To Hell and back

In the same month that The Hacker & Miss Kittin release the follow-up to their 2002 debut album, their former label boss, DJ Hell is also putting out his new album. It's a coincidence, although the conspiracy theorist in me wants it to be a concerted attempt by one of them to steal the spotlight because they had a falling out, but it also serves to show how far apart they now are sound wise. The French duo's 2002 debut was one of the few good things about the awful electroclash 'explosion' of that time, especially Caroline Herve's deadpan singing over glorious pure synth pop ditties like 'Stock Exchange'. Fast forward seven years however, and Kittin sounds bored, a half-assed tone accompanying Hacker's often ridiculously upbeat pop. Hacker tries to redeem the partnership with noisy, bleepy techno like 'PPPO', but listening to Function's mighty remix of the same track, his limitations as a producer quickly become clear.  Hell on the other hand, has reinvented himself yet again on 'Teufelswerk' (devil's work in English). While his fascination with celebrity, especially cartoon rap star P Diddy, is grating, at least he has co-opted someone geuinely cool, Bryan Ferry, to sing on the album. Divided into 'day' and 'night' sections, the latter features one or two decent Chicago and 90s techno bangers ('The DJ' and 'The Disaster' ) and a surplus of dull grinding electro-techno tracks ('Bodyfarm'). However, on the 'day' disc, Hell delivers a more rewarding sound. Inspired by Neu, Can and early Kraftwerk, there are sprawling epics like 'Germania' and even an inspired cover version of prog rocker Hawkwind's 'Silver Machine'. Whether it'll connect with the be-mulleted peeps who wanted more of the same is another question, but unlike his former proteges who are stuck in the 80s, Hell has moved on.

Comments

[chymera]

international deejay gigolo itself has seen a huge jump in quality lately. considering I probably didn't buy a single record from the label in the past 7 years, the recent releases are more up my street... they are defo mining an old-schoolish route, with hints of chicago, acid and detroit, which is more than welcome. Peter kruder and Kikomoto Allstars spring to mind as two recent releases which i'm really enjoying.

[hum3]

Hell always follows his own musical inspirations, which go way back. For me his label, own releases and dj-sets often functioned as a gateway to discovering other great (and obscure) music.

I'll always respect him for that.

[kuri]

thanks for tip on the Hell and IDJ swing in quality. I had effectively written them both off a number of years ago as well. pity that Miss Kitten and the Hacker's album isn't better. I loved the debut and the early singles but frankly thought her solo album was for the birds.

[Brophy]

I agree, IDG went through a very dodgy patch, but they put out some great records (including a super album by psychonauts that went under the radar). plus hell introduced dopplereffekt, bobby konders etc to a load of people who may not have heard of them.Hell has a huge history and a great understanding of loads of different types of music italo, punk, kosmich, electro, house etc etc - the 'neue deutsche welle' of german punk compialtion gigolos released was great for example - and he is one of the few big names who seems willing to stick his neck out and release whatever he feels as opposed to whatever might sell. for that, he and gigolos will always be relevant.

and yes, 'i-com' sucks the big one - she's not a producer..

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