Arab Danc Rotini

Now is the summer of Arab Strap's (latest) discontent. In the late '90s, the duo's songs focused on vices—drugs, alcohol, empty sex. Thirty years later, Aidan Moffatt and Malcolm Middleton are repulsed and fascinated by the minefields of the online world: the conspiracy theories, the anonymized hate, the dearth of real human connection, and the addictive nature of it all. "I come to you for confirmation/ Testimony, adulation/ Education, excitation/ Palpitation and flirtation/ But you give me aggravation/ Insult and disinformation/ Hatred, bias and predation," Moffatt sings on "Sociometer Blues." Set to manic disco-fever beats that match his racing recitation, it presents as a romance gone very wrong.