On the surface, much of Do You Want New Wave or Do You Want the Soft Pink Truth? is an album of electro-pop covers of punk songs from Drew Daniel -- ex-punk-rocker, present Björk collaborator and Matmos member, and button-pusher behind the Soft Pink Truth -- that's perfect for apolitical dance floors anywhere. Rudimentary Peni's "Media Friend" is a rough-edged slab of programmed funk, and even Minor Threat's straight-edge anthem "Out of Step" is reengineered for a context in which every pleasure is chemically centered. But just when you're ready to slide into a long, thoughtless groove, Daniel slips in a line such as "Jesus was a cock-sucking Jew," from Nervous Gender's "Confession," upending everything. Punk's not dead; it's just digitized.
