Recently signed to the Smalltown Supersound label, ”We gave it all away” and ”Now we are taking it Back” are the two discs that make up the new double album from Mungolian Jetset - released in Norway this month. Formed by (with their many contributors) Paul “Strangefruit” Nyhus, Knut Sævik and Reidar Skår, Mungolian Jetset’s double LP was hailed, with must gusto as “probably one of the best albums ever released on Smalltown Supersound!”, via the labels website. This is high praise indeed, considering the company they now keep.
It’s worth noting at this point that we only received the second installment of this double album, nevertheless, I will soldier on with half an album…. stiff upper lip and all that!
Despite the red hot, quasi voodoo, hellscape cover of the album, “now we’re taking it all back” opens with a certain juxtaposed ambiance and glacial crispness, creating a happy place from which to embark with the Mungolian Jetset.
At times primal, the heavy bass and busy drums, which arise on the album, conjure ancient dancefloor mystique- relentless, heaving and dripping- bringing the cartoon diabolism from the cover into significance, breaking the complacency of the dancefloor anthems and sonic wellness. Occasionally funky, yet with a sinister undertone, created by a unsettling but entirely natural soundscape, akin to Architecture in Helsinki or Animal Collective, the ‘Jetset sound is both engaging and challenging, a delight for curious ears and feet.
At nearly two hours in length, the alternations in groove of this double album are far reaching in spectrum and ambition. Nevertheless, the ‘Jetset maintain a consistently fluid and organic feel amongst the experimentation, with delightfully sensual hippy murmurings surfacing here and there “Oh glorious moo-hoo-oon, oh beautiful sister in the sky”- floating wide eyed, over a steady pervasive rhythm- shades of the sinister peppered with gay optimism, a truly kinky dynamism.
It appears that every fresh interaction with this album, offers something new- something that was missed the last time round. With its complicit layering, the music and mixes tantalise the senses, and with its embryonic cadence churning out, it allures the soul, making the overall output utterly captivating.
To the future purchaser of this fine product, I would like to offer a recommendation: gather some friends of equivalent musical enthusiasms in your home, drink and/or attain merriment; and just before departing to “clubland”, dim the lights, hush the crowd and crank out track 7 (Glitches n Bugs), followed by track 8 (Moon Song) from the second disc…. good times guaranteed!
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2 Responses to “Kinky Dynamism”
J - September 11th, 2009 at 09:28
Numbnuts! It’s a remix album, but I guess you haven’t bothered checking that out, now have ya!
Moon Song is a remix they did for They Came From the Stars, and I Saw Them, while Glitches N’bugs was originally recorded by The Shortwave Set.
It’s a great album, no doubt, but it just seems so fucking lazy when you haven’t bothered looking up what kind of album it is.
Malcolm Robert Macdonald - November 4th, 2009 at 18:44
J,
What is wrong with reviewing a remix album as a body of work in its own right? That particular attribute was in clear print amongst the propagation within the press release- i.e. it didn’t require “checking out”.
Furthermore, omitting tedious trivia in favour of promoting and exploring the musical overview of a body of work should not be construed as ignorance, but rather recognised as discerning critique.
Nevertheless, great that you give a shit!
Yours sincerely,
Numbnuts.