Various Artists: Source Lab 2
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Another compilation of French electronic weirdness.
The first double Source Lab comp left me cold, a collection of lo-fi and
seemingly lo-effort street-level grit.
This one hits closer to home.
Emphasis on backward-looking electronic/acidjazz/triphop synthesis.
A few expendable hip-hoppy cuts can be blissfully ignored, and the rest is
quite sharp.
Bang Bang gives a trippy rhythm and some hybrid Eastern + Country & Western
mood with "Neither Sing-Sing nor Baden Baden", a title only a mother
couldn't love. Something like a Sushi Western. Go figure.
Zend Avesta does the d&b thing with "Free Jah". Decent programming, some
squawky vox samples, nothing special.
Main Basse annoys to death with a silly voice sample that repeats
incessantly, or until you do the Man Ray metronome trick on your CD player.
Daft Punk does P-Funk in "Musique (version lounge)". Is it irono-retro, or
is it just stuck in the 70s? Dunno, but I like the groove. Atomic dawg.
Ollano's "La Couleur" inits with eerie space atmosphere, then into some
slo-groove acoustic drum patterns and flute, reminds of some of the Ninja
acidjazz.
Standout cut: Krell's "Planete Interdite". Whispered breathy French vox,
synth washes, then the breakbeat hits ya. Stop hard and go, ethereal vox,
mello to hard breakz, the works. Think Orbital on a Parisian tour. Lovely.
Dimitri From Paris, not to be confused with Dmitri of Dee-Lite, offers the
slow method with "Man + Woman = Infinity".
The piano plays bass like someone mangled their sequencer patchlists.
Stoned bass follows a drunk on Le Tone's "Bomb De Bretagne"
Alex Gopher's "Giordini Mix" serves a dirty loop detuned cocktail on the
rocks.
Extra Lucid's "Technical Jed" is pure d&b hi-freq sweetness.
Air, with "Casanova 70", seems a trip to that Jarre-ing decade.
Well, who can tell?
It's an odd mix, but decent enough.
Zenon M. Feszczak
Philosophist