Amazon.co.uk Review
Eat Static desperately want to be seen as a hardcore, cutting-edge techno outfit. But for all their wanting, their heart isn't really in it. The bongo bursts, the horn outbreaks and the full-blown Latino flavours of "Nocturnal Umbra" and "Mondo A Go-Go!" (all surf guitars, hip-swaying percussion and sensational Sixties horns) make them too much fun for the techno scene, and "Mondo'"s sudden break beats, which gag for a rap, just don't fit into the four-to-the-floor picture.
Crash And Burn! is an electronica homage, a pop explosion, a retro-experiment and an
Austin Powers-wannabe groove attack, with a few poe-faced worthy tunes thrown in so that duo Merv Pepler and Joie Hinton will be taken seriously. The point they miss is that, like the
United Future Organisation and the
Propellerheads (whose Will White is a guest collaborator), they sound best when aping the Sixties spy movie sound tracks and like the aforementioned Mr. Powers, when not taking themselves too seriously.
--Dan Gennoe