Chris & Cosey - Twist: A cocktail of intoxicating sounds
9 tracks, 64:00, UK, T&B Records, TB CD 003
9:02 Credit Sequence (Mu-Ziq Mix)
7:36 Fantastique (Carl Craig Mix)
7:33 Re:Rise (Re:Search Mix)
9:02 Telepathic Exotika (Fred Gianelli Mix)
5:32 Voodoo (Tusken Raiders Mix)
6:29 Driving Blind (Vapourspace Moist Sexy Mix)
7:32 Gates Of Ancient Cities (Cosmic Connection Dischordian Mix)
5:52 Cowboys In Bangkok 1995 (Coil vs. Elph Mix)
5:04 Walking Through Heaven (C&C Twist Mix)
I always liked a lot of the Chris & Cosey material I had heard, but for some
reason it never made it into my "buy" bin. I knew of the material when it
was hard to find in the US, and then Wax Trax! released it here and I just
didn't get around to it, and then they went under and the older releases are
not so easy to find here again. So I find it hypocritical of me that my
first actual C&C purchase is this collection of remixes of older material I
have never actually heard enough times to recognize, remixed by people who
should be familiar to all on this list. Since I don't honestly know (but
can occasionally guess) which part of the music is whose contribution, I
will attempt to review this as a whole.
"Credit Sequence" is a delightful dreamscape, melody just washes over you,
with some decent tweaking to drive it slowly, but steadily, along. It's a
truly pretty song, and while the rhythm stuff does turn your head sometimes,
it never detracts from the overall feel.
"Fantastique" has a standard early-80s synth feel to it, despite being the
only song on this collection actually recorded in the 90s. It starts slowly
and picks up a bit over the course of the intro, and keeps a couple slices
of vocal lying around for rhythmic repetition purposes. Almost all bassy
and rhythmic, but not percussion-heavy. Outro slows the song again.
"Re:Rise" tries hard, but just can't quite get there, IMHO. It's virtually
all bass, the hook isn't hooky enough, and the vocal just gets in the way.
It pounds at you, but not enough. The percussion is interesting, but again,
not enough to carry the track. The breakdowns are pretty cool, though.
"Telepathic Exotika" is a mind-numbingly repetitive useless exercise. This
one borderlines "annoying" in my book. 100% percussion, almost no deviation
from the initial theme, occasional whispered "Exotika" thrown in for
variety, goes nowhere.
"Voodoo" grabs your attention immediately by sounding like it's *tyring*
to start over and over but failing. That sound eventually becomes part of
the rhythm, an excellent noisy distortion that chunks along like it's going
to disintegrate at any second. It's multi-layered tweaky weird, tons of
fun. My second-favorite track (behind "Credit Sequence").
"Driving Blind" floats by on a sea of metallic pings and buzzes. Vocal
actaully works here, adding to the overall feel of the song. The melody
is rather timid, but the other aspects of the song bolster it considerably.
"Gates Of Ancient Cities" is a slow number with monochromatic washes of
sound and beepy alien elements combined with a rather pedestrian bassline.
The percussion keeps you on your toes, but not so much that you can't just
lay back and enjoy.
"Cowboys In Bangkok" sounds like the whole thing is being filtered through
an underwater Vocoder. A couple motorcycles cross your path, and that's
basically it. An ambient treat.
"Walking Through Heaven": Oh, it's 1984 all over again! That heavy synth,
that sequencer, those drum samples... I am transported back to a simpler
time, when dance music didn't have to be "intelligent" to be interesting.
A pretty song, simple but powerful melody, powerfully propulsive rhythm
track. Great way to end the disc.
I'd say seek this one out.
--
Adam J Weitzman ----- Individual, Inc. ----- weitzman@individual.com
"I love the music of the 20th century!" - Bruce Willis, "12 Monkeys"