To call the new Scooter single ‘new’ is to make language blush, so let’s say instead that “Weekend!” is the most recent Scooter single. Or let’s say that it’s the most recent draft of the Scooter single, another half-inch of ground gained in Sheffield Dave’s pilgrim’s progress towards Mu Mu Land. “Nessaja” seems to have been a bit of a conceptual breakthrough for Scooter, with the crucial discovery that added folky helium vox could boost the vibe bigtime – here Nikk provides the giddy-pitched warblings, about a woman’s heart, which in turn sparks philosophy from Dave: “BASS DRUM!” and then the tune is overtaken by a horde of arm-waving Cossacks. Oh, no, wait, I meant: “What is essential is invisible to the eye. It’s only with the heart that you can see rightly.”. Though “BASS DRUM!” is enlightening too. There’s a crowd to please, and the more they please it the bigger it will get: Scooter are that rare pop thing, a marriage of unabashed populism and absolute conviction, and we should treasure them.
(Bonus points for the cover’s magnificent irrelevancy – Sheffield Dave in leather armour and his fellow Scooterites in chainmail, surrounded by barbarian lovelies. And for their publishing company being called Delicate Music.)