Comprised of Olle Corneer and Stefan Engblom, Swedish house/electronica/dance ensemble Dada Life, love to party, dance and bleep while crafting dance music that defies genres.
They don’t care about making dance music that scales the charts, wins awards or includes intelligible lyrics, Dada Life’s debut album Just Do The Dada is all about making people dance, scream and shout - and not necessarily in that order.
Dada Life Go Big Time
In 2006 Dada Life released “Big Time” and hooked the attention of local DJ’s. From there a stream of dance tracks including “The Great Fashionista Swindle”, “Vote Yes” and “Fun Fun Fun” appeared and featured on multiple dance compilations as well as in DJ sets by the likes of Crookers, Tiësto, Eric Prydz, Don Rimini and David Guetta.
Three years after their initial club success, Dada Life tap that magic into a full length album and release their debut record.
Just Do The Dada
The album kicks off with a one-two punch of strong Daft Punk-style French house songs “Don't Feed The Dada” & and first single “Happy Hands & Happy Feet” before dipping into the dance equivalent of a fax machine on speed with the repetitive rave jam “No Need For Machines”.
Second single “Let's Get Bleeped Tonight” continues the hands-in-the-air, no rules dance-a-thon as their previous single and works well as floor filler.
On their website they write “We are Dada Life. Destroy dance music and have fun. Don’t look back in the past. Always go forward. Don’t think too much. Always follow the money. Do the Dada. The result? Big tunes, no frills.”
While Dada Life deliver the promised fun on Just Do The Dada, especially on fantastic moments like “Let's Get Bleeped Tonight” and house-heavy “Sweet Little Bleepteen”, this is a divisive record and contains unfortunate frills such as “Right There” and “Love Vibrations”.
Let's Get Bleeped Tonight
Dada Life seem intent on trying everything at once, incorporating dub, pop, experimental dance and noise into the record for the hell of it. Experimentation works, but in small doses. If every song is an experiment, an album can come across as containing the occasional glitch and being gimmicky in places. Moreover, the band lacks an identifiable sound.
Just Do The Dada sounds like a top-loaded collection of dance tracks more than an artist album. And while there are many stand-out moments, the gas runs low on the album’s second half making it feel like the party ended but no one told them.
Download the singles, bounce against the walls, do the Dada and bleep the rest.
Dada Life – Just Do The Dada is available now.
James W. Coates - A nomad at heart, James W. Coates has been combining his passion for music, writing and traveling ever since his father packed the family ...
