Pamplona, Tartu, Firenze, Düsseldorf
New chez moi:
Souvenir. It's Spanish. It's not on Siesta. And not on Elefant.
And nothing to do with RK (yet, anyway), if that was your next guess.
Jabalina is the label, and it's probably one of the best surprises
I'll get all year, and it arrived today. They sound quite a bit like
La Buena Vida circa '94, but it's all sung in French. Which I
haven't figured out, but the songs are wonderful. Clean, perfectly
accented with keys, horns and the occasional sample burst. The
singer has a high voice, not that strong, but right up my alley.
Like a rougher version of Pascale Watoo, gentle and emotive. Except
on the one song that strikes a crazy go-go beat coupled with brassy
Bardot-esque singing before adroitly smoothing itself out into a
Monochrome Set surfing moment in the space of a drumbeat. The worst
thing about this record is that it's only six tracks long.
Bizarre - "Any Day". Kohvirecords. This is all a bit too much. 10
Estonian bands covering/remixing Bizarre's classic track? OK, so
Bizarre probably aren't a household name outside Estonia, but I got
the original on a tape in '97, and it seemed to be on the cutting
edge at that point. What's so crazy about this record is that you
would have thought it next to impossible to improve on the original,
a squiggly sequencer and fuzz-heavy update on The Wake circa "Here
Comes Everybody", with the great girl/boy vocals and everything. And
probably no one here improves on Bizarre's version, but that's OK,
because the original is on here as track 11. And also because
everything on here is quite good, and quite tasteful, and you don't
get to hear Estonian bands (aside from the rather good Dallas, who
aren't on here) just any day. I'm told that excerpts are available
on the label website, and otherwise I wouldn't have the foggiest idea
where to get this from: http://www.kohvirecords.ee
"Harpsichord 2000" - another good comp, half the world doing songs
using harpsichords (or samples of harpsichords), in a ultra glossy
digipack that can only be described as a decadently future baroque.
Highlights including Die Moulinette's Komeda/Stereolab sound-alike
ode to Brooke Shields as "Flipper Queen", and Stereo Total's
stuttering scratchy remake of their own Dactylo Rock ("Rock that
harpsichord shit"). Surprises being The Secret Goldfish sounding
funky and sexy when I had been led by someone's comments to believe
that they were bottom of the barrel crap; and Count Indigo somehow
managing to sound like Shock Headed Peters (?). Also in the mix:
Valvola, Remington Super 60 (some young Norwegians who seem to get
better with every new recording, and there are three on here),
Micromars, Cinerama, Momus, Barry Gemso, Astro Black Stereo (Valvola
co-conspirators), Volume All Star, and even Make Up. On Valvola's
S.H.A.D.O. label, out of Italy.
Speaking of good comps, both Grimsey's "Do Not Fear the Future" and
Benno's "Benno Presents Vol 4" are excellent through and through.
The former being part label sampler, part odds and ends, but the ends
are very very good. I may have been skeptical about Grimsey planning
a live Anna D album, but hearing how gorgeous and completely unlike
the studio version her song sounds on here, I'm completely convinced.
Also included Ninotchka's gorgeous "I've Got Wings" for anyone
foolish enough not to have bought the 7".
Benno's comp, which I believe is out now, is entirely previously
released stuff, all Swedish. Some of it from their own back
catalogue, some from other little Swedish labels. It ranges from
tweepop to drum'n'bass, and I normally wouldn't support trying to mix
everything in one record, but absolutely every track here suits my
taste. This is a sampler.
Last city on the tour:
Charles Wilp - "...fotographiert Bunny" and "Michelangelo in Space
(the Bunny Remixes). Reissue of an obscure album put together by
60's bad boy photographer Charles Wilp, which, if I got the story
right, was used for an advertising campaign but never released. A
strange collection of things swinging sixties that sounds very
contemporary to my ear. Must be all the conversation snippets that
work their way in and out of the record...from which it's only a
small leap to the remix album, with everyone from Konishi, Maxwell
Implosion, Stereo Total, Andreas Dorau to Schlammpeitziger and To
Rococo Rot, and is pretty much what you'd expect. Which is pretty
good, and some numbers for the discoteque. But with the possible
danger that the packaging is even better than the music, lots of
pictures and lots to read.
Alexander
Radio Khartoum http://www.radiokhartoum.com