Fridae

It's an ordinary Saturday night down at the local gay bar in downtown Kuala Lumpur. The crowd is typical of any gay nightspots around the world. Drag queens intermingle with fag hags, while straight-acting bottoms long for anyone willing to please their sexual desires, getting more desperate as the night gets older.

There's a huge poster near the bar's entrance that signifies this is not just any other night, but one celebrating the release of a new album by the princess of camp pop. Her ass-revealing, back-crunching pose has got the crowd intrigued and has spawned a few imitators. Later, the crowd will be served with a tribute drag show that's low in humility and full of feather boas. Kylie Minogue would be extremely pleased and dreadfully horrified at the same time.

Like last year's Light Years, Kylie remains loyal to dance floor concoctions that returned her to the shocking pink limelight after about a decade of being in purgatory. Fever has a characteristic 70s to early-80s disco feel obviously evident in her first single, Can't Get You Out Of My Head, which is reminiscent of Lipps, Inc.'s Funkytown. Since a majority of acts have adopted this disco-funk fusion (Modjo, Madison Avenue, Daft Punk, and Jamiroquai), Kylie seems to be on the right track.

Worth mentioning are club-friendly tracks like the appropriately titled Dancefloor, Burning Up, and Love Affair, which sounds like a flip side to Please Stay. In Your Eyes is a perfect candidate for the next single, hinting that Kylie is not yet ready to step down from the throne built by last year's Spinning Around.

Although Fever will hardly get any mentions during the next Grammy, it's a fairly consistent and satisfying self-contained Gay Pride block party.