Articles tagged with: Compatriots
Feeds, Frequency (JoonBug), Music, Events & Entertainment »
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Artist: Vitalic Genres: Techno, Electro After Guy Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter changed the face of French House music, nay, dance music as a whole, but before compatriots Gaspard Auge and Xavier de Rosnay served as the second coming, there was one man–Pascal Arbez, who took the styles from each, and merged them into a ferocious electro beast. That beast is Vitalic. Arbez is no flash-in-the-pan Francophone wonder; he’s been producing tracks since way back when his countrymen dropped Homework. Under the aliases Dima and Huster Pornstar (the latter leading one to believe his obscurity on this side of the Atlantic must’ve been purely intentional,) Arbez was widely heard on European dance floors thanks in large part to his 2001 Poney EP, which brought him within the ranks of the International Deejay Gigolos. No, they’re not a seedy adult entertainment outfit; they’re only Germany’s most successful electronic record label, boasting artists like Miss Kittin, The Hacker, Tiga, and Fischerspooner. Off of the strength of Poney, Arbez would eventually put together and release his full length debut album, 2005’s OK Cowboy, which coincidentally is the same year he would remix Daft Punk’s “Technologic.” OK Cowboy starts off like a child’s nightmare about clowns come to life with “Polkamatic.” “Poney Part 1” follows, then there’s “My Friend Dario.” If there were ever a song that exemplified all the metalheads who somehow found their way from distorted guitars on 11 and blood curdling screams on 12, to a far more reserved jockey in front of the ones and twos, Dario is that song. “La Rock 01” comes right after, incase you missed the point I just made about Dario. My personal favorite, “The Past,” feels as if it could’ve come last on the album, but suits itself at number six just as well. If you played Cross ‘till your iPod battery had to be replaced, OK Cowboy is the record you should’ve bought two years prior. Discography Poney EP (2001) OK Cowboy (2005) V Live (2007) Flashmob (2009)
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Feeds, Frequency (JoonBug), Music, Events & Entertainment »
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Artist: Dungen I’m an American- I like my food fast, my women blonde, and my de-facto official language as English. Don’t get me wrong though- while I may not be able to speak for every one of my compatriots, I believe that everyone who comes here should be treated the same way as a native born. After all, we’re all at some point in history, immigrants to the land of the free, home of the Whopper. Save the occasional Spanish siren in my ears through one import or another, I was largely unwilling to listen to music that wasn’t sung in my language. Either I’m in good company, or you can chalk it up to the pervasive American market, which serves as the reasoning behind foreign language lyrics in popular music remaining in many respects obscure, lest they conform to the ears of Anglophones. After America and Britain, Sweden may be one of the largest exporters of pop music in the world. (Don’t make me break out my heinously off-key version of “Dancing Queen”). Thing is, their exported talent, from Abba to Peter Bjorn And John, all sing in English. Enter: Gustav Ejstes: the man behind psychedelic-rock revivalist group Dungen (translated to “The Grove”) and exit: the staunchest of the English-only listeners. I told myself I wouldn’t know chant from what psychedelic revival- good revival at that- should sound like, and I’d be even less familiar with Swedish folk. It was when I first saw the video for “Festival,” which is one of only two English words found in the tracklist for the album Ta Det Lungt, that I exclaimed- “Take It Easy? Wait a minute, I can’t even understand it- it’s totally ridiculous!” Spoken like a true monolingual knucklehead. A friend of mine from Gothenburg, whom I introduced to the music, envies the fact that I can listen to them without knowing a word of Swedish. It’s a different experience to appreciate music when you’re held back by the mystery of an unknown language. If the music’s especially good, it winds up not being restrictive at all. It is, in fact, quite liberating- perhaps like listening with the ears of an infant, before conditioning sets in & the little league baseball flags start to decorate your room. He then promptly corrected me in that it’s pronounced “Dune-gin” and not “Dungeon.” If you’re reading this, then it’s a safe bet that you have internet access, thereby readily giving you the opportunity to find an English translation of Ejstes’ lyrics if you’re so inclined. But really, why would you want to? Live? I had the privilege back in August, and where many a show I’ve been to lately ended in disappointment, I left that night stupefied at how much of a performance I witnessed. I saw a frontman who, in person, looked as shaggy as Houses of the Holy-era Robert Plant, and about as thin as Mick Jagger in his more illicit days. Ejstes sashayed, wiggled, and writhed manically on stage as he sang, played the guitar, piano, tambourine, flute, and fiddle, no joke.
Still unsure? Well drop it, and pick up the headphones, or preferably, a good stereo system so it can hit you hard enough that the ringing in your ears reverberates even longer than the three years it’s been since my very first listen. Dungen are in fact, not revivalists. They don’t have to be, nor do they have to sing in your language. Discography 5m9nhurq8c |
