Is it too soon to fetishise the noughties? Toronto’s MSTRKRFT – aka Jesse F Keeler from Death From Above 1979 and cohort Al-P – return after five years’ absence with a blast from the not-too-distant past. Operator harks back to a time when aggressive dance music didn’t just mean EDM. Analogue equipment and some rockist dynamics – a little redolent of Justice here, a nod to Chemical Brothers there – invigorate this busy, anachronistic record. Ultimately, the harder, almost techno-inclined instrumental tracks, such as Little Red Hen or Death in the Gulf Stream, are infinitely better than those burdened with vocals, some lairy and crass, some merely unengaging.
