Pop Soup

For those who have not yet imported a copy of Danish duo Junior Senior's 2005 LP Hey Hey My My Yo Yo, there is good news and there is better news. First, the group's sophomore CD was finally released in the U.S. on Aug. 14. Second, it comes (in limited edition) accompanied by a brand-new seven-song EP called Say Hello, Wave Goodbye. The EP opens with three of the band's finest tracks to date: the atmospheric, Air-ish "Stranded on an Island Alone"; "Together for One Last Dance," which is like a great Blur single ejaculating an even better Erasure chorus; and "Headphones Song," a deep, repetitive dance groove that crescendos in ecstatic keyboards and the lyrical reverie, "Your dream is everywhere."

This band is everywhere — as in all over the musical map. Junior Senior is postmodern bricolage at its best, a happy amalgam of R&B, disco, hip hop, soul, funk, synth-pop, and occasionally even punk. For Hey Hey My My Yo Yo, the band draws a surprising range of guest performances as well, including Kate Pierson and Cindy Wilson of the B-52's, all three members of Le Tigre, Spooner Oldham, and Motown girl group the Velvelettes, who also appeared on Junior Senior's debut album, D-D-Don't Don't Stop the Beat.

"We're like kids in a candy store," says Jeppe Laursen (aka "Senior") over the telephone from Germany. "We really love women's voices, and we got [all these people], on like seven songs, you know? Like spread out. It's amazing that they agreed to all that. It's kind of like one big family, where you all just participate." This ethos of sociability translates well onto record, and Hey Hey My My Yo Yoexuberates with great performances from principal players and guests alike. Jesper Mortensen's ("Junior's") Jacksonian falsetto and catchy guitar riffs are a confectioner's treat; the female B-52's are predictably flawless. J.D. Samson of Le Tigre gives a charming, gender-emancipated take on old-school hip hop for the album's hit, "Can I Get Get Get," and Kathleen Hanna (also of Le Tigre fame) turns out deadpan bubble-gum in "Dance Chance Romance," which is buoyed by the gospel-lite refrain of "hallelujah, hallelujah."

The disc is suffused with such a warm, participatory spirit, it is surprising when Laursen takes exception to the term "pastiche" as a descriptor for Junior Senior's music. "We very much know our influences and inspiration," he says, "but it's not that calculated. It's not like a recipe where you put two eggs in and mix them with something else. It's like anyone — we just draw from what we're really inspired by." This seems about right, too. In an intuitive musical strategy that is both homage and self-discovery, Junior Senior draws freely from the past while leaving the proportions of the mix up to the muses to determine.

What most delights about Junior Senior's music is the process of old formulas being reproduced in newly energetic ways — the happy sound of repetition that's the very essence of rhythm itself. Like a Deee-Lite album that doesn't get old after three tracks, or a B-52's song with less of a post-punk edge, Junior Senior capitalizes on forward momentum. It's hard not to miss this play on any of the duo's albums: You hear it very clearly in a pop-historical stutter like, "can I get-get-get-to-know-you-know-know-you-better-better baby?" or "d-d-don't-don't-don't-don't stop the beat." You don't love a lyric like that because it's new. You like that what's old about it comes alive in a funky, fecund moment — and with Junior Senior, you know when that happens, 'cause it simply feels so good to move to on the dance floor.