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Product details
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Track Listings
| 1. One Million Dollar Studio |
| 2. Polkamatic |
| 3. Poney Part 1 |
| 4. My Friend Dario |
| 5. Wooo |
| 6. La Rock 01 |
| 7. The Past |
| 8. No Fun |
| 9. Poney Part 2 |
| 10. Repair Machines |
| 11. Newman |
| 12. Trahison |
| 13. U and I |
| 14. Valletta Fangares |
Product Description
Review
The release got him instantly hailed as a new electro-techno messiah, with three of the four cuts from the EP - 'La Rock 01' and the two Poney tracks, Parts 1 and 2 - went on to become huge anthems, drooled upon by a diverse range of major players like 2 Many DJs, Aphex Twin and Sven Vath.
It's taken the best part of four years for Arbez to follow up on his mega-success, but after hearing Ok Cowboy you realize that waiting isn't perhaps such a bad thing after all.
The ebullient spirit that infused the EP is highly prevalent throughout the new album. The big three tunes mentioned are featured but rather than sticking out like sore anthems, they are neatly sutured into the rest of the rugged and variegated landscape.
They are provided back up by more beefy salvos constructed from acidic, guitar-heavy workouts, that boast no-nonsense behemoth beats and, more often than not, a growing sense of mild insanity.
In particular the stuttering electro freakout of "My Friend Dario", the synthesized wail of "No Fun" and the serious urgency of "Newman" and "Repair Machines" come across as intensely dense yet not claustrophobic.
That's down to some studio ingenuity on Arbez's part, most notably his refusal to use samples, which allows for a plethora of possibilities in terms of utilizing synthesizers for impeccable emulations of drums, guitars and even accordions. It also creates the raw, old-school flavour that permeates every second of the project.
The Dionysian, sweat-drenched excesses of the album are tempered not by insipid dreamscapes but by moments of intriguing experimentation. Some of these - "U and I" for example sounds a little unfinished, but the jovial skip of "Wooo" and "The Past", the fairground hip hop of "Trahison" and the militaristic tattoo of closer "Valletta Fanfares" are all compelling in their own ways.
One of the best two fingered salutes so far to the myopic prophets of dance music's doom, Ok Cowboy is vibrant, visceral and vital in a way that Daft Punk and other established dancefloor luminaries can no longer manage. --Jack Smith
Find more music at the BBC This link will take you off Amazon in a new window
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Customer Reviews
There is the massive and pulverising "La Rock 01" which has been a centrepiece of many a D.J. set since the release of the "Poney" E.P. in 2001.I, ve often wondered what a cement mixer tap dancing on aluminium in a wind tunnel would sound like and now I know. Equally propulsive is the latest single "My Friend Dario". This is so powerful it gave me an attack of fremitus which is not good when you're swallowing half masticated Garibaldi but is great if you want to bounce around the room like you've just stepped on a giant mousetrap. There's lot's more in this vein which is terrific but there is also by way of variety the cheesily melodic "Polkamatic" or the lovely "The Past" which sounds like The Future Sound Of London doing the soundtrack to "Bladerunner". The shimmering malleable synths on "Poney Part 2" are fantastic and the generally incomprehensible vocal bits and bats on tracks like "Repair Machines" or "Newman" compliment the music rather than overpower it or get in the way too much.Even the madcap percussive extremes of "Valleta Fanjares" which is like Cozy Powell on fast forward does,nt grate too much.
Vitalic also resists the urge, as is so often the case with dance albums to let tracks go on too long. "La Rock 01" is the longest at 5.26 which with a track that fantastic is hardly a problem .This is the album that LCD Soundsystem should have made and only managed in parts, a colossal stomping behemoth of an album that doesn't break any new ground as far as dance is concerned but just says what the hell, reinforce those floorboards, pin back your ears and lubricate your joints this isn't going to hurt a bit. The best fun you, ll have all year that doesn't involve silk bed sheets, heated baby oil and naughty night attire.
However this proved to be a fad. Instead Vitalic settled down in France (where he grew up) and spent a good four years perfecting his debut album.
What becomes apparent straight away is that Vitalic is now belonging to this very great line of French exports like Air, Etienne De Crecy and Daft Punk. That latter name bears more significance than anyone could have thought because as Daft Punk made their latest LP 'Human After All' in just six weeks, the results were definitely mixed as half of it sounded hurried and brash.
But when the dynamite of 'My Friend Dario' explodes from a pair of well wired-up speakers, Vitalic is the dynamic force carrying the baton now for French Disco - more than a mere name to drop - the tracks here back this claim up.
There are the downtempo experiments needed to balance out the headrush of tracks like 'No Fun'. For example opener 'Polkmatic' and post-modern track 'The Past' are layered with breathtaking sequential synths sounding like the perfect pulse-rate.
All of the killer singles are there, making this the perfect all-round document to get started on Vitalic. The trademark sound is maintained all way through giving this the deserved 5 stars above.
Nevertheless this is a really good record. Read more
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