Foo Foo Yik Yik

Dynasty Handbag’s Foo Foo Yik Yik is the product of one-woman mind-blower Jibz Cameron with her trusty keyboard samples and drum machine. Her tender and humorous singing, moaning and whispering get into your brain quickly and stays put long after you’ve turned off the music.

The album sounds like I thought I did Christmas morning 1984 when I got my Casio keyboard and spent the morning riffing to the ‘demo’ sample. Except, Dynasty Handbag keeps the low-tech feeling of ‘84, but the vocals and lyrics are decidedly full-grown and bravely mature. The wackiness of it all feels foreign played in rural Canada, and more so when I popped the CD in at the local ‘ladies only’ fitness club. “In My Dreams” crept below the radar with the muttering and ramblings. Later, someone confessed she thought it was “talk radio.” The x-rated sex sounds in “Break Up Day” caught everyone’s attention, though, and held it through to the dance beat that got everyone jogging on the spot super-fast to “Fading Away.” By “Chinese Immigrant,’ we were all grooving.

It doesn’t look like Dynasty Handbag play shows north of Brooklyn, which is probably good. I’d hate to see what would happen to her if she hit the stage at the local Royal Canadian Legion. Foo Foo Yik Yik is very Yoko Ono, which is very cool, but has a selective audience. For now, those of us who choose to live outside the hip urban zones, must be content with guerilla CD tactics at lifeless suburban fitness clubs to satisfy our hunger for brain-twisting tunes.

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