PlayRadioPlay- The Frequency EP

The biggest promotional push for this CD was based on Dan Hunter’s massive MySpace following. To me, that means nothing. A massive MySpace following these days is really no big deal – every one and their mother’s dobermans seem to have a massive MySpace following – so when’s that the main selling point I tend to cringe at the thought. PlayRadioPlay‘s EP, The Frequency EP, shows us once again that a massive MySpace following does not necessarily mean they deserve to have a label backing them.

Similar to The Secret Handshake, PlayRadioPlay is a solo project by Hunter spitting out overly digitalized pop songs in a cheap attempt to make a more electronic version of Hellogoodbye. The back beat is random sythn noises, beats and keys played through his Mac Pro and his pop vocals are forced through a vocoder for the most part creating a even heavier electronic sound to it. It all adds up to a sound that is overly synthesized and too poppy to become a CD worthy of multiple listens. Hell, they were even able to make the already electronic Mr. Brightside and transform it into an effect laden cover song that sounds nothing similar other than the vocal melodies.

However, that’s not saying that The Frequency EP is completely horrible. After all, it’s simple electronic pop – you can’t help but bop your head a few times. The female vocals (or, at least they sound like they’re coming from a female singer, but the Hunter’s pitch is already high so I’m sure it wouldn’t take much to make them sound like a female with the vocoder) on At This Particular Moment In Time create a nice contrast and the chorus of Confines Of Gravity is quite entertaining; however the EP still fails to be memorable. There’s no real emotion or passion, just simple pop melodies with an overdose of effects thrown in there.

One man and his laptop can create great music (look at MC Lars for an example of that), but PlayRadioPlay is not one of those men. Instead, The Frequency EP is just another indicator to stay away from a trend that is started on MySpace.