Veteran electronic chameleon Luke Vibert (Plug, Wagon Christ) spills his new creation as gracefully as a unicyclist on helium. “Liptones” has the referential timing of 80s taunting prepackaged productions like the Jets or Sweet Sensation, En Vogue or Company B. What you say about “acid” – is this acid? It’s a funny balance of studio doggin’ and freelance pop electronica with its chunky beats just brazenly bouncing everywhere. This is another world for Vibert, and he blasts off with the vibrant “Countdown” with a spicy nod to Kraftwerk, glimpsed elsewhere throughout this release. This has all the patchwork of retro, at times going in the same direction as say Swayzak’s “Dirty Dancing” especially on the phenomenal “I Love Acid” (“move your mind, move your feet”). This one clinches this new genre, ripping apart its Detroit roots. This is the funkiest track out there on the street.
Then, when you thought you were safe, in drifts “Ambalek” which is straight out of Logan’s Run with likeness to tracks on The Black Dog’s infamous Spanners. Followed by more “Acidisco” – which, if it were filler – would be like the sweetest crème in this puffy pastry. The title track is a backstroke through the pure acid-filled pools of primary percussion and crowd swelling zip vinyl. S’Express and 808 State float to the surface through this mystical revisit to a short-lived (loved) sound stream.
In a year when everyone seems to be looking a bit back at the origins of contemporary electronics, Vibert could easily be accused of mocking the very era he came up in, though its just a way of playing on themes that places him in time. This time he has so astutely removed any direct reference to
the self to be replaced by a new (most certainly temporary) sound. Say its just a phase.
YosepH is OUT NOW on Warp Records.
