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(02.11.05) Released in mid 2004, Talent Hoover is the debut album from Lucky & Easy, also known as Pub of Ampoule & Vertical Form fame. Unlike Pub’s epic ambient whirls, however, the Lucky & Easy sound has more in common with artists like The Black Dog, Kettel or The Orb. There’s a twisted sense of humour and a large dose of the psychedelic running through this material, and whilst it can take the listener rather non-plussed at first, it subsequently rewards each consecutive listen almost exponentially. It’s hard to stop one’s initial impression of the album from being tainted by the insane, almost painfully “wacky” track names as, although there are a few rather pointlessly and pointedly silly tracks present, there is a great deal of superb music on Talent Hoover. The offensively titled “Donut Puncher,” for example, belongs firmly in the former camp. Tuneless, deafening, detuned frequencies squeal over a consequently redundant, distant and muffled ambient melody evoking that squirming, crawling feeling you get when someone scratches their nails down a chalk-board. Similarly “Super-Fanny-Tastic-Elastic” is Jake Slazenger-styled seventies cheese for an intrusive and insignificant minute and fifteen seconds. But a few oddities aside, Talent Hoover remains true to Lucky & Easy’s winning formula: humid, fragrant atmospheres, lush textures, complex programming and elusive melodic structures, not to mention rampant multiple schizophrenia. Many tracks transgress any kind of formal structure, and the atmosphere, tone, theme and genre of any one piece can shift or change completely numerous times. The horribly named “Anal Chewinggum” is a fine example of Lucky & Easy at the top of their game, interestingly reminiscent of early Black Dog material. A glugging bass melody burbles under rippling waves of soft keys and saltshaker hi-hats. This mutates into warped, coruscating analogue stabs before finally dissolving in a sea of molten pads. “Slush Puppy” shuffles moodily through lamp-lit side streets as distant saxophone solos and the sound of waves wax and wane through warm, contemplative washes. “Spin The Empty” skilfully blends the building momentum of echoing, high speed drum patterns with autumnal synths that are all finally submerged in muted, muddy pads before giving way to bright, plucked harps. The variety may be occasionally disorienting, but Talent Hoover is consistently fascinating.Wrapped in suitably psychedelic packaging from the talented Delta, this time in a lurid, Never Mind the Bollocks Here’s the Sex Pistols colour scheme of acid yellow and hot pink tempered by deep reds, Talent Hoover is one of the most interesting releases on Ann Aimee to date and comes highly recommended.
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Dribs :: Doing Well Without The Drabs (Ann Aimee, CD/LP)
– Friedrik Oestling’s Dribs follows up his debut Ann Aimee release, The Open Log Book EP, with his first full length LP, Doing Well Without The Drabs. This new album shares that EP’s character, one that absorbs numerous musical influences: jazz, funk, electro, hip-hop, broken beat, classical, dub. And once again a cohesive whole is established as track is stamped with Drib’s hallmark style: slack, multi-layered rhythms, bizarrely treated acoustic and analogue effects and vocals, subtly blended guitar and a resonance that evokes the feeling of being at a live performance. The material works best when a particular musical style is in sharp focus. “Someone Did Drink Prosecco” exhales gorgeous analogue, electro-tinged pads that spiral through static as a lounging bass-line melody drawls languorously under peculiar, metallic saws. “Pious Place 51” is all bluster, clanking beats and half-buried guitar parts but is smoothed out by rich classical chords. “Planet Optimum” mixes hip-hop beats with wowing, elasticated analogue keys splashed with peculiar vocal samples. But the Dribs techniques still thrive: layered rhythms and melodies can shift lazily in and out of their time signature (“Pious Place 51”), a track may be unexpectedly peppered with coarsely chopped additional percussion with apparent abandon (“The Vikings Didn’t Drink Cognac”), distorted samples or growling guitars will rear-up from nowhere. Getting the most out of Doing Well Without The Drabs requires concentration, but with a running time of just over 77 minutes this can become almost exhausting. Most tracks clock in somewhere between the six and seven minute mark, and it’s telling that one of the most successful pieces is “Another Kind Of Rocks,” which at two minutes sixteen seconds is an exception to the rule. “Nub (Annan Mix),” for example, is a soft, dub-fuelled chill-out piece that would have worked far better at half its length as a restful interlude between two other more active tracks, but instead it drags on with minimal re-interpretations of its primary melodic motifs for seven and a half minutes. Or there’s “Simulated Quietness,” an atmospheric and classically Dutch break-beat number heavily spiced with jagged guitar melodies which, at over eight minutes, is twice as long as it really needs to be.Far more rewarding – not to mention easier to digest – in small doses than the relentless and sustained assault that is the album as a whole, Doing Well Without The Drabs could really have benefited from tighter editing. That aside, it is another interesting leg in Ann Aimee’s long journey back to the mothership.
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Both Talent Hoover and Doing Well Without The Drabs are out now on Ann Aimee Records.
