ELECTROLOUNGE ARCHIVE U-Z
NuJazz TripHop Ambient Dance

Jacques Tati -- the star of Play Time, Jour de Tete, Mon Oncle and Monsieur Hulot's Vacation -- is a comedic legend in France and among fans of foreign films. His near-silent film farces are charming, if not hilarious. Here, the soundtracks to his films get the remix treatment with charming, if underwhelming results.

Mr. Untel, presumably a French DJ, remixes the '50s work of Alain Romans, Francis LeMarque, Frank Barcellini, Gerard Langella, Jean Yatove, Didier Cremieux and Leo Chauliac -- all unfamiliar to this reviewer.

Understandably, the original music is of a light orchestral nature. The remixes give the loops and samples a suitable Latin-esque bounce. As downtempo cocktail music, the Tati remixes are perfectly enjoyable and even transporting, but nothing revoluationary.

The package is short on info, but does boast a handful of cool movie stills.

Everyone's favorite swanky DJ is back with a new full length. Archly ironic and infectiously catchy, Ursula 1000's Kinda' Kinky is a real kick.

First, take note of the Shag cover art -- very hip. Now take a look at the track list: "Boogaloop"... "Jackie Go!"... "Continental Break fest"... "Tigerbeat"... you get the idea; this hep cat is cheeky to boot.

For those familiar with Ursula 1000's previous releases debut album The Now Sound of... and the clubby DJ mix All Systems are Go Go, the new one will come as no surprise. The production values are even slicker, but none of the upbeat attitude or retro flava is missing. Latin percussion and bubbling bass lines are ever present behind a groovy arrangement of blaring brass, whirling woodwinds, vocal interjections, chomping piano lines, marimba, vibes, guitars and flirty female voices. What's not to love? A great party record.

Three of the 14 tracks made an appearance on the E.P. Beatbox Cha Cha.

Get the inside story, read the Interview with the man behind Ursula 1000, Alex Gimeno.

Everyone's favorite 'now sound' DJ Ursula 1000 delivers four previously unreleased tracks on this vinyl only EP. Beatbox Cha Cha kicks off with the high energy title track. What could be a traditional cha-cha number is given a bigger beat, punctuated by samples vocal encouragement. This is followed by "Tiger Beat", a horny rave up, complete with looped guitar riff, throbbing synth and scratching.

Side B delivers "Boogaloop" and "Princess T.N.T." The first is, as one might expect, a mid-tempo boogaloo with an updated production style. The second track is an uptempo house number built around stuttering synth and vocal snippets. Fun stuff.

The man who brought us the stellar sound library compilations Nuggets and Further Nuggets has released his first true solo record in several years, YosepH -- the first for Warp Records.

As the mind behind such acts as Plug and Wagon Christ, Frenchman has proven to be a chameleon -- every album seems to be a departure from the previous. That's certainly the case with YosepH. If it shares anything in common with previous efforts, the two Nuggets CDs come the closest. Vibert's penchant for vintage synth sounds is clearly inspired by the the production work of guys like Nino Nardini and Roger Roger.

However, this isn't a totally retro-flavored disc. It perculates with acid techno beats and a fat bottom end. Tracks like "FreakTimeBaby" and "Acidisco" are positively bootilicious. Occasionally, Vibert adds Kraftwerk-esque vocals to cool effect. It's a solid effort and great fun from beginning to end.

Released in tandem with the sixth issue of the hip Italian/English magazine Il Giaguaro, VIP200's PsicoErotica un Nudo, una Storia is a full length CD of loungecore originals and cinematic covers.

VIP200 performs with fluent musicianship, relying on guitar, bass, drums, organ and other keyboards on most tracks. Wordless vocals, harmonica and sitar sounds also make appearances.

The group puts a refreshing spin on classic tracks by Berto Pisano, G&M De Angelis, Armando Trovajoli and Piero Umiliani.

Most of the 14 tracks are band originals, which sound convincingly like they came from late '60s/early '70s groovy soundtracks. There's nothing groundbreaking about the set, but it's solidly conceived and executed. It's a perfect accompaniment for reading the magazine.

Breaking from the traditional, the Electro Lounge features an online music artist named for classic French carmaker Chenard Walcker. What we know of CW, the carmaker, is that it combined elegance with technical precision, and became France's fourth largest car maker in the 1920s. What we know of CW, aka Yann Chenard, is that the French musicmaker has a talent for combining obscure and not-so-obscure samples for a bizarre and never boring listening experience.

On Yann's Web site, you will find nearly 100 MP3 tracks of varying mood and tempo. Chenard's intuition when it comes to combining disparate musical elements is often astonishingly original given the derivative nature of his art. One suspects that the secret to his creative success is due to a didactic musical ability.

While most of the raw material leans toward the obscure, Chenard occasionally selects a sample that is already overly familiar (such as Lalo Schifrin's "Danube Incident" as used on Portishead's "Sour Times" or Camille Yarbrough's "Take Yo' Praise" as used on Fatboy Slim's "Praise You") -- this is perhaps the only notable weakness in his repertoire.

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Fans of Amon Tobin, DJ Food and Cinematic Orchestra will get a charge out of Xploding Plastix. In fact, if it weren't for the identification on the disc, one might be easily fooled into thinking this is a record by anyone of those Ninja Tune artists. The bebop drum fills are straight out of Amon Tobin. The opening track displays the orchestral warmth of Cinematic Orchestra. And the warped atmospherics and sampled spoken bits of DJ Food are in evidence as well.

So what, if anything, distinguishes Xploding Plastix from a handful of other instrumental trip hop outfits? Not much, but that doesn't really matter if you're a fan of this highly cinematic strain of electronica. The arrangements are dynamically beat driven and full of noirish detail.

The Dutch production team of Hallvard Hagen and Jens Petter Nilson is seamlessly augmented by Espen Blystad on Fender Rhodes and Hammond, and Erik Velldal Dribbles on double bass. Awesome work.

Zero 7's debut is a nearly flawless example of trippy, soundtrack-influenced millennial pop. It's lush, moody and atmospheric, interspersing memorable songs with equally gorgeous instrumentals.

Zero 7 has been called "the British Air". Like Air, the group values cinematic atmosphere in its compositions and like the French group, they know exactly how to score their music for optimal effect. The band also sounds a bit like Portishead and Jazzanova -- all good company.

The vocal performances are shared between male and female members of the group -- all of whom have pleasing, soulful voices.

The musicianship is of high caliber, but thankfully there is no grandstanding. The sound is clean and clear. The keyboard work is particularly outstanding.

A perfect soundtrack for lonely nights of melancholic longing and desire.