CD Odyssey Disc 1575: Confidence Man

Is a hangover worse on a hot day? This morning, I’m going to say yes, but I admit I am not an impartial observer on the matter.

Disc 1575 is…. TILT

Artist: Confidence Man

Year of Release: 2022

What’s up with the Cover?  The band, all looking hip and stylish. The band makes the wise decision to give 80% of the face time to Janet Planet, no doubt on account of her being real good lookin’. No face time goes to DJs Clarence McGuffie and Reggie Goodchild. This is not because they lack in the looks department, it’s just tradition.

How I Came To Know It: I absolutely loved their previous album “Confident Songs for Confident People,” which was one of the best records of 2018. So good that I bought “TILT” having only heard one song.

How It Stacks Up: I have two Confidence Man albums ,and I think you already know which two. “TILT” is a distant second in the stacking game.

Ratings: 2 stars

Confidence Man’s 2018 debut is a whole lot of silly, empty fun, but it is very clever about how silly and empty it is. Unfortunately, “TILT” has all the emptiness, but lacks most of the silly, and all of the clever. This record isn’t terrible, but it is a disappointment given what I know they are capable of.

The basics are there once again, consisting of samples, hand claps, and breaks that combine to make up some catchy electronic dance music. According to the information encoded on the CD (which can be wrong) the particular mix of all this stuff is known as “breakbeat”. I had to read up on that, but it sounds about right.

Janet Planet remains the band’s greatest resource. She can sing, but she is best when she half sings, half jingles her way through a song. Her “coolest girl in the club” delivery reminds me favourably of the Shangri-Las. The other vocalist is Sugar Bones, and while he gets less time centre stage on this record, he has the same kind of party vibe to his singing.

It is Bones who takes the lead on the album’s best song, “What I Like,” although Janet Planet’s well-placed “woo!”s are a big part of the song’s fun. It is a song about dancing but deep down, they all are.

Confidence Man was never about narrative tales, but on their previous record you felt something that mattered was mixed in with the catch phrases, even if that something was playful fun. On “TILT” they go back to a purer dance beat vibe, and while there are some good lines, (my favourite is “Toy Boy’s” “With an ass like that/there’s no conversation”) it doesn’t have the same charm overall.  I found myself getting bored halfway though most of the songs. This is my usual reaction to electronica, but I expected more from you, Confidence Man!

The vibe of the record sounds very early oughts club sound, and often had me uncharitably thinking it was made for people who “like anything with a good beat”. I need a bit more chunk to my oatmeal, I’m afraid.

It was a little better on headphones, but most things are. I also played this in a convertible, with the top down and driving in the summer sunshine, which for music like this should be a guarantee of success. Instead I found myself at red lights wanting to shout, “Their other record is really good!” at passersby who cast sidelong glances that suggested they wanted to respond with, “you’re a vacuous douchebag”.

I did quite like “Angry Girl” which was mostly Janet Planet singing “So mad, I’m an angry girl/So what’s your problem?” but had a few other lines actually strung together to at least dig in a bit. The song is not at all angry, it is more a feigned anger for the sake of a little fun and drama at the club. It has all the joy and whimsy of Confidence Man’s earlier work and if there had been more of these, I might be finding a space on my shelves for this record. Instead, I will be bidding this record an early adieu.

Best tracks: What I Like, Toy Boy, Angry Girl

CD Odyssey Disc 1310: Confidence Man

Sorry for my prolonged absence, dear readers. I’ve been busy as hell and putting in a lot of late nights. But enough of such mundanity. Let’s talk music.

My last review featured one of the top ten albums of 2017. This next record did not make my top 10 for 2018, but that’s only because I didn’t know it existed until a couple months ago.

Disc 1310 is… Confident Songs for Confident People

Artist: Confidence Man

Year of Release: 2018

What’s up with the Cover? Sugar Bones and Janet Planet sit in chairs composed of shadow people, likely the band’s other two members – Clarence McGuffie and Reggie Goodchild. Yes, you read that correctly – half the band perform under whimsical aliases. I’ll let you decide which half.

How I Came to Know It: I heard this through a clerk in a local record store. It was great stuff and so I started searching for the CD, finally locating it last month in Portland, Oregon.

How It Stacks Up:  This is the band’s debut album, so there is nothing to stack it up against.

Ratings: 4 stars but almost 5

An early hint of what to expect from Confidence Man is their Wikipedia listing, which indicates that co-band leaders Sugar Bones and Janet Planet are responsible for “vocals and dancing.” If you think that’s a sign that dancing is intrinsic to the music, well, it is.

Confidence Man is a mix of dance pop and electronica, with a healthy dose of live drum and keyboard thrown in. Not exactly my usual style of music but forget all that; this music is catchy as hell. You will want to dance. I’d be tempted to even challenge your ability to sit still while listen to this, but it just seems like a cruel dare.

Instead, I encourage you to get up and move as Mr. Bones and Ms. Planet regale you with groovy tales of sex, dancing and cool parties. That’s about the extent of the subject matter of these songs which are fun-filled romps through a carefree life. The worst thing that happens is an unfulfilled desire for bubblegum and a (soon-to-be) ex-boyfriend who doesn’t ‘reciprocate’. Take for that what you will.

Sugar Bones and Janet Planet (so fun to type these names) take turns on lead vocals, sometimes singing but often doing a groovy half-rap over top of the world’s best dance beats.  Sugar Bones channels Right Said Fred on “Don’t You Know I’m in a Band,” a song about how awesome it is to be in a band. Janet Planet has the sixties beatnik swagger of the Shangri-Las’ Mary Weiss. This is particularly true on “C.O.O.L. Party” a song that sounds like a modern update of the Shangri-Las classic “Sophisticated Boom Boom.” If you don’t know “Sophisticated Boom Boom” I encourage you to check it out, because it is one of the best party songs ever written – and so is “C.O.O.L. Party.”

“C.O.O.L. Party” lays out a detailed narrative of the party of the year, from the initial invite, to the search for beer and drugs, through to the inevitable dancing (first with coat on, then – when the party warms up – without.). On “All the Way” a couple meets, cheats, breaks up and then moves back in together because they can’t afford to live on their own. Don’t worry, though, Confidence Man makes even a tragic love affair into a lively adventure.

More often the songs eschew storytelling for great grooves structured loosely around a concept or image. “Catch My Breath” is about trying to do just that (replete with ‘aah-aah-aah’ sounds), and “Bubblegum” is a song about casual yearning, described by Janet Planet thusly:

“I wish I had a boy that talks so sweet
I wish I had a boy to let my parents meet
I wish I had a cotton candy beat
I wish I had a room with an ensuite

I wish I had…I wish…I had

Some bubblegum”

Lyrics aside, this album is a masterwork in beats and grooves. It is the kind of thing you want to hear at every party, or at every nightclub; its middle finger firmly up to anyone who’d rather listen to slow-building house beats while staring at the floor.

There is no shoegazing to be found on “Confident Songs for Confident People” – these are songs to throw your arms and hips into with enthusiasm. To see how its done, I encourage you to check the band out live on Youtube where they demonstrate that the whole “dance and vocals” claims on the bands Wiki page are not empty threats. These two can really cut a rug.

As fun as that experience is, you don’t need to see Confidence Man to enjoy the music. The songs are laden with an infectious natural energy that belies their sometimes techno-based production.

Because of my busy week I ended up listening to this record five or six times over before sitting down to review it tonight. I never got tired of the music. If anything, it helped let building stress slip into the background. This is fun record with its tongue planted firmly in cheek but make no mistake – this is some of the best damned dance music out there.

Best tracks: Try Your Luck, Don’t You Know I’m In a Band, Boyfriend, C.O.O.L. Party, Catch My Breath, Bubblegum, Better Sit Down Boy