Dim Dim: Bounce
Audio Dregs

Dim Dim's fourth album Bounce (Audio Dregs) is a seriously silly romp through twenty sunny cuts by Bruxelles, Belgium resident Jerry Dimmer. As gleeful as your nearest children's playground, the disc's songs squeeze enough melodies and sounds into three minutes to last an album or two. In “Flavia,” Dimmer warps and slices a French speaker's voice before heading out on an African juju romp with a troupe of whistlers while “Peach” works a skanky funk pulse, skat singing, and sunny vocal chants into a resplendent charmer. The colourful cruise includes jubilant lounge escapades, slapstick sambas, soul-reggae grooves, and warped waltzes. Though drum machines, synth blips, and cartoon babble appear, Dimmer's instrument of choice seems to be guitar as oodles of Hawaiian, wah-wah, and pealing axe sounds figure prominently throughout (“Party” even includes a talk-box). Rest assured Dim Dim's sounds will brighten even the most embittered curmudgeon's day.

February 2006