Bionikworld are a live tech funk band from Melbourne, and this, their debut release, is a collection of neat little tunes that will make you groove and move. A lot of their tunes are disco / house inspired, bringing visions of nice warm days by the beach watching the boys and girls in little tight clothing walk past, well for me at any rate.

Despite the album cover saying, “this record was made with no money on borrowed, stolen and hijacked equipment”, they must have had the equipment for quite some time, because it is expertly put together and sounds quite good. At first I didn’t really get into it, thinking the first couple of tunes didn’t really capture the energy of a live performance. Although I’ve never seen these guys live, I have got albums of other acts that are fantastic live, but sound rather lacklustre when in the studio.

The first tunes are a little like this; they’re not bad, but they’re not stand out either. However, by about Maestroes, track 8, I was grooving away and quite enjoying it. These guys have a wide range of influence, from Daft Punk, Steve Bug, Chicken Lips, Cassius to Mr Oizo, and the variety shows more, and the quality of sound seems to improve as the album progresses into tracks like sometimes, bootyful and filthy.

As with a lot of dance acts, the use of samples is paramount to their sound, and is cleverly done, albeit not in any revolutionary way. It may seem from what I’ve written that I don’t like this album, but that’s not true. I do like it, but it seems to just briefly touch on something deeper and stronger, that quite possibly would be more apparent in their live shows, so its left me feeling a little empty and hence disappointed. However, I’m sure that this album is only a smaller teaser of what’s to come, and I’m sure we’ll hear, and see, a lot more of these guys soon.