MC Lars - This Gigantic Robot Kills (2009)

By Jonno Seidler

Precisely which genre Tiga decides to define himself on seems to depend on his particular whims.

But one thing is for sure - he is a superstar, the kind of superstar who believes that his image, vocals and music are all as equally indispensable as each other. 

Tiga's immense ego is one of the fundamental problems with dance music, which has offered up its own pantheon of heroes to match the U2's and Guns N' Roses of the rock world.

People like Dave Guetta and Bob Sinclair (who essentially program tracks for other people to sing and then bask in the reflective glory) have become institutions, boasting clothing lines, clubs and labels in their honor.

The issue with Tiga is that he is very good at what he does well, writing huge bass lines and hypnotic drum loops. 

He is not so good at writing lyrics or singing them, particularly in the second department. 

Had he gone the route of his debut and recruited real vocalists like Scissor Sister's Jake Shears again, we might have a different beast on our hands.

Instead, "Ciao!" is the Canadian's opportunity to create a shrine to himself (both literally and musically) by dedicating ludicrous odes to materialism and luxury and actually featuring on them.

The devil's advocate would say this is a bold and impressive move towards fully owning a product, but in a realm where remixes and dubs rule, that was never actually going to happen.

Just look at what Justice did to Simian's We Are Your Friends. Songs like Shoes and Beep-Beep-Beep are groovy enough, but those deadpan, out of tune vocals just kill the vibe as soon as they enter.

You would think with all the technology available to him, the man could digitally enhance his pipes.

He comes close on Mind Dimension, so completely whack that it just has to be enjoyable. But once again, that song is built on bass and glitches, and the vocals are of little consequence.

Take the first three tracks, ditch the rest and wait for the remixes. They are likely playing loudly at a club near you right now anyway.

RATING: 3 out of 5

Brought To You By The Dwarf