Mika
Life In Cartoon Motion
Island Records 2007
Rating: candy-coated awesome fluff
This post was initially something else entirely. However, it’s amazing how a few good turns in the course of a day can take one from listening to The Scar-Jo and Mary Chain to something upbeat, pop-filled and confectionary, a summertime candyfloss for the ears and for the soul, something to inspire the wearing of hot pants and spangles and to decree, with a fey yawp, the desire to strut.
Struttin’ time? Struttin’ time. (After all-Ah’s the writer, Ah’s the one what says when it’s struttin’ time on Res Mag. STRUTTIN’ TIME. STRUTTIN’. TIME.)
And thus enters Mika
Mika entered the world late last year with a falsetto shimmy and a perfectly buoyant piece of piano pop in the form of his first single “Grace Kellyâ€. It was this song, an ode less to the namesake and more to the crises of identity that makes up his recently-released album Life In Cartoon Motion, that first introduced me to the bouncy glamourballadry of Mika. At first listen this, and everything on Life In Cartoon Motion, sounds like it could be ripped from the fluorescent polyester notebook of Jake Shears and his Scissors Sisters contemporaries, but that isn’t so. I’ve mentioned before on here that I’m not overly fond of the obnoxious camp that is the Scissors’ repertoire, and there’s none of that mistake of stupidisco for song-craft with Mika. Oh, he has utter moments of flat-out fabulous frivolity, as with the disco throb of ‘Relaxâ€, but this is the closest he’ll come to taking your momma out and forcing her to spend some speedy Saturday night hang with that obnoxious Anna Matronix and her chatty friends. Mostly, Mika’s more concerned with taking the proudly symphonic show-tune glee of piano-hottie Rufus Wainwright and using them as a shell in which to channel Freddie Mercury’s theatrics, a nod he even acknowledges as his other identity on “Grace Kelly†(and if “Big Girl You Are Beautiful†doesn’t just SCREAM “fat bottom girlsâ€, well, then, talk about mud flaps?).
Mika’s got both a gorgeous voice and a spot-on sense of what can make a silly song have a memorable impact, which is another thing the Scissors sorely lack-they obviously assume you can plug in a mirrorball and suddenly turn out worthwhile tunes. It’s why “Lollipopâ€â€™s hand-slap percussion, to the beat of double-dutch rope skipping and complete with a schoolyard interlude chanting “suckin’ too hard on your lollipop/love’s gonna get you down†is so creepy and catchy, and why the over-the-top egomania and frenzied guitar outro (again: Queen) of “Love Today†is nothing short of the ideal radio single. In fact, all of the songs on Life In Cartoon Motion, fortunately getting a huge push right now in the States, are perfect flip-flop tunes, the music equivalent of a beach read for blue states and Cosmo drinking. There’s nothing that’s going to change your life here, but there’s no end to catchy hooks, frenzied stomps and happy-ass strutting, not to mention coy little Mika’s pretty little silver-tongued come-ons and some of the fiercest piano caresses likely to be heard this summer.
When, on “Love Today”, Mika commands “Love Love Meâ€, it’s a tad redundant-at that point in the album, only a few songs in, already it’s impossible not to.
The first single from Life In Cartoon Motion-and it’s impossible not to love.
Mika’s little piece of creepy child-catcher skippy schoolkid heaven. He’s comin’ to seduce you with wax lips and red vines, Wolfy. Wach. Yourself. (and your Lil’ Wolf)
Mika: Love Today (Patrick Wolf’s “no, love me more, bitches” remix)
And here we have the hunter captured by the game-or something like that. Mika, vaguely resembling a cuter, glitterier version of Family Guy’s Herbert, persuades that “nice and sparkly” little Wolf-Boy to come over for Ice Cream Floats and a bit of a splash on the Slip-N-Slide. Innocent fun? Right. Just. Innocent. Fun.
The video for “Grace Kelly”, all whirlwind heat and spangles.
Mika’s obnoxiously cute bandwidth killer of a pretty confection website
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