I can see for Mylo

In-store show
HMV Oxford Street
20 October 2004

This Culler is no rapacious record buyer, but I do like to check what’s hot and what’s not, what new sonic porn the tastemakers are pushing us. So I turned up at ‘my’ major West End phonic shop to see the back end given over to a live show from Mylo. The Scottish islands artist is making a name with himself with memorably titled singles such as Destroy Rock & Roll (American guy rants a list of acts to be destroyed, with pleasing emphasis on sealing Duran Duran’s fate) and readily identifiable luminous spray-painted stencilled logos flyposted all over, seemingly done by Putsch if the Breastfed label is anything to go by.

Joining this freebie gig in the positive column were a good turnout, excellent acoustics (better than most clubs) and an emphatic sound. Myles MacInnes himself played guitar accompanied by a full band and backing tracks. Like many others, Mylo seems to understand the disposable pleasure of his art, that he is just one more variant of the relentless Tesco Finest production chain. Hence the desire to distance himself from being precious about the art, with the cheap branding and knowing lyrics.

But all this regurgitated Jackson bounce-beat, these clinical 80s exhortations to dance that he and fellow Breastfed artist Linus Love and many, many others unable to get off the jaunty bandwagon peddle, it HAS TO STOP. It’s making some stuff on the far edges of house seem like pure Marinetti business by comparison, and that genre in itself is 20 years old. A nod and a wink is not enough when the rest of the package is so bog standard.