This is a review of "The Rise & Rise Of Disco Nouveaux" recorded by Cognoscenti. The review was written by Matthew Walton in 2006.

Cognoscenti are cheeky chappies, at least judging by the flyer attached to their forthcoming E.P. They talk about their mother, packed lunches and do the music thing because they care “If they didn’t who would” they ask. I played the disc hoping for some catchy lyrics, grooving bass lines and guitar solos to make my grandma get up and dance. Oh dear, I was wrong.

The best track is the electrically infused “Who’s Alchemical now?” A decent effort, but just doesn’t push enough buttons, or prod you into hunting down their other material down or catching them live. The lyrics are unrecognizable and the ones I could hear sounded totally uneventful.

“There is no you and I” sounds like a cross between Doves and Elbow. Pretty decent comparison, but again just about crawls over the finish line long after the other runners, who are now getting changed and enjoying some performance enhancing drugs.

Last is “Marina walks in circles”. Starts off the most promising with a pretty original beat, and some electrically produced twitters which the Chemical Brothers would approve of , but it peters out into 1,000 other songs out there, never holding your attention long enough to stop your mind wandering… shopping… fishcakes… fit checkout girl… cucumbers… wooah, there I go again.

So in conclusion, bland, uninspiring and forgettable. Don’t write these guys off, and I hope they prove me totally wrong, but you’ve got more chance of seeing Freddie Mercury at this year’s Leeds Festival than a hit Cognoscenti record.