 | Tracklist:
1. All Night, All Right
2. I Want You (So Bad)
3. Neu Chicago
4. Brack Lain
5. Skinjob
6. International Heartbreaker
7. The Fourth Magi
8. Lonely for the High Scrapers
Release Date: 2010 | |
|
On 7 Lists
|
| Summary: The two sides of Clive Tanaka: dance while you're hot, chill while you simmer. |
Though the cassette was generally deemed obsolete once CD’s had taken over car stereos and the Discman had knocked the Walkman off its perch in a sales battle not quite as superhero-y as their names make it out to be, the format isn’t dead just yet. Leave it to the generation whose obsession with vintage has led to vinyl sales recording their biggest jump since 1991, cassettes are, in relative terms, surprisingly healthy amongst both indie musicians and listeners and for a guy like Clive Tanaka, that’s great news. In fact, it’s great news especially for a guy like Tanaka because the two formats do justice to his music that a CD simply couldn’t.
Tanaka’s Jet Set Siempre No. 1 is split into two distinct sides; side A, “For Dance”, and side B, “For Romance”, and the music runs a pretty tight course with the titles. Side A’s “All Night, All Right” and “I Want You (So Bad)” come blazing right out of the disco-cum-house Daft Punk books, while “Neu Chicago” drops the heavy vocoder and instead fuels its poppy boy-girl duet with bubbly synths and the brand of youthful, quixotic longing that chillwave has spent the last two years hoping to recreate. The joy that underlines Side A is nothing short of irresistible and its tenacity for weaving hooks together should reel in just about any listener pining for France’s next electro-sensation.
The sound byte of wood (presumably a pier) creaking as waves roll in as Side B starts is pretty indicative of the 20-minutes to come, as the funk romp of Side A all but vanishes and the breezy loungetronica of “Skinjob” struts in on its cashmere slippers. The rest of Side B soothes in much the same manner – distant, cinematic strings soar through “International Heartbreaker”, soundtracking some ‘60s first-class airport lounge, though the breakbeat keeps it firmly grounded while everything else seems to flutter above your head. “Lonely For The Highscrapers” floats wistfully towards the end of the record in a way where you’d think it had freed itself from gravity, repeating a vocodered refrain of “you’re not the only one” and bouncing between tropical, percussive rhythms.
The best part about Jet Set Siempre No. 1 is that it’s a record for two moods. The first half (and specifically how “All Right, All Night” kicks it off) is powered by the sheer warm exuberance it emanates for pop and dance music, like something you can tell is sprung from the heart of an obsessive, while Side B jaunts along like it could be the soundtrack to just about anything (including every beach-napper’s favourite; absolutely nothing). Tanaka has done a tremendous job in creating an album as terrific as a whole as it is between its two sharply defined goals and if you’re looking for something to offset the winter malaise, you don’t need to look any further.
|
| Recent reviews by this author | | | |
Album Rating: 4
though it's been available for a while on cassette, i believe this comes out on vinyl today.
Digging: Killer Mike - R.A.P. Music Digging: Killer Mike - R.A.P. Music | | | Album Rating: 4
good review, this sounds strange
Digging: Hop Along - Get Disowned | | | Album Rating: 4
"In fact, it’s great news especially for a guy like Tanaka because the two formats do justice to his music that a CD simply couldn’t."
does this mean I shouldn't listen to it unless on vinyl or tape? or can I acquire this using my....usual methods
| | | Album Rating: 4
whichever way you see fit, just keep in mind it's supposed to be split into two sides because the change in sound is rather dramatic and it works better in context of side A/side B
| | | Album Rating: 4
ok fair enough
but it's not like I have to get all audiophile to enjoy this or anything?
| | | Album Rating: 4
haha, no, don't worry
| | | Album Rating: 4
cool, I'll check this out then, it sounds awesome
cassette tapes were pretty rad, I'm barely old enough to remember my parents playing them in the car
before CDs took over.
| | |
at first glance the band name looked like circle takes the square and i got really really excited. and this sounds pretty awesome.
Digging: Hop Along - Get Disowned Digging: Hop Along - Get Disowned
| | |
recommended by reviewer
Air France No Way Down
Daft Punk Discovery
St. Germain Tourist
Tosca Suzuki
This sounds like love at first sight for me
Digging: Amon Tobin - Amon Tobin Digging: Amon Tobin - Amon Tobin
| | | Album Rating: 4
side b obv isnt as good as those last two recs but if im gonna rec chill downtempo electronica, im not gonna rec bad downtempo electronica!
| | |
Those were the two I was most interested in too! Still though, I'm always on the lookout for Kruder & Dorfmesiter-esque chillout so I'm gonna be all over this
| | |
fuck me i knew this was a two-sided tape no wonder the album went from raging to chilling so abruptly cut my dick off
| | |
i wanted more of the poppy dance stuff i was not ready to chillax so soon after partying hard to the first four songs
| | |
looks like I've got another album to get.
and just when I was talking about how much cassettes suck.
Digging: Killer Mike - R.A.P. Music Digging: Killer Mike - R.A.P. Music
| | |
my friend just mentioned this guy the other day, I'd like to check this out
Digging: Spacemen 3 - The Perfect Prescription
| | |
Neu Chicago is magnificent.
Digging: Dan Deacon - Spiderman of the Rings Digging: Dan Deacon - Spiderman of the Rings
| | |
interest piqued, nice review
| | | Album Rating: 3.5
Needed something like this.
Digging: El-P - Cancer For Cure Digging: El-P - Cancer For Cure | | |
Great review Kiran. Got my interest piqued for sure. And I randomly found this to be the best word in the whole review: "loungetronica".
"You can dance, you can jive, having the time of your life..." X 3.
Digging: My Bloody Valentine - Loveless
| | | Album Rating: 4
i wanted more of the poppy dance stuff i was not ready to chillax so soon after partying hard to the first four songs
yeah this is the main gripe, if both sides were fleshed out into albums of their own i'd prob love them both!
| | | |
|
|
Stumble
Digg
Twitter
Del.icio.us
