Junior Senior’s D-D-Don’t Don’t Stop the Beat was the most mischievous release of 2003, a surprisingly durable blend of Daft Punk, Kid Creole and the New York Dolls. Tracks like “Rhythm Bandits” and “Shake Your Coconuts” still evoke a mini-revolution that never happened, a bandwagon that nobody thought to jump on.
Including, apparently, Junior Senior. Hey Hey My My Yo Yo (originally released in Japan in 2005, and just making its way into North America now) wilts in the shadow of its predecessor. It is a botched attempt to make a full-on pop record, one that dazzles with its surface sheen and catchy hooks. Not unwisely, the duo has toned down the in-jokiness that threatened to relegate it to novelty status, yet by doing so Junior Senior has stripped the humor right out of its music. And where the debut was like a clarion call for freaks and geeks of all stripes, the let’s-all-live-as-one vibe of the new disc feels labored. “Ur a Girl” and “I Like Music” are sickly sweet in their cheerfulness.
There’s one glorious exception: “Take My Time,” featuring guest vocalists Cindy Wilson and Kate Pierson of The B-52’s, who transcend the hoariest of lyrical clichés (“Love is all we need/In the world to succeed”) with harmonies that will break your heart. It’s a genuinely unguarded display of emotion on a CD that otherwise spells such things out in big block letters.
JUNIOR SENIOR
Hey Hey My My Yo Yo
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