If there were any justice in the world of electro-crunk-pop, Space Cowboy would be a household name, like that of so many other modern crunkmasters whose monikers roll off the tongues of the masses. The man otherwise known as Nick Destri came close, what with being Lady Gaga's DJ for a while and producing a track or two on her first album. But his real accomplishment is the work he has done with his protégée, the Eliza to his Professor Higgins, Nadia Oh. Their debut together, 2008's Hot like Wow, was a new chapter in dancefloor electro — Destri's clever manipulation of slinky spastic distortion and Prince-like get-down fun contrasted perfectly with the barely-trying ennui of Ms. Oh's performance. The surprising thing, then, is not only that they are back for more after the complete silence that greeted Hot like Wow's release, but that the new record is such an eclectic departure. Instead of the vaguely nostalgic exhortations of 2008, Colours is filled with aggro synth and worldly bounce, especially on lead single "Taking Over the Dancefloor," which sounds like the Earth-crushing summer jam that we keep waiting for M.I.A. to release. Oh's command to "throw your wallets in the sky" and her sly rhyming of "moombahton" with "Kate Middleton" in the chorus make the song more subversive than a cursory listen might suggest. Elsewhere, a track like "Jump Out the Window" shows Nadia dishing out gloriously swag-tastic 'tude amidst disorienting synth-stabs to the brain. If it's music for dancing, it's also music to trash your room to, or maybe burn your whole neighborhood to — in a gloriously riotous way.
