would make england's industrial pioneers blush.
The prescience of this album has slowly become more apparent as the worlds of punk-rock, electronic, and dancefloor experimentalism have come closer and closer. Metal Boys relevance in this post-electro-clash era is most clear in the 9 unreleased selections gathered here. These selections from the early 80s are catchy stripped down moody synth-pop experiments that would not sound one bit out of place at the trendiest dance parties of today.
The METAL BOYS created one of the greatest synth-pop experiments of the time, but until now few have been able to hear their long out-of-print avant-electro. Acute Records is proud to present for the first time ever on one cd their only lp Tokio Airport plus nine previously unreleased tracks.