Ming & Ping - Causeway Army

This is the third album from the Hong Kong identical twins who specialise in modern-sounding electronic pop, which they say is influenced by New Order, Erasure and Pet Shop Boys. ‘Influenced’ is perhaps too weak a word to sum up this album’s debt to New Order. From the opening drum pattern of Dream Of Pop, which is exactly the same as Blue Monday, to the fuzzy programming of Duotone which recalls later New Order tracks like Crystal, this album could easily be accepted as part of the Manchester act’s back catalogue. That’s not a particularly bad thing in itself, but it’s the real lack of original ideas that grates with this release. The flat vocals aren’t anything Fischerspooner didn’t do five years ago, and although its reasonably enjoyable, only serious fans of this type of thing won’t find it redundant. [Scott Ramage]