Local Review: Beatnik — Life Sucks… Then You Dance

Beatnik
Life Sucks… Then You Dance
Self-Released
Street: 03.13.2025
Beatnik = Jamiroquai + Electric Light Orchestra + Lipps Inc.

In 1948, Jack Kerouac, one of my favorite authors, began writing On the Road: a roman à clef about his experiences traveling across the United States with Neal Cassady from 1947 to 1950. It is considered by most folks to be the defining work of the Beat Generation, a subculture of influential writers, poets and artists. According to Kerouac, the word “Beat” in Beat Generation is derived from the rhythmic beats of jazz, along with other various meanings, describing those who are “beaten down,” “beat,” “beat up” and so on.

Followers of the works of Beat Generation writers were referred to initially as beatniks, a term which grew and expanded to define a social movement of anti-consumerist and anti-conformist sentiment. As with many movements in the United States, it was eventually turned into a marketing tool by enterprising businessmen.

Joyce Johnson, another Beat Generation writer, said it best in her memoir:

 “[The] Beat Generation sold books, sold black turtleneck sweaters and bongos, berets and dark glasses, sold a way of life that seemed like dangerous fun — thus to be either condemned or imitated. Suburban couples could have beatnik parties on Saturday nights and drink too much and fondle each other’s wives.”

I preface my review with this very brief history to make my opinions on Beatnik’s EP Life Sucks… Then You Dance fairly clear. To tell you the truth I find myself not being particularly fond of this record. On one hand, everything sounds crisp and clean. I’d go as far as saying this is one of the best mixed local records I’ve reviewed. It’s a fun listen overall; I couldn’t bring myself to say any of the songs are poorly written, and the lyrics are present and have meaning. On the other hand, the sound is unoriginal and corporate in my mind. The musical ideas have been restated and rehashed so many times. This record sounds like the background music for a Progressive ad. It is a sound that resonates very heavily with Johnson’s words: suburbanite attempts at promiscuity.

In short, Beatnik makes disco music. If I remember correctly, when Moses received the ten commandments from God on Mount Sinai, an eleventh was cast down after all the important ones that simply stated, “thou shalt not resurrect disco.” Maybe the Book of Mormon retconned it, I can’t quite remember. Anyway, the point is it’s a sin up there with the most severe of sins. Right next to saying the lord’s name in vain and homicide.

This record isn’t just sacrilegious disco though. My favorite track here is “Two Eggs,” a song which is just about the furthest the record gets from disco. It has an unusual contorting yet uplifting chord progression, and a lo-fi beat. It’s the sound of a city skyline: uplifting not because it embodies a heavenly sound, but because it embodies the sound of progress. “Excelsior,” it says.

Everything else here I find rather hard to stomach. It is the most obvious rehashed and algorithmic disco music I have heard in quite a while. “Better With You” and “Feel Alive” have some interesting lyrics and ideas when looked into more thoroughly, but at face value these songs don’t sound like they were made to be a proper listening experience beyond showing up on the radio and receiving payola money.

The fact of the matter is that it isn’t even Beatnik’s fault that I don’t like their record. It’s a great sounding record, and musically there is nothing wrong here. Beatnik has demonstrably proven they are capable musicians. I don’t like the record simply because I don’t like disco. The second to last track on their record is titled “Disco is Dead.” It’s a sentiment I resonate with quite heavily, but I don’t think disco died due to the shifting of cultural zeitgeists; disco died because disco music sucks.

But … If you have the appetite for disco, Beatnik’s Life Sucks… Then You Dance is available on all streaming platforms. If it’s your thing, you’ll have a good time with it. —Ezra Smith

Read more music reviews by Ezra Smith:
Local Review: Modern Speed – Love & Destroy
Local Review: Electric Outlaws — Brain Eating Amoeba