Article Response: Electro as Pop: 10 Odd Gems

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Not sure if I'm allowed to do this since it's on Pitchfork, but I enjoyed this article N*tsuh wrote about the poppier end of the electrotype stuff he's been enjoying. Better yet, he burned me a CD-R with all of these tracks and a few more, including some of his own work as Promqueen (one of his tracks is the best on the comp!), all mixed down and nicely segued.

I’m not too up on the general scene he’s describing here, but I dig these tracks & this write-up & I’m wondering what y’all think of his selections & commentary.

― Mark (MarkR), Friday, 8 November 2002 14:28 (twenty-three years ago)

Really great stuff - certainly, a nice take on electroclash that, despite its relatively short length, speaks volumes on the appeal of the genre. I wasn't familiar with all the vintage punk comparisons, but I dig the concept.

Nitsuh, glad to see you're listening to Mixed Up in the Hague. Also glad to see you found a DMX Krew track that you can hang with. I actually hear a late-'80s thing going on in that track - the Donna Summer song it reminds me the most of is "This Time I Know It's For Real."

I think I ultimately hate "Destroy She Said," after listening to it a lot, but I can certainly relate to your overall surprise at digging the track.

Also, "Missy Queen's Gonna Die" is totally amazing, as is most of the Tok Tok vs. Soffy O LP - "Jean" is the most authentic take on hi-NRG (that I've heard) that's been created since '85. The 12" should be out in the U.S., but the CD might be a tough find. Drop me an email if you want a copy.

And, like I said, great work.

― Rich, Friday, 8 November 2002 16:47 (twenty-three years ago)

(Errata: The "Missy Queen" track discussed is obviously the Martini Bros. remix -- if I'd had the LP when I wrote this I probably would have been talking about the second track.)

― nabisco (nabisco), Friday, 8 November 2002 16:56 (twenty-three years ago)

nitsuh, i don't have a lot of time, but great stuff. (i'd assume this isn't the singles run down for pfork you were telling me about a while back, though...)

― jess (dubplatestyle), Friday, 8 November 2002 17:06 (twenty-three years ago)

nitsuh this is tremendous, thank you for turning me onto console's 14zerozero, which i think i'm gonna give its own thread later

― mitch lastnamewithheld (mitchlnw), Saturday, 9 November 2002 10:17 (twenty-three years ago)

Excellent stuff Nitsuh and I won't even grumble about the "Article Response" thread-title. I love the punk-comparisons thing, esp. as you're using them to unsettle yr audience rather than validate what you're talking about! I also like the songs I know ("Rippin Kittin" aside - dunno what people see in that one) so off to Slsk with me!

― Tom (Groke), Saturday, 9 November 2002 10:28 (twenty-three years ago)

i'm not usually one for taxonomy but using just "electro" in this context bugs me out... i mean, tibetan jam? cybotron? egyptian lover? hashim? freeez? newcleus? world class wrecking crew? it's hardly such a continuum that it doesn't warrant new terminology. electroclash has the right level of fakeness thanks.

― bob zemko (bob), Saturday, 9 November 2002 12:05 (twenty-three years ago)

The punk comparison is genius. I haven't heard most of the punk songs mentioned, but that's not the point at all! I love two of the electro songs on there, so I'll have to get the rest of them sometime.

― Vinnie (vprabhu), Sunday, 10 November 2002 16:07 (twenty-three years ago)

Rich: I'm actually enjoying a lot of DMX Krew now, even some of the bits that strike me as a tremendous waste of hooks and talent. (Maybe stuff like "Konnichi Wa" is meant to work as satire -- but even if it were, is it worth satirizing the long-forgotten?) And yes, absolutely loving "Jean."

Thanks Jess and Mitch and Tom and Vinnie. Tom, my guess is that you would like "Naked, Drunk and Horny," but I always seem to be wrong about what you might like.

― nabisco (nabisco), Monday, 11 November 2002 20:22 (twenty-three years ago)

nitsuh this is tremendous, thank you for turning me onto console's 14zerozero, which i think i'm gonna give its own thread later

The best song to ever advertise lollipops. Official.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Monday, 11 November 2002 21:09 (twenty-three years ago)

"naked, drunk and horny" is excellent. The poppiest thing I've heard since those couple of good Phoenix tracks I was into in summer. I'm trying not to listen to it too much though as it seems it could quickly get annoying.

― Ian SPACK (Ian SPACK), Monday, 11 November 2002 21:17 (twenty-three years ago)

I don't think I've heard any of these other than "Rippin Kittin" and "Missy Queen's Gonna Die", but you make it all sound mighty, Nitsuh. I need to more time and energy into nu-electro.

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Monday, 11 November 2002 22:56 (twenty-three years ago)

Wha? they used 14 zero zero to advertise lollipops!?

― Dan i., Monday, 11 November 2002 23:04 (twenty-three years ago)

Circ - who did "Destroy She Said" - turns out to be Alexander Perls from Icebreaker International, two guys who used to be in Piano Magic. Has anyone heard the record outside of "This Is Tech-Pop"?

― locus solus, Tuesday, 12 November 2002 14:42 (twenty-three years ago)

one year passes...

Here's how "Destroy She Said" starts:
Like towers falling down
Like a bomb blast in your town
Like a hostage tied in chains
I could not forget your name.

And there you are: a song-long metaphor that no one would have found more than the most abstract resonance in a year and a half ago.

i was googling to see if circ had ever done anything else and i found a bio on discogs.com that claimed the "destroy she said" vocal tracks were recorded 4 months prior to 9/11. spooky.

― m. (mitchlnw), Monday, 28 June 2004 16:55 (twenty-one years ago)

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