From the warm chords that open Something, this
album is a real delight, an apt homage to that clutch
of classic West End records that emerged in those iconic
pink sleeves in the mid to late eighties. For a time
while the Paradise Garage and Larry Levan reigned supreme
West End truly was “where the sun sets and the
stars rise”. Crucially it was a label where artists
could experiment – wild remixes often became the
version of choice. See for example Ednah Holt’s
Serious Sirius Space Party or Loose Joints’
Is It All Over My Face. A lot of this spirit
is contained here.
The paper and glue collage is not the only reference
to this golden era of New York’s underground disco
scene. Most notably the album’s stand out track
Analogue Shantytown with its odd meter and
muted refrain owes a huge debt to avant-garde disco
pioneer Arthur Russell. The track even ends with a haunted
echo of cello in homage to the great man. Elsewhere,
there are references to other scene setters Talking
Heads. End West features a chant from Pulled
Up from the seminal album 77, before descending
into a gloriously extended dub disco freak out.
This is no mere pastiche of jagged eighties sensibilities
however. Bolan Muppets for example suggests
where people like Russell and producer Walter Gibbons
may have taken their dub disco experiments had they
been alive to experience the post rock of bands like
Tortoise. There’s a bit of everything here, crammed
into a joyful thirty-six-minute package, all the more
surprising when you consider the record comes from the
Montreal-based label which is home to the somewhat austere
post rockers Godspeed! You Black Emperor and Do Make
Say Think.
Stuart Aitken
3.8/5 |
