Pop Artificielle.txt
Lassigue Bendthaus - 'Pop Artificielle' CD ripped 4.15.99 by archetype
160kbit/s-44kHz Stereo Fraunhofer High-Quality Mode
MP3Genre: Electro-Techno-Experimental-Pop
CD: KK Records (1999) (kk 141)
Track List:
[ 01. Lassigue Bendthaus - superbad (soul substitute) ( 3:15) ]
[ 02. Lassigue Bendthaus - be near me (backup read error) ( 3:45) ]
[ 03. Lassigue Bendthaus - sunshine superman (stereo phase update) ( 3:41) ]
[ 04. Lassigue Bendthaus - the future (spiritual surface noise) ( 4:11) ]
[ 05. Lassigue Bendthaus - jealous guy (poeme syncope) ( 4:15) ]
[ 06. Lassigue Bendthaus - you are in my system (funky linear) ( 4:26) ]
[ 07. Lassigue Bendthaus - ashes to ashes (digital spacepop replicant)( 4:32) ]
[ 08. Lassigue Bendthaus - thatness and thereness (mental organic) ( 3:13) ]
[ 09. Lassigue Bendthaus - angie (miniature numerique) ( 4:14) ]
[ 10. Lassigue Bendthaus - silence is golden (moral morph) ( 3:26) ]
total: 47MB
In case you dont know what this cd is all about, it is the latest cd years in the making from
Lassigue Bendthaus, aka Atom Heart aka Uwe Schmidt, electro-industrial-idm pioneer,
covering 10 pop and classic rock hits of yesteryear. Im sure everyone knows these songs,
or at least some of them, or shall i say, knows the original versions....
The following is a very comprehensive review of the cd posted to rec.music.industrial,
April 1999, by my friend, and someone who very well may be, Uwe Schmidts biggest fan, MrTangent.
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Lassigue Bendthaus - "Pop Artificielle" CD (Kk Records - kk141)
Superbad [Soul Substitute] (J. Brown) 3:18
Be Near Me [Backup Read Error] (M. Fry/M. White) 3.50
Sunshine Superman [Stereo Phase Update] (Donovan) 3:46
The Future [Spiritual Surface Noise] (Prince) 4:15
Jealous Guy [Poeme Syncope] (J. Lennon) 4:18
You Are In My System [Funky Linear] (M. Murphy/D. Frank) 4:31
Ashes to Ashes [Digital Spacepop Replicant] (D. Bowie) 4:34
Thatness and Thereness [Mental Organic] (R. Sakamoto) 3:18
Angie [Miniature Numerique] (M. Jagger/K. Richard) 4:19
Silence is Golden [Moral Morph] (B. Crewe/B. Gaudio) 3:29
Total - 39:39
--
"Superbad" opens up the latest L.B. album in pure funk style - as befitting a
James Brown cover song. Lovely electronics mingle in and out while a horn
sample plays over and over. The vocals are done in a very unique fashion
that sound unlike anything you've ever heard before. They're recorded and
resynthesized with a digital software program, in real time, I assume. The
vocal synthesis is similar to what a vocoder does: by using one input source
as the sound and another source as the modulator of the original sound. The
end result is a "staggering effect" which makes the vocals sound like they've
been cut and pasted thousands of times. The liner notes mention a software
original vocal raw material. This is a 'composition versus combination'
product) - from the liner notes. This version seemed more complex and
overall better than the "Digital Soul Substitute" version on the "Jealous
Guy" cd single.
Track two is a gorgeous neo-pop version of ABC's new wave hit "Be Near Me".
As with all the covers on this innovative album, the only thing remaining
from the original is the melody. Lots of glitch work on this song - where
Uwe takes a certain sound and multiplies or extends it digitally to fuse it
as a prolonged glitch, that eventually morphs back into the melody.
Absolutely amazing.
"Sunshine Superman", a Donovan cover, slinks into my headphone space next.
This track reminds me a great deal of Uwe's work on the project HAT. Uwe's
obviously not afraid to let the melody and complexity alone keep the song
elements at all, so if that's your thing then you'll want to look elsewhere.
Some of the most beautiful moments in music - vocalwise and synthesis - are
to be found here. Elements of the recording methods used on Datacide's album
- "Ondas" are found here, especially the usage of split stereo fields where
each speaker is playing different things in an odd "virtual stereo" by two
dissimilar, but unified, mono fields.
I've not heard the original Prince rendition of "The Future", but I'm sure it
sounded nothing like this version. The song opens with a sample of William S.
Burroughs saying, "When you trot into the present, the future leaks out". It
is my least favorite song on this album, but still is a very worthwhile piece.
It's just a little too slow overall; I was expecting it to diverge into
something faster but it never did.
The next track is a cover of John Lennon's "Jealous Guy". It is exactly the
same as the first version on the "Jealous Guy" cd single. It's a beautifully
somber rendition that actually made me cry upon listening to it. It's that
type of song that makes you recall past loves and things that you should have
done but didn't. The music opens with a compressed piano melody then slowly
morphs into sublime echoed vocoder vocals. The track has piano in the
background throughout the entire song in some form or another with subdued,
slow electronics pulsating rhythmically along side. This song could very
easily fit in with anything from the "Render" album.
"You Are In My System", by Robert Palmer, is the next cover to receive Uwe-
fication. The stuttered vocals are most evident on this song - and are used
to great effect. Most of the material on this song, and ultimately the
polymorphic analog programming - and this song is no exception.
I've waited for the next pairing a long time - David Bowie and Lassigue
Bendthaus. And finally I hear the results of Uwe Schmidt covering David
Bowie's classic "Ashes to Ashes". I'm not let down in the slightest,
thankfully. It opens as the original does, with the warbled piano melody -
but infuses the classic piano sound with some blissful digital cut ups and
techno sounds. A perfect cover version in every aspect. I sincerely hope
this is the next single from the album.
L.B.'s cover of Ryuichi Sakamoto's "Thatness and Thereness" comes in next.
This version sounds virtually identical to the one on the "Jealous Guy" cd
single with the addition of vocals. The vocals on this song are without any
recognizable processing, and stands out by that virtue alone since all the
other songs have heavy processing. I will say though that the vocal-less
version sounded much better, and it seemed that the instrumentation of the
song was strong enough on it's own
I normally hate the Rolling Stones but Lassigue Bendthaus' cover of "Angie" is
one of the most fantastic songs - cover version or otherwise - that I've ever
heard. The programming on this song is unbelievably good - with emphasis on
subtlety.
Sounds of rain falling slowly, building to a climax and ultimately a
torrential downpour open the next song. The granular synthesis simulacra of
rainfall culminate into an otherworldly ambience and flow directly into a
reverbed drone. A processed voice beckons, "Silence is golden, but my eyes
still see." And as quickly as this Tremeloes cover entered, it fades into
silence, thus ending this epic album.
The programming and digital editing on this album are superb, you can tell
Uwe Schmidt is a master programmer who knows how to utilize the full
capabilities of his machines. This is what I wish more musicians would do -
drop the distortion and often times silly "darkness" and not be afraid to
make some lovely melodic, complex and innovative music. It seems that
distortion is too often used as a crutch to hide the fact that they're poor
musicians. This is however not the case on this album. My only complaint is
that it could have been much longer. In the end, we may have to start a new
genre just to find some sort of summation to this album's highly progressive
sound: Neo- futuristic glitch oriented electro-idm-pop? Whatever the jury
decides, this is an album worth exploring - if only to find out what the
trends will be in five to ten years.
--
Mr. Tangent [the binary police]
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