- MUSIC REVIEWS

My first introduction to Sparks was the song "Tryouts for the Human Race," a staple and highlight of the dance nights that proliferated in the mid 2000s (though it was written in the late-70s), luring the kids away from their crossed-arm posts at standard indie rock shows. "Tryouts" was a nightly inevitability that I would drunkenly request anyway: its slow-building, operatic electronica was the aural synonym for the superficial grandeur of a coke buzz, while the vocals and instrumentation were suffused with a cheeky braininess that seemed to mock everyone involved. This ambivalence typified my own mixed feelings towards the extroverted twist my musico-social life had taken...