The Studio "No Comply"

This song feels like a dirty vacation. Not necessarily a bad vacation, mind you, just one that leaves a feeling of uneasiness and ickiness with the memories of warmth and relaxation, a layer of grime that no matter what, can’t be scraped off the photographs. Perhaps one of those packages advertised with everything (airfare, hotel, food, rental car) bound-up in one small price. They’re essentially just selling the hot weather, but you get the rickety hotel, partially digestible food, and mosquitos for no extra charge. Like A Certain Ratio, the Factory-produced chilly climate funk band that provides “No Comply” (mp3) with its clear and unadulterated stylistic bedrock, the Studio come across as long-time white employees of a resort community otherwise run by non-white locals, and who occasionally get duped into serving as the night’s entertainment. Armed with only a portable stereo and shoebox full of old tapes for inspiration, the group picks up the rudiments of their instruments, and puts everything they have into trying to sound leisurely and cosmopolitan, while making the two couples fall more in love (the guy has a tan line on his wedding ring finger) and the family with the two little girls stop arguing. That old man leaning against the doorway (where the kitchen door is propped open because of the heat) probably can do it better, but his resigned grin leads you to think that he has no desire to.