The world of fashion is marked by endless new trends rapidly becoming obsolete, then cycling around again-- that's why it's called fashion. Operating a music label like a fashion line is a dicey proposition-- for every success at merging the two worlds (Fischerspooner, Gaga, Urban Outfitters, Odd Future), there are infinitely more unmemorable attempts. One way to succeed is to stamp your brand on a ton of different things, and count on the fact that the value accrued by the very good outweighs the hits you take from the bad. That's been Kitsuné's goal, it seems, since opening for business in 2002. For a brief minute last decade, it seemed that the label that packaged its first compilation with a pasta recipe was actually going to win the big-club dance music sweepstakes through sheer number of releases alone-- James Murphy, remember, was losing his edge to "the kids from France"-- but their batting average quickly dipped. By 2007, Pitchfork's Tim Finney could claim the label had experienced "a meteorite fall-from-grace."
Which brings us to 2011, and Kitsuné's latest attempt to merge the worlds of dance and rock music with London trio Is Tropical. They certainly lean more toward style than substance-- they wear bags over their head in promo photos, their band name and debut album title both sound like they were clipped from the middle of sentences in fashion magazines-- but that doesn't mean there's nothing to like on Native To. Like so many of the incalculable number of beachy New Order re-orderings that've cropped up over the past couple of decades, the album packs a bit of catchy disco slickness ("Lies"), more than a few moments that would work well as jingles for travel adverts (opener "South Pacific"), and approximations of moody, guitar-heavy Brit rock ("Oranges").
While current American indie artists prefer their surf-and-sand music to echo vague, blurry memories of hitting the beach, Is Tropical aim to pack dancefloors. It's certainly easy to imagine them becoming the next Big UK Band, as well, playing festival gigs and massive club dates and making a fairly good living at it for a few years-- many worse things have happened. "I'll Take My Chances" may be a straightforward ditty about going for it with a girl, but it holds the best statement of purpose for the band's M.O. of keeping their music uncluttered and uncomplicated: "Any idiot knows that simplicity wins." Indeed, Native To is packed with well-executed, hummable stuff, but it wears thin quickly. To use a style comparison, it's like buying clothes from discount Euro-style mall retailer H&M: They look great on the rack, but you're lucky if they last you through the season.
