Thursday, June 10, 2010
neva
individu
[(1987) 2009, (self-released) alone prod.]
for fans of cold wave and deathrock (or, sigh, batcave... fuck is wrong with people), this, reissue of a 1987 cassette by the french trio neva, is probably an oddity. if you find yourself on the
outside of these genres... ha, i don't even know, man. the most common commodity, in those types of bands, would be dark vocals that matched the doom and gloom of the subject matter as well as the instrumentation, which is soooo not the case here. the vocals, which are (mostly) supplied in french by jacquy, tend to sound more helium-esque, like they were recorded and sped up. upon first hearing the tape, i was kind of left scratching my head, but what ultimately won me over was the synth work by joël bomy (credited here as bob) and eric meunier (who also programmed the drum beats). the more that i listened, the more i found myself fully embracing this amalgamation of weird sounding, and strangely appealing, vocals, gorgeous synth layers and the sparseness provided by jacquy's lone distorted bass.
individu is actually broken down into two smaller albums; the first side of the cassette featured songs from a 1987 concert, while the second side is actually entitled individu, with studio tracks from 1984-1986. i'm usually not too invested in live recordings, but these sound terrific.
cités perdues (lost cities) quickly establishes the tone of the album with a fantastic one-two punch of ethereal synthesizer and a memorable driving bass rhythm. once the vocals enter, that rhythm well get lost to a muddy rumble which is overpowered by the synth and the sped up drum machine beats. cités is built around sudden tempo (from every facet) and tonal shifts. jacquy will veer from a semi-maniacal speaking style, punctuated by somewhat creepy laughter, into slower, regular singing. around the midway point, the song reaches its slowest pace, but soon shakes it by playing at an increasingly faster pace. just when it sounds like it would be impossible for either the beats or synth loops to go any quicker, they immediately change direction and reincorporate that intro melody, and it's incredible. that musical passage is really the glue that holds the track together; by not relying on it for the duration, and changing up the instrumental so much throughout those four minutes, the repeated usage of that introductory passage become increasingly significant.
neva will do one of their finest jobs of stitching all of their great individual elements, which seem to pop up in random intervals throughout the album, together on sacrilège. it has a definite chilly onset with darker synth tones and atmosphere for almost the first half minute until a second, warmer, layer comes into play, while the bass guitar is obfuscated, turning into mostly low-end muck that yields to the domineering melody. jacquy's vocal turn is also highly impressive, thanks mostly to the repetition of it. the change in the instrumental during the second half of the song's chorus (love the chugging bass) is a fantastic change of pace, despite my fondness for the central melody.
even if you didn't know that l'hymne was french for the anthem, just one listen to this song and you most likely could have guessed it. the singing (in a normalized vein) leaves less of an impression, save for the rousing chorus. now, i don't know why the bass has seemed so intent on chewing up the scenery in some songs when every time you can make out actually chords it's memorable, as is the case here. the great thing is that there's more of a symbiotic relationship between synthesizer and guitar; when the bass is hitting its rhythmic highs, the synth assumes a complimentary role and vice versa.
the excessive length (almost six and a half minutes) of image de nuit really just seems like an excuse for neva to exploit a superb instrumental, and hey, i'm not going to fault them for it. this is another example of the trio hitting all of their marks on this slower offering. unlike the previous songs, this doesn't have so many unexpected dynamic shifts. in the most prominent one, there comes an interlude where the bass will drop off to make way for the atmospheric synth sounds and pretty bell tones, which are set against a backdrop of slow, skittering snare hits. another oddity is that the clarity of the bass will stay focal for the duration and jacquy even gets a bit adventurous as he strays into some (good) solos, which include nice touches of guitar noise.
after the final three serviceable, but not particularly overwhelming, tracks on concert 87 (i'll never get why its weakest selections were released as a 7") we finally get to individu and there's a rather stark difference. i'd be tempted to call it "maturity", um, if it weren't for the fact that these songs predate the others by two and three years.. so i'm just fucking confused. jacquy's vocals have none of the helium quality (or character, if you will). the tone of opener valse (waltz) seems to be carrier over, but the energy isn't there: simple synth loop, undistorted guitar, zero dynamics. hrm. ecotchiezko (don't ask me) completely forgoes the synthesized melodies all together, but the upbeat guitar and welcomed shot in the arm of vitality keeps it on the fun side. fun.. deathrock.. still confused. neva will craft the mostly instrumental psykodrame around eric m.'s interesting percussion, with the faux-steel drums at least providing an interesting distraction (and companion) to the repetitious loops of droning guitar.
things will definitely pick up with out-live, which shares a lot more in common with its 87 brethren. synthesizer and guitar are back to working as a glorious tandem but it's the singing that provides the ultimate highlight, the song's wonderful stuttered chorus. also great is the dynamic change in tone which sees jacquy resuming his high-pitched frenzy that juxtaposes with the music in the best way possible.
amnésie is a logical continuation that doesn't have me pining for the old (er, newer) times so much anymore. the synthesizer is the absolute focus on this one and it's fucking gorgeous. thankfully, the vaguely tropical (and vaguely pre-programmed casio) percussion that starts off the song doesn't fuck anything up as it soon transforms into something not quite so cheesy. the vocals prove to be complimentary, never taking too much attention away from that intoxicating melody, which, itself, smartly serves as the chorus.
the penultimate irresponsable spends its first minute and change on experimentation, with distorted noise and high-pitched electronic squeals set to singing that sounds like a child's nursery rhyme, a curious combination to say the least. then they get back to business with a good marriage between a layer of melodic, sustained synth beeps and propelling bass rhythm. individu finishes off the album by exhuming the skeletal remains of psykodrame and fleshing it out (while also adding two minutes to its running time) and i must say that it's far more enjoyable in this zombie state. the vocals still aren't that much of a focal point but the added synth flourishes and melodic changes make it far more appealing.
while individu certainly isn't a flawless album, it's also not a flawed one, so to speak. there's just some songs here that set the bar terrifically high, so when i come across anything less than what they've proven themselves capable of, it's a little disappointing. the good news is that there's more great songs than there are average ones. absolutely worth checking out if you're a fan of the aforementioned genres.
download
images de nuit live 6/19/87
[(1987) 2009, (self-released) alone prod.]
for fans of cold wave and deathrock (or, sigh, batcave... fuck is wrong with people), this, reissue of a 1987 cassette by the french trio neva, is probably an oddity. if you find yourself on the
outside of these genres... ha, i don't even know, man. the most common commodity, in those types of bands, would be dark vocals that matched the doom and gloom of the subject matter as well as the instrumentation, which is soooo not the case here. the vocals, which are (mostly) supplied in french by jacquy, tend to sound more helium-esque, like they were recorded and sped up. upon first hearing the tape, i was kind of left scratching my head, but what ultimately won me over was the synth work by joël bomy (credited here as bob) and eric meunier (who also programmed the drum beats). the more that i listened, the more i found myself fully embracing this amalgamation of weird sounding, and strangely appealing, vocals, gorgeous synth layers and the sparseness provided by jacquy's lone distorted bass.individu is actually broken down into two smaller albums; the first side of the cassette featured songs from a 1987 concert, while the second side is actually entitled individu, with studio tracks from 1984-1986. i'm usually not too invested in live recordings, but these sound terrific.
cités perdues (lost cities) quickly establishes the tone of the album with a fantastic one-two punch of ethereal synthesizer and a memorable driving bass rhythm. once the vocals enter, that rhythm well get lost to a muddy rumble which is overpowered by the synth and the sped up drum machine beats. cités is built around sudden tempo (from every facet) and tonal shifts. jacquy will veer from a semi-maniacal speaking style, punctuated by somewhat creepy laughter, into slower, regular singing. around the midway point, the song reaches its slowest pace, but soon shakes it by playing at an increasingly faster pace. just when it sounds like it would be impossible for either the beats or synth loops to go any quicker, they immediately change direction and reincorporate that intro melody, and it's incredible. that musical passage is really the glue that holds the track together; by not relying on it for the duration, and changing up the instrumental so much throughout those four minutes, the repeated usage of that introductory passage become increasingly significant.
neva will do one of their finest jobs of stitching all of their great individual elements, which seem to pop up in random intervals throughout the album, together on sacrilège. it has a definite chilly onset with darker synth tones and atmosphere for almost the first half minute until a second, warmer, layer comes into play, while the bass guitar is obfuscated, turning into mostly low-end muck that yields to the domineering melody. jacquy's vocal turn is also highly impressive, thanks mostly to the repetition of it. the change in the instrumental during the second half of the song's chorus (love the chugging bass) is a fantastic change of pace, despite my fondness for the central melody.
even if you didn't know that l'hymne was french for the anthem, just one listen to this song and you most likely could have guessed it. the singing (in a normalized vein) leaves less of an impression, save for the rousing chorus. now, i don't know why the bass has seemed so intent on chewing up the scenery in some songs when every time you can make out actually chords it's memorable, as is the case here. the great thing is that there's more of a symbiotic relationship between synthesizer and guitar; when the bass is hitting its rhythmic highs, the synth assumes a complimentary role and vice versa.the excessive length (almost six and a half minutes) of image de nuit really just seems like an excuse for neva to exploit a superb instrumental, and hey, i'm not going to fault them for it. this is another example of the trio hitting all of their marks on this slower offering. unlike the previous songs, this doesn't have so many unexpected dynamic shifts. in the most prominent one, there comes an interlude where the bass will drop off to make way for the atmospheric synth sounds and pretty bell tones, which are set against a backdrop of slow, skittering snare hits. another oddity is that the clarity of the bass will stay focal for the duration and jacquy even gets a bit adventurous as he strays into some (good) solos, which include nice touches of guitar noise.
after the final three serviceable, but not particularly overwhelming, tracks on concert 87 (i'll never get why its weakest selections were released as a 7") we finally get to individu and there's a rather stark difference. i'd be tempted to call it "maturity", um, if it weren't for the fact that these songs predate the others by two and three years.. so i'm just fucking confused. jacquy's vocals have none of the helium quality (or character, if you will). the tone of opener valse (waltz) seems to be carrier over, but the energy isn't there: simple synth loop, undistorted guitar, zero dynamics. hrm. ecotchiezko (don't ask me) completely forgoes the synthesized melodies all together, but the upbeat guitar and welcomed shot in the arm of vitality keeps it on the fun side. fun.. deathrock.. still confused. neva will craft the mostly instrumental psykodrame around eric m.'s interesting percussion, with the faux-steel drums at least providing an interesting distraction (and companion) to the repetitious loops of droning guitar.
things will definitely pick up with out-live, which shares a lot more in common with its 87 brethren. synthesizer and guitar are back to working as a glorious tandem but it's the singing that provides the ultimate highlight, the song's wonderful stuttered chorus. also great is the dynamic change in tone which sees jacquy resuming his high-pitched frenzy that juxtaposes with the music in the best way possible.
amnésie is a logical continuation that doesn't have me pining for the old (er, newer) times so much anymore. the synthesizer is the absolute focus on this one and it's fucking gorgeous. thankfully, the vaguely tropical (and vaguely pre-programmed casio) percussion that starts off the song doesn't fuck anything up as it soon transforms into something not quite so cheesy. the vocals prove to be complimentary, never taking too much attention away from that intoxicating melody, which, itself, smartly serves as the chorus.the penultimate irresponsable spends its first minute and change on experimentation, with distorted noise and high-pitched electronic squeals set to singing that sounds like a child's nursery rhyme, a curious combination to say the least. then they get back to business with a good marriage between a layer of melodic, sustained synth beeps and propelling bass rhythm. individu finishes off the album by exhuming the skeletal remains of psykodrame and fleshing it out (while also adding two minutes to its running time) and i must say that it's far more enjoyable in this zombie state. the vocals still aren't that much of a focal point but the added synth flourishes and melodic changes make it far more appealing.
while individu certainly isn't a flawless album, it's also not a flawed one, so to speak. there's just some songs here that set the bar terrifically high, so when i come across anything less than what they've proven themselves capable of, it's a little disappointing. the good news is that there's more great songs than there are average ones. absolutely worth checking out if you're a fan of the aforementioned genres.
download
:: posted by apc, 6:38 PM