Pick

Dave Aju Open Wide

• Words: Michael Byrne
• Label: Circus Comp
• XLR8R Rating: 8/10

Well, this should seriously confound “computer music” naysayers for years to come–a dance record, what you’d peg as “electronic,” composed entirely of sounds from Dave Aju’s mouth. Listening, you won’t believe it (I didn’t)–this is masterful by any standards, a broad-genre black hole that sucks in the most fuckable deep Chicago house (“First Love”); cheek-popping, bumpity hip-hop (“Bump”); busy, funky tech-house (“Crazy Place”); and other consistently warm, bouncy tracks that sit imperfectly in the “house music” slot (and give new meaning to the term “vocal house”). The record is so solid that even though Aju (né Marc Barrite) uses his mouth as the sole sound source, it almost seems an unnecessary gimmick. You might ask, why bother? For starters, because he can, and because dance music has a right to sound this human every now and again.