Chris Corner is a member of the Sneaker Pimps, and seemingly not content be associated with the worst-named genre of all time (trip-hop) (Ed. Note: two words: riot grrrl), he’s branched out with his solo project IAMX into Electronic Body Music (EBM), the second-worst-named genre of all-time. Twitch-era Ministry and the work of Cabaret Voltaire and Front 242 are good examples of the genre, which is a dance-friendly hodgepodge of electro, industrial and synth-pop. It’s generally a pretty stupid but fun little subgenre, filled with over-the-top lyrics about sex and drugs and even more over-the-top synthesizers. IAMX embraced the sound with his first album, 2004’s Kiss + Swallow, but on Kingdom of Welcome Addiction he tones it down a bit, with most of the songs being slow, introspective ballads and mid-tempo pop songs that take the minimalist approach of trip-hop and transport them to a synth-pop environment with generally positive results. He seems to be going for an Imogen Heap vibe, a presumption made all the more accurate by Imogen Heap’s guest appearance on the haunting “My Secret Friend.” Even without the synth-pop diva to back him up, Corner usually keeps things going nicely, with “I Am Terrified” and “Think of England” especially standing out. Parts are uneven, and Corner’s vocals aren’t always up to task, such as on “An I for an I” where he weakly bellows in vain to match his throbbing industrial beats. Still, this is a surprisingly good and complex record that actually might make you yearn for a new Sneaker Pimps album. (Metropolis 2009)
