Calvin Harris I Created Disco by: Dean Van Nguyen Mon:05-Nov-07 Label: Columbia Year: 2007 WB rating 67 out of 100

Kids making music in their bedrooms has become so popular they rarely get talked about anymore. But few have managed to create such muscular anthems as Scotland’s new king of disco punk Calvin Harris. In contrast to the computer squiggles of Thom Yorke’s The Eraser say, or the rough ‘any instrument you can fit into the garage’ mentality of Half Cousin or Tom Vek, this is bedroom music redefined. Where the aforementioned artists used their lo-fi budget roots to the fullest, embracing every dusty scratch, I Created Disco’s production is incredibly crisp and commercially minded. Sporting no fewer than eight potential singles (many of which have already charted in the UK), Harris has created an album of catchy, rhythmic dance songs with huge synth and basslines that defy the “drag and drop laptop” image of homemade music.

Harris writes and performs every song, each one typically bubblegum in content meaning it’s satisfying to the ear but offers little sustenance to the soul - but wasn’t that the point of disco in the first place? This is an album full of guilty little pleasures. Read the album title and it’s no surprise Harris is a cheeky artist. No he didn’t create disco, he hasn’t even reinvigorated it. He has however fashioned a record with bags of retro charm. For example the best song on show is the Prince pilfered ‘Acceptable in the Eighties’ which cleverly taps into the pop culture phenomenon that is in everything that originated in that decade.

‘The Girls’ is an anthem for those who, ironically, can’t get a girl. It’s not particularly clever or witty, but this wide-eyed misguided confidence of a geek who is going to dance his way to popularity just about overcomes the cringe worthy lyrics. "I like them Asian girls. I like them mixed-race girls," clarifies the horny Harris. All is forgiven though when the song kicks into life with a roof shaking synth section, which characterises all the highlight tracks. ‘Neon Rocks’ is a more laid back stab at a Neptune’s beat, you can even imagine Pharrell singing it.

Away from the singles Harris pads out the album with instrumentals which play like an advertisement for a man with a future more likely in production than as a solo artist (no surprise, then, that Kylie Minogue has commissioned him to write and produce two tracks on her next album). Tacked on offerings like the Blade Runner influenced ‘Traffic Cops’ and the horribly bland R Kelly reject ‘Love Souvenir’ hurt the potential and flow of the album. And given this sketchy feel and continuity, the release works best for the MP3 generation who can trim the fat and leave a lean handful of synth-bursting, pleasure-crammed, pop gems. Hollow as they are, who cares? This is a dance record, and in that regards it is a definite success.