This is two French DJ's doing their mixing thing, taking
strands from different aspects of music and culture and
making something that still is recognisably from a place
and time.
It's instructive for Anglo's to go into a French CD
or magazine shop and see all the tons of stuff they have
available, only a little of which is recognisable. Wow!
They can actually get on without our corporate media
machines. How can this be? Of course they have their own
media machines. They are just smaller. That leads to
a somewhat saner situation where a local artist who does
well can live quite nicely but doesn't have the
ridiculously obscene amounts of money poured on them that
they might in the USA for example. Maybe that ends in
more humanity. I'm not sure.
Anyhow, this is a mixture of electro-mood with different
cultural ideas and includes Arabic influences. It's
cool sounding stuff without being abrasively politically
correct.
(thunderfinger)
The only tracks we used to see from Independiente were hip-hop
but lately I've seen a couple of things that show they are
branching out. These three tracks are a pretty good example
being pretty, lo-fi-ish, melodic, with a little funk, and maybe
settled in a time other than now -- which is quite OK unless
the thing is a straight copy, which it isn't.
There's a feel of summer here and maybe, listening, you might
think another summer of love is a nice idea. I do!
(Dr Boots)
Guitar pop that might please Britpop lovers although
it might be a little too indy for them. And it won't be
quite indy enough for indy lovers.
I've got a feeling these people might be better live
than this suggests ... not that it's bad at all. The bits
all add up and it's just that the package is somehow wanting.
More than one track might have helped get a better view.
Nice name though. Will people expect electro?
(Dr Boots)
LP, Nocturne
C'est Loud! C'est Metallique! French too ... I think.
I'm not sure whether Nightwish preceeded The Darkness or not.
There's a high-pitched singer and acres of rolling thunder
guitar and the name. Anyway, this is more Metal than The Darkness and is
of the smoothly produced arena variety, and night-oriented
names and acres of guitar are hardly uncommon in these
circles. Some people will scorn this sort of thing but
some people who don't wear black t-shirts to match lank,
long black hair will think it's kinda fun.
(thunderfinger)
New Order, Waiting for the Sirens' Call
LP, London Records
There are bass riffs straight out of Joy Division on a couple
of these tracks -- not copies but that same slightly skidding
thing that underpinned the sad beauty of JD. In a way this whole thing
is a visit to those days as well.... and the more you listen, the more there
is.
Here we have songs rather than dance moments and quite a lot of
singing. But this isn't the old days and these aren't the old songs.
The mournful deepness of Ian Curtis has been replaced by a lighter
voice altogether ... more up, and so is the music generally. In
a way it's the voice of survival and some optimism about the future
even if there are sad moments along the way.
There is some echo of electro-dance stuff here as well, as you'd expect,
but the album is well-crafted pop generally and that's what it's
mostly about. I'm sure that as a whole it's actually important in
any way, but pop doesn't have or need to be. That said, there are
a couple of nice tunes here.
(thunderfinger)
LP, Mute(UK)
This seems more reflective than the last Moby album. It
is quieter with less anthemic moments. It's the sort of album
that grabs you more the second time around as a result. And it
doesn't exactly grab you because it's not that sort of thing.
It more sneaks up on you and gives you a pleasant soft pat.
What this album is really about is the traditional pop
song -- vocals, accompaniment, melody and harmony. It does
have interesting textures but these aren't the statement.
The song as a whole is. So, that's pretty conservative isn't
it? Yes, in a way it is, and people wanting electro-persona
will be sad for it. The craft of the songs is nice though and
a lot of people will like that.
(thunderfinger)
LP, Mute
Client play serious, tuneful pop that sonically sits quite
light on the ground. There's space for notes to breathe and the
voices weave in and out in the sort of way that can be understood
by those who listen closely to lyrics. Speaking of which, we seem
to be having quite a few sad-love moments on this.
This also features Pete Doherty, Carl Barat (Libertines) and Martin
Gore (Depeche Mode). Pop for postgrads? Maybe. It's pop for the thinking person anyway.
If you don't have tickets to Glastonbury on June 26, you won't
get the tickets and you won't catch Client but they do every second
Tuesday of the month at the Notting Hill Arts Club in London.
(Dr Boots)
5 track single plus videos, CD, 7", 12", Mute
Blues in the Hendrixy fuzzy guitar line is what we have here along
with injections of electro and grooves on different tracks. It all works
better than you might think if you're just trying to imagine a Blues/Electro
fusion.
Part of the secret is that Blues Explosion is a powerhouse band for
partying rather than any sort of dry academic appreciation society.
Another part of the secret is that the electro infusions have been done
well.
(Dr Boots)
A tip of the stylistic hat here to the Flying Lizards in the
tone of a couple of tracks. There are synth washs and bleep grooves
with the S girl intoning over the top. It's actually quite cool.
(Dr Boots)
Mstation Pop etc Commentary, Reviews
pre Dec 04 reviews are here
Fri, 29 Apr 2005
The Shortwave Set
3 track single, Independiente
Road Leads Where It's Led
single, Reprise
www.mobyhotel.com
www.client_online.net
blues-explosion.com
