Yip-Yip: Two Kings of the Same Kingdom

If someone challenged me to sum up the current “underground” indie dance scene in as few words as possible, I think I could probably answer in two — Microkorg synthesizer. With people like Dan Deacon and a host of other homegrown groove-mongers spilling out of dirty apartments from Portland to NYC, we’re currently witnessing a feeding frenzy for these cute little doohickeys that’s sure to make owners of thrift stores and pawnshops nationwide want to go on a yearlong vacation. Central Floridian dynamic duo Yip-Yip, for instance, already have at least one of these babies decked out in checks to match their own, equally bold bodysuits. On this year’s Two Kings of the Same Kingdom, they’ve got the Microkorg and a plethora of other aging synths bleeping and whirring like there’s no tomorrow. With songs like “Genius Beast” — a track that evokes a mash-up of early Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark and ’90s arcade classic “Carn-Evil” — and “Outer Tomato” (sounding a bit like Euro prog-metal through a Fisher-Price walkie-talkie) it’s a 25-minute sugar rush in hexadecimal. I imagine dancing to this stuff in a warehouse somewhere with a bunch of other sweaty hipsters could be immensely fun. Otherwise it’s kind of tiring. For fans of Devo, Kraftwerk, Klaus Nomi, and Cibo Matto.