1999: A slight return to the filtration, the feel and the kick

[imomus]

It's always nice, trawling YouTube, to find someone's done their own video for one of your songs. Especially one as clever as this:

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I've no idea who anormalanormal -- the director of this "sing with your eyes" video -- is, but he appears to be based in Hungary. The song is "Stephanie Pappas" from my 1999 album Stars Forever. The disco kick drum is sampled from one of my favourite singles of that time, "Music Sounds Better With You" by Stardust:

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Watching that again, I'm transported back to the late 90s, and the kind of Superdiscount filtrage pop that was flooding the charts with denatured disco in the wake of the original success of Daft Punk. It certainly impacted my own music -- you can hear me copying the Daft Punk filter trick on tracks like "Shoestyle of the Angel" and "Professor Shaftenberg" off Ping Pong, for instance.

I loved the off-kilter (and yes, postmodern and ironic, alienated yet appetising) take the French producer-bands had on commercial pop ten years ago. I think Cassius' 1999 was my favourite record of 1999:

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Of course, we know what happened to this stuff. A vampy vampire called Madonna came along and plunged thirsty gold incisors into the sound for her 2000 album "Music". After that, Cassius, Stardust and even Daft Punk released disappointing records, and the sound faded.

But this year I've noticed a slight return of the French 90s sound. Bands like Hot Chip, CSS and Thieves Like Us are giving us slightly more plaintive readings of it. Have a listen to "Drugs in My Body" by Thieves Like Us (two Swedes and an American who met in Berlin):

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Isn't that a post-Hot Chip / CSS version of the Stardust / Cassius sound? It's got the disco kick, the flirty, flighty filtration, the funky but robotic and alienated guitar samples.

"Beat Vacation", the forthcoming album from my mate Digiki -- a Frenchy disco man who's relocated from Paris to Tokyo -- sounds like it was dipped in a magic cauldron of that 1999 attitude when it was little.

More than a slight return, then, to a missed hit sound. Set the filters to warp 99.

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

Oh, the timing. Thieves like us played yesterday in some dingy bar i SoHo i heard.

ƒ

[imomus.livejournal.com]

They seem somewhat underwhelming (http://youtube.com/watch?v=DV4jlBaUzFU) live, at least in that clip. This show at St Martins School of Art (http://youtube.com/watch?v=2z7Zgm1okLs) seems better. Well, more arty and difficult, anyway.

[schizo-robot.livejournal.com]

ahh! i love "drugs in my body" so much. i can't wait for their full length album to come out.

that time reminds me of this -

[evil-heat.livejournal.com]

and strangely this too -

Re: that time reminds me of this -

[evil-heat.livejournal.com]

and of course this. definatley this. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpnyBtx4aKo)

Re: that time reminds me of this -

[(Anonymous)]

ahaha, that Sandstorm song. I remember all through the late 90s they'd use it whenever they wanted something "techno". News features on underage drug use at rave parties, new clubbs opening, etc. More innocent days.

Re: that time reminds me of this -

[imomus.livejournal.com]

I think that's the style of music I hate most in the world, actually. So formulaic and cheesy! And the sunglasses!

Re: that time reminds me of this -

[desant012.livejournal.com]

I think this guy begs to disagree:

[rhodri.livejournal.com]

I loved that Stardust / Cassius moment. That Upper Cuts (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Upper_Cuts) record has some lovely stuff on it.

And of course I loved "Pappas", too. None of this is particularly profound or insightful, but it is correctly spelt.

[fishwithissues.livejournal.com]

A vampy vampire called Madonna came along and plunged thirsty gold incisors into the sound for her 2000 album "Music".

Relatedly, it's remarkable how much that Cassius video looks like the majority of ad design on TV (or at least 6 months ago when I watched any TV). No 2-and-a-half minute ad break would be complete without an appearence by the hip animated arrow flying all over the place.

[fishwithissues.livejournal.com]

ack, *appearance

[(Anonymous)]

I tried putting a new spin on the old filter trick by using reggaeton drums at 100bpm instead of house drums at 120. It sucked.

refiltration

[pay-option07.livejournal.com]

Are you planning any new forays into the music world?
A few mmm weeks ago you hinted at some writing for the Nihonjin. How about us!

[(Anonymous)]

Click Opa.

der.

[anglerfish96.livejournal.com]

What is this mournful nostalgia week?

[cargoweasel.livejournal.com]

I dunno, that thieves like us track sounds more like a filter dipped version of depeche mode or bronski beat than the funkier late 90s Thomas Bangalter sound that I still love. Not that that's a bad thing but it seems like it's drawing its references from a mythologized 1983 rather than a mythologized and teched-up 1976.

Christianne F.

[(Anonymous)]

FYI The video for thieves like us is made-up of scenes from the movie Christianne F. (shot in Berlin)for which David Bowie wrote the soundtrack.

Thieves like us track sounds

[(Anonymous)]

I read this as "Thieves like U.S. track sounds"

haha, and then I thought of railroads and hoboes.

salad days

[(Anonymous)]

this period of pop music recalls very fond memories for me. i was 17 when "homework" was released on vinyl. the fading years of the 90s was a great time to be a teenager. mtv actually played the video for "the music sounds better than you", as well as tons of good techno videos on their late night program AMP. my city (nyc) was becoming considerably safer to wander around in late at night, but still retained the edge that it's completely lost today. i remember a lot of long nights with great electronic music. it was a perfect fit for my age.

seeing the video for thieves sort of disappointed me. the music is good but the vocals (indie and whiny), the kids running through and vandalizing, that all strikes me as so 2007 and lame. 1997 would have had a smooth vocal sample repeated without trite lyrics about going home and eating biscotti.

i remember watching the television one afternoon several years ago when the video for chemical brothers' "star guitar" came on. one of the best videos i've ever seen and apparently an influence on the director of this thieves video. it matched the song beautifully: a long, sunny journey, the exhilaration of rhythm and tempo, a last gasp as it comes to an end. it appropriately bookended what "homework" began. so to hear this revival of that periods sound is just sort of depressing, i suppose. it seems like the amount of time between genre and retro-revival of genre is shrinking exponentially.

[electricwitch.livejournal.com]

HAHAHA Momus fanvids.

I feel I should make one, now, possibly a lot like the Kevin Ayers one.

Stephanie pappas

[(Anonymous)]

Twas not a fan vid. twas a test using a song my friend was into.
In fact the only other momus song Ive ever heard is Monkey for Sallie.

But now that I see this blog... Tickle me intrigued.

AnormalAnormal

that 1999 attitude

[(Anonymous)]

ah ah, thanks for the comment Nick, I was indeed in Paris during the filter sound years, so no surprise that it somehow impacts my style... I never really figured out how to do that sound properly anyway. Glad you like the Beat vacation trailer, it's a quiet album really...looking forward to having you here in Tokyo. Soon ! Antonin / Digiki

[flyonawndshield.livejournal.com]

The guy in the first video reminds me of the Corinthian from the Sandman comics. Creepy!

Durutti Column

[(Anonymous)]

I couldnt place where the guitar sample on "drugs in my body" came from & then it hit me: The Durutti Column/Sketch for Summer

[alphacomp.livejournal.com]

Hm- what about Cut Copy? They seemed to be really into the filter-disco sound in 2004(albeit with their own sounds):