AMG Review of Beauty in Distortion/The Land of the Lost

Andy Kellman
All Music Guide

Said to be a prelude to an imminent album and billed as a double EP, despite adding up to well over 90 minutes of music (single LPs have been known to be a third as long), The Beauty in Distortion/The Land of the Lost has been downplayed as a teaser release, which is understandable since there is a wide range of material offered up, a fair amount of filler included. However, between the two discs, there is a single LP's worth of prime neo-new wave synth funk, much of it attractively twisted and dipped in sleaze. J*Davey are a duo: Brook, the male half, does the production, seemingly inspired by the rhythmic complexities of both late-'70s dancefloor-oriented fusion and left-field hip-hop as much as synth-reliant new wave; Jack, the female half and the vocalist, is closer in sound to early Stacey Q than anyone else, if mostly a perverted droid of some unique kind. The collaborator list is extensive, including Georgia Anne Muldrow, ?uestlove, Phonte, and Kardinal Offishall, but J*Davey work best when they are on their own, or when assisted only by the odd instrumentalist -- as they are on most of The Beauty in Distortion.