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cDr|m's
.:: a klangwerk release ..................................................::.
artist :: toxic lounge
release :: low noon
year :: 1999
genre :: trip-hop
label :: klein records
catalogue :: kl cd 014
website :: www.kleinrecords.com
ripper :: karmacoma
date :: 19-jul-2001
quality :: 192kbps/44,100hz
source :: compact disc
.::.......................................................................::.
01 adress unknown 5:01
02 clench 4:05
03 when sorrows came 4:32
04 a little act of voyeurism 4:04
05 the vanishing 4:00
06 crime scene 3:02
07 helicopter 3:38
08 unspeakable 4:50
09 lemon incest 3:34
10 breaking test 3:11
11 sterile penthouse 3:51
12 theme from low noon (helicopter-reprise) 6:09
playtime :: 00h 49m 57s
.::.......................................................................::.
"low noon" is the sound of contradictions strung together. on toxic
lounge's debut album easy listening collides with icy sounds
straight out of an imaginary sci-fi thriller, heavy downtempo beats
linking up with elegant songsmithery, the uncomforting inkling of a
much darker threat constantly boiling beyond a thin crust of
deceptively cuddly pop. the musical contradictions that attract and
pull apart from each other reflect the four band members' distinct
personalities. songs are dragged to and fro unremittingly, the old
cliche of viennese easy-goingness getting thoroughly booted out the
door in the process.
when tensions flare up between the members of toxic lounge,
recording engineers take cover.
christian fuchs describes himself as the "lounge factor" of the
band. his whole way of thinking revolves around visual imagination
and spontaneous trains of thought. ever since toxic lounge's
inception in the winter of 96/97, his contribution has been to add
a sense of smoke-filled bars, camp drama and red velvet upholstery
to the band's sound.
kim pil-jung, the "toxic factor" of the group, has written scores
for various austrian films, lending a cool, neon-coloured sheen to
proceedings, colouring the music of toxic lounge in the shimmering
metallic blue of an android's armour.
in 1997, core-members christian fuchs and kim pil-jung invited kim
jina and rainer binder-kriegelstein into the fold. as a drummer,
rainer demands musical precision, while jina's vision hails from a
jazz and classical background. her voice is slightly entranced,
alternating with christian's breathy, croaking whispers.
wolfgang schloegl of viennese freestyle groove outfit sofa surfers
shares production duties on "when sorrow came" and "sterile
penthouse". vienna hip hop scenester dj functionist can be heard
scratching on "unspeakable" and is due to remix a toxic lounge
track in the near future. joerg gaisbauer of post-ironic schmaltz
combo der scheitel sends his pedal steel guitar howling longingly
over the soundscapes. it's the sound of a peculiar partnership with
the aim of reaching the ultimate antithesis.
all of the tracks on "low noon" are based on a common matrix called
pop. toxic lounge take their cues from the requirements of songs,
complete with choruses, verses, melodies. "broken love songs", as
christian likes to call his tunes. their songs revolve around
snapshot situations in their as well as other people's lives, even
around tensions within the band, never allwoing a chorus to run
riot, tight melodies restisting any temptation of descending into
blatant hymns, carefully avoiding any pomposities.
in "the vanishing", christian evokes a relationship dangling at the
edge of violence to the sound of smooth jazz samples, illustrating
the culture of contradiction that informs of "low noon".
meanwhile, pil-jung is steering vast keyboard layers on a collision
course with bare-knuckled old skool hip hop beats, met by the
oblivious jarring of a double bass. piano patterns trickle down the
winding gutter until they are swallowed up by a dark growling wave
of keyboards akin to the soundtrack of john carpenter's movie
"assault". a seductively dragging beat is stretching the sticky
disco of serge
gainsbourg's "lemon incest", distorting the whole song while a
piano tinkles sweetly in the background.
samples out of italian western movies, obscure videos and dusty
soundtrack albums flare up in between. but for all that, the album
doesn't sound like a collage. anything superfluous gets filtered
out of the endless amounts of samples at disposal, until nothing
remains but a stark and contradictory beauty that would probably
suit david lynch quite nicely. once the soft "blue velvet" curtain
is whisked aside in an act of curious voyeurism, a cold and gloomy
abyss starts to show.
the roots of toxic lounge lie in the new electronic sound of the
fading nineties, "it's you and me, 1999", yet still the band's
character remains unmistakable. "low noon" sounds organic, rather
than the result of knob-twiddling and mouseclicks. the album's
title is a mockery of western movie cliches, symbolising the mood
of the record, which conjures up images of long nights, forgotten
lust and knackered days, as exemplified by udo titz's cover shot of
a woman who seems to have returned home at noon to get some sleep
after a night out dancing.
the visual side of toxic lounge's urban blues has been created by
media artists violet suk and martin koch, who provide video
backdrops and installations at their gigs. together, they translate
the heavy contrasts in the music of toxic lounge into images of
acid pouring over plush furniture, of the sun blazing down on the
smouldering tarmac of a rough neighbourhood street, of a detective
stalking round street corners at night, his gun ready at hand,
while a warm jazzy melody is drifting past. toxic lounge own me.
and my fists are clenched.
.::.......................................................................::.
greetings :: sb, qdp, sour, dps, rac, dh, sfe, hbz, tr, igr and mgc
.::.......................................................................::.