It was only a matter of time before the king of modern disco would come to reclaim his crown back. With the italo-disco revival at the peak of its hype and projects like Glass Candy or Chromatics - among many others orbiting around the Italians Do It Better label - being lauded by the specialized media, Hans-Peter Lindstrøm has simply done again what he's been doing for the last decade. And that is, to release some more cosmic-disco jams, which more than nodding to the past, actually seem to take us directly into a future of alternative dimensions. The results are magnificent.
After the leftfield rupture that was Where You Go I Go Too (3 tracks, 55 minutes, no limits), Real Life Is No Cool seems at first a more conventional record, with proper songs and a vocalist - soul-diva Christabelle. But then again, this is a record that took 8 (!) years in the making, being the final result of a collaboration between 2 different personalities that seem to have gotten along really well: the intellectual and reclusive approach of Norway native Lindstrøm on one side, the extroverted, wild and more spontaneous persona of Christabelle on the other, creating a tension between both that is a big part of this album's strength.
The 8 years of recording sessions can also be felt in the many intricacies heard and the flawless execution, with each song built around a dense dose of layers in an almost vertiginous way. This creates a very unique and detailed view of psychedelic disco, full of dizzying depths, pulsing synths and 80's soul, one that even manages to incorporate elements from more extreme genres like kraut or prog, but which, at its heart, still sounds like pop music. Or, in other words: pop music created by two obsessive minds very passionate about what they are doing. (8/10)
Lindstrøm & Christabelle - Let's Practise (mp3 via The Beat!)
www.myspace.com/lindstromandchristabelle
www.feedelity.com
No comments:
Post a Comment