Talibam! is a hell of a name, and that sleeve isn't giving anything away except it's obviously a two man project with Kevin Shea and Matt Mottel. I sort of thought this was going to be a minimal Avant Garde classical style single...maybe it's the political moniker...or those two serious dudes standing back to back...there's nothing to let you in on this free form stylized, mashup-collage barely contained on the two sides.
The A-Side "Crusin' the Cookie Isle"...is impossible to describe what sounds are being created. You have to get into the thought behind these seriously disjointed genre's to make any kind of sense of it. Everything feels mechanical, like 14 sound collages running at once. A little bit cold. Or a winter carnival, let's say. The it gets hip hop. TV samples and news reports over NYC radio station surfing. The only thing I can even semi-relate this to is the free form anti-style of Zappa or Captain Beefheart. The key is not ever knowing what to expect.
The title, "Cruising the cookie isle" actually makes perfect sense. Ask them to go get their favorite, they refuse to decide...let's face it, they're all delicious. You're splitting hairs...take all the bags of cookies, unwrap them and make a pile in the cart...crush them into a giant cookie of a track.
The B-Side "Cosmic Attitude" also subscribes to changing the rhythm every measure in some sort of masochistic test of anti-repetition. In addition to playing every pad on the drum machine for the entire track by hand.
If Girl Talk actually wrote some music of his own it might possibly sound like this...well, he would want it to anyway. But it has to keep this touch of bizarre, and it should keep it as loose as Talibam!. The schizophrenic feeling this could go in any direction any given second. It's proof of agility...old school '80s house, Devo synth to falsetto rap with porno samples.
I can imagine what the rehearsal space looks like...an episode of hoarders.
It's an hours worth of WFMU's eclectic programming distilled down into a 3 minute 7" which in this case can be a great thing, it's as skilled and crafted to the second as any math prog rock monster... it's an overwhelming, messy side. But every Diner/24 restaurant culture has it's version of french fries with everything...Canadians call it Poutine, diners in Jersey call it Disco Fries, but basically the concept is the same...if all of those ingredients are good separate then it's going to be even better going down all at once.
Take this Billy Joel clip for example:
Wasn't that better?
Get this one from Electric Cowbell or ESP-Disc:
COSMOPLITUDE is a sexy, ultra-limited-edition 45rpm 7" single co-released by ESP Disk' and Electric Cowbell Records. This historic album not only marks Talibam's first-ever single and 20th record, but also ESP's first single in their legendary 40+ years as a vanguard label. Side A's 'Cruisin the Cooke Isle' and side B's 'Cosmic Attidude' are ready for Dj spins on Milano fashion runways, in Brooklyn punk basements, or at hot tub parties from Vegas to Tibet... Ka-ching + Ohm = KA-BONE! Cosmoplitude is a transcendent, compassionate cosmic attitude emanating from and permeating through everything -- space/places/animals/stimuli/desires/gut feelings. If you can catch on to the cosmop, the obstacle course of notated expectations, shifting brightness and energy standards, daily costume changes, uber-media-mind-chip commentary, and cultural/political flux will all suddenly transform into an inspired/extinguished altered state of disjointed iconic impressions giving birth to positive urban countenance and lavish peace. Talibam' Cosmoplitude will improve your own personal cosmoplitude, GUARANTEED.
No comments:
Post a Comment