Album: The 2 Bears, Be Strong (Southern Fried)

3.00

Simon Price

Sunday 29 January 2012

The 2 Bears are Joe Goddard (one fifth of Hot Chip) and Raphael Rundell, aka Raf Daddy, and Be Strong is a dance album which spins the decks back to the turn of the millennium: one thinks of the Avalanches, Zoot Woman, Junior Senior, even early Hot Chip themselves.

The sub-Ian Dury bathos of Raf's vocals can start to grate but the Darth Vader voice with which he delivers "I don't wanna feel tits, wanna give you a bear hug" on "Bear Hug" makes it all worthwhile.

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