MSTRKRFT

If not for their roles in Canadian indie-dance duo Death from Above 1979, MSTRKRFT's bandmates have evidently made their way into hipster dialogue with steep, significant remix cred. Members Jesse Keeler and Al-P (DFA 1979 bass/synth man and producer, respectively) have spruced up their resumés with sultry, uncaged second takes of Bloc Party, Annie, and Metric, while their debut album, The Looks, is lubed with the same lusty but sophisticated sexual charge. Each motoring track on The Looks squirms in glitter-caked robot funk, with techy disco beats warmed by vocoders that soothe like Vicks VapoRub. The pre-album twelve-inch "Easy Love" is wonderfully crazed cyborg dance fodder, particularly because of its obnoxious, cheesy synth lines and bouncy, machine-uttered sex-starved mantra. Adversely "Street Justice" is cold and commanding via slightly fuzzed-out metal-cornered keyboard squeals and even some piercing faux guitar licks on its way out. MSTRKRFT goes no further than appeasing a crowded club floor on The Looks, but why the hell should it?