The men behind El Guapo are sneaky fellows. They may have a new band name (Supersystem) and a new record label (Touch & Go), but in spite of some personnel shuffling (mainly the addition of drummer Joshua Blair, making them a quartet), they still take the same approach: merging rousing D.C.-punk anthems and dance music, and yielding mixed results.
Always Never Again makes me think the band has a convincing dance record in them somewhere. The elements are there, and this album seems more full and maximalist than Supersystem or Fake French. But on like those earlier records, Supersystem here manage to shoot themselves in the foot before the party ever gets going.
El Guapo's round-style harmonies were a point of contention, and they're still here on Always Never Again. I don't consider clever lyrics a requirement in either dance or rock, but these are distractingly inane. After a Ratatattin' video-game music intro, second track "Everybody Sings" repeats the same trick as Fake French's "Just Don't Know", repeating one phrase ad infinitum, interspersing different nouns ("Do you feel the connection to people on the surface?/ Do you feel the connection between people in the office?"), hoping to find meaning by accident. And after listening to previous single "Born Into the World" ("I was born above a candy store/ Behind a great big marble door"), I'm pretty sure they're making the words up as they go along
But more than that, Supersystem want you to get down to their punk-funk hybrid so badly, they use every trick they have, on every track, all at once. It's the execution that bogs the record down; it lacks subtlety, tension, or surprise. The sax on "Click Click" is a nice touch-- as are the chilly keyboards on "Born Into the World" or the violins and Cure-inspired phased guitar on "Miracles". But then the vocals come in, and manic layering of instruments and beats continues without any kind of melodic variation. As a result, tracks like "Defcon", with a decent beat and solid drive, are weighted down by clutter. There are Latin rhythms and tones popping up in tracks like "Six Cities" and "The Love Story", but that's really the only step Supersystem has made from their former namesake-- if you didn't like Fake French, nothing here will change your mind.
