And here’s their other best mates!…

[Video][Myspace]
[6.14]

Jonathan Bogart: The two-thirds of “Like a G6” that made “Like a G6” interesting do a repeat without the lunkheaded rhymes of Far East Movement getting in the way. It’s subject to the law of diminishing returns, but Dev’s vocals are still as unapproachably snotty as ever and the Cataracs’ production still clips and snaps satisfyingly.
[7]

Anthony Easton: What is this double-dutch hyper bass-heavy rhythm called (think Tiga and Bunny)? This is an excellent example of it.
[8]

Chuck Eddy: Am I just trying to convince myself this song has a very similar relationship to L’Trimm that “Like A G6” has to Latin freestyle? Or does it really? Most of these points are for Dev, obviously. And whatever this genre calls itself, I need more.
[8]

Mallory O’Donnell: I hate to dither when it comes to bass music, which I’m largely a fan of, but these phoned-the-fuck-in lyrics make L’Trimm sound like Lyotard. Otherwise, it’s a firm mid-ranker in the Songs That Make Me Think My Phone is Vibrating When Played Loud Enough department.
[4]

Zach Lyon: I keep upping my grade for this. The production and structure is clean and as listenable as it is danceable, and Dev’s hook is surprisingly tolerable. It’s personally tailored to her monochrome robotics, and it’s not clear if she has it in her to do anything else – her awful Ke$ha mimicry in the verses isn’t a good sign. She’s destined to end up as the Snaggapuss of the 10’s: a single vocal tic brought in to ruin tracks that weren’t good enough to escape associating with her in the first place.
[6]

Alex Macpherson: Dev’s a bit like my dream Ke$ha. Lest that sound too much like a backhanded compliment, what I mean is that she retains the vacuous, hedonistic party girl persona — which was never what was wrong with the other one — but replaces the unlistenable autotune vomit with blank electroclash poise that brings to mind Miss Kittin. Giving the impression that you’re not trying will always be a better look than obnoxiously, desperately trying too hard. But though I cosign the sentiments of “Bass Down Low” wholeheartedly and welcome the prominence of Dev over the Cataracs’ sub-BEP rapping, it doesn’t really match the ridiculous pop moment that was “getting slizzard”.
[7]

Kat Stevens: “Get yer mitts in my oven” = EWWWWW. When was the last time you washed your pair of oven gloves? EXACTLY.
[5]

Tom Ewing: Dev’s numb autocue rapping worked really well on “G6”: it fit the whole stoner robot vibe of that song. But even though this sticks pretty close to that song’s blueprint, she’s a lot more annoying here: heavy-lidded and amateurish, halfway between Uffie and Robyn. Almost saved by the bleeps, though.
[5]

Martin Skidmore: It’s patchy, and I could have done without Black Eyed Peas references, and when she turns towards singing she’s not very good, but maybe the main hook here will catch an audience.
[5]

Iain Mew: Impossible to go through the whole thing without a sneaking suspicion that it’s just an inferior version of “Like a G6”, and no one actually needed the link between that and “Boom Boom Pow” to be made clunkingly explicit. Still, the big boingy bass and central hook are are enjoyable enough that it isn’t a total loss.
[5]

Doug Robertson: I need to get a car. I need to motor round the streets of the city, pumping this out as I aimlessly drive with no destination in mind.
[7]

Katherine St Asaph: What on Earth is going on in this song? The obvious referent (well, other than Far East Movement) is the Black Eyed Peas, complete with “boom boom pow” shoutout. But the Cataracs cram in everything else in the world: bleacher-stomp beats, crumbling beats, earthquake beats that sound colossal enough at 3 p.m. on laptop speakers, let alone in a club; girl raps and guy raps and a sinuous vocal on the bridge; pinball noises, keyboard-percussion noises, other noises, even that cascading-waterfall effect ubiquitous in New Age music, for chrissakes. It’s not pretty, and part of me suspects it’s what happens after you ingest too much “Blah Blah Blah” gateway ugliness. But when your predecessors are either strip-mining Dirty Dancing or endorsing Ryan Tedder, this sounds pretty damn good.
[8]

Alex Ostroff: This is a Frankenstein’s monster of a pop tune. Dev manages to somehow capture the dead-eyed white girl patois of Ke$ha on the verses, rendered more commercial by a complete lack of her glitter-puke abrasiveness. All of this over top of a beat that jacks the “Pon de Floor” riddim and bolsters it with endless waves of bass. It’s kind of wonderful? The Cataracs continue to be a bargain basement “Boom Boom Pow”, but even the spectre of will.i.am can’t quite destroy the appeal.
[6]

John Seroff: AKA “Like a G7” or “114 BPM/#4657”. It took three listens, a double-take at the iPod and a fast confirmation on Wikipedia to confirm this was NOT a will.i.am production; The Cataracs sure are slavishly conforming to formula here. Between the end-of-2010-charts recap and the BBC picks, it’s been disparagingly meager pickings on the Jukebox so I’m tempted to score “Bass Down Low” higher than its dance pop cookie-cutter qualities merit, if only because it’s not bluntly painful to the ear. Even so, slightly above mediocre is as far as I’m willing to go.
[5]