Wednesday, January 05, 2005
The Politics of Dat
It is time to write about one of the most important experimental electronic bands I have come across since I first heard Aphex Twin. I was given the gift of Dat Politics by my friend and musical companion, Matt Sesman, who managed to collect the most obscure electronic and experimental music throughout most of college. I believe his musical programming was somehow genetic, because his brother Drew Daniel is the artistic voice behind San Francisco experimental band, Matmos. I am not sure, but I believe that Matt received the Dat Politics CD, Plugs and Plus, because Matmos performed on the track "Pass Our Class." Either way, Matt exposed me to one of my favorite electronic songs of all time, "Pie." This track inspired me to create a new dance genre, space dance. I think it was the glitchy electro-pop which opened a new door to my experimental choreography perceptions. The music is like a strange amusement park of sounds made on synthesizers and toys, but the mixing of the tracks is as sophisticated as mainstream pop music. Their songs will lead you into electric light parades of sound, and then drop you off in a robotic spaghetti western film soundtrack. In many ways, this laptop quartet from the small town of Lille, in Northern France is making music that defies any categorization and that is the most exciting thing about them.
Their newest release, Go Pets Go is the most accessible yet. However, they still maintain a healthy amount of "play mind" and creative cacophony. The track Bees're Bees is bouncy, vocal, and more melodic than many of the tracks off of Plugs and Plus ( and far less edgy than any of the tracks on Trackto Flirt). It seems like an off beat summer day song, something about birds and bees and innocence and love. Let me know what you think of it. Let me know if it gets stuck in your head, like any good children's' song.
// posted by niki @ 11:14 AM
