Ohhh, Com Truise. You have such a stupid name. I mean, I can’t really say much because I also love Wevie Stonder and there’s a few Joy Orbison tracks I like here and there as well, but really. You are currently my favorite chillwave producer, beating out even the likes of Nite Jewel and Toro Y Moi. And yet, every time I see you mentioned, people are commenting on how stupid your name is and apparently this is enough for them to pass you over.
Boy howdy, are they missing out.
P.S. - I like how stupid that name is. But you really should have gone with Tron Jhavolta.
One of my favorite things in the world is when someone takes a look at genres like “rock” or “pop” or something equally generic and says “I’m gonna do that, but I’m also going to shit all over it while I do.”
This is why I like Gary War. Also I love reverb that is so thick it sounds like you’re underwater.
So this is SND. I really, really like this album a lot. And I really can’t even articulate why. It drives everyone around me completely bonkers. I can see why, it’s essentially the theory behind dance music, deconstructed down into it’s basic components. We move unconsciously to a steady beat, but our bodies do really interesting things when something interrupts that. This album is a load of interruptions. I remember reading something about how it was made but I don’t recall anything about it so yeah, sorry. Try to enjoy it! Or don’t. Odds are, if you turn off your brain you’ll start to move unconsciously.
I’m not a huge fan of Röyksopp but I do like this. Saw a leak of their new one and I was all like oh hey I’ll listen to this why not and it’s okay so far.
This is probably my favorite Raster-Noton release. Raster-Noton, for those that are unaware, is a German label that largely puts out really minimal, experimental, rhythmic sort of stuff. They’ve got some of the greatest packaging out there, too, haha. It’s a shame they only release things in small batches, which nerds scoop up and sell for massive profit on eBay so they can upgrade their gaming rigs.
Anyways, yeah. This album honestly is meant to be taken in all at once but this track does stand out and work on its own.
Marc Moulin, the now-deceased frontman of Belgian synthpop trio Telex, once said of his music, “the best compliment anybody could pay us is that our music is disposable - that’s what all music should be.” Well, sorry Marc. It may be rather dated, but I love it.
And what’s not to love? It’s cheesy. It’s over the top. It’s almost unbearably catchy. It’s had a huge impact on today’s electronic music. Above all, it’s fun. Really fun. It’s like Kraftwerk with a lower budget, and a much better sense of humor. And they pretty much pioneered taking the piss out of Eurovision.
Be forewarned, though, most of this album is au francais.
Track Listing:
1 Moskow Diskow (4:12) 2 Pakmoväst (3:38) 3 Café De La Jungle (1:07) 4 Ca Plane Pour Moi (5:21) 5 Someday - Un Jour (1:11) 6 Something To Say (5:01) 7 Rock Around The Clock (3:54) 8 Victime De La Société #2 (3:53) 9 Twist A St Tropez (3:18) 10 Moskow Diskow (Maxi) (5:22) 11 Le Fond De L’Air Est Rouge (3:21) 12 Victime De La Société #1 (3:54) 13 Quelque Chose A Dire (5:12) 14 Ave Fifi (4:00)
In 1980 Telex’s manager asked them to enter for the Eurovision Song Contest. They entered, and were eventually sent to the finals, although they apparently hoped to come last: “We had hoped to finish last, but Portugal decided otherwise. We got ten points from them and finished on the 19th spot” (Marc Moulin).
Their song “Euro-Vision” was a cheerful bleepy song with deliberately banal lyrics about the contest itself.
The Eurovision audience seemed unsure how to react to the performance, and after the band stopped playing there was mostly stunned silence, with scattered polite applause; Marc Moulin took a photograph of the bewildered audience. The band walked off amidst sounds of muttering. A mark of the confusion caused by the performance was when vote-counting began, and Greece awarded Belgium three points, the announcer thought she had misheard and tried to award the points to The Netherlands.
All of this was clearly bad news for the band’s English record label, Virgin Records, who were trying to pass them off as part of the New Romantic movement. The self-mockery of tracks like “We Are All Getting Old” didn’t help either.
