The Homestyle and Paper Bag/Plastic Bag EPs have laid the foundations and now, with Thrift Shop Boutique, Offcutts' ideas can finally be presented as a long-player, somehow packaged together cohesively despite duo's obvious disrespect for genre-related pigeonholes. Really, it shouldn't work, but what could have been disjointed set of compositions, ends up being my favourite album so far this year. A few electronic elements in the production of the lament Papillion D Amour and the pensive Frigid, link the songs to a dose of deep grooves from Homestyle: Gravel Rash, Kitchen Bay and Back To The Music. Those Homestyle tracks are some of the finest and most charismatic songs produced among the electronic music community in the last couple of years. Endearing vocals drift over bubbling bass lines and solid beats to produce something quite magical. A few of the tracks on Thrift Shop Boutique didn't resonate with me originally when they appeared on EPs, but now make sense in an LP format. One of them is Break It, featured on a TV ad and thoroughly rotated on radio; another is Hips, which was the track that first attracted the attention of Australian media. Luckily, for fans of Offcutts, it isn't all a well-presented rehash; you'll find a few fresh tracks to make this CD a worthwhile inclusion to collections. She Said We Could Make It? is a stand-out, but its traditional flavour also shows how diverse the act's repertoire can get, a far-cry from the shadowy groove of my favourite, Mushroom Cloud (Mouthbox Mix). Offcutts can inspire some varied reactions, including laughter, sadness and more than a touch of confusion, but listening to the richly diverse Thrift Shop Boutique, you quickly reach the conclusion that everything is intentional. Despite a few dubious vocal and lyrical moments, this LP is an early highlight for 2004 and as time rolls on, it may be remembered as an historic moment for a rising star of the local scene.

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Tracklisting

Full listing of OFFCUTS releases