Lilian Hak ‘Rebels Outlaws Misfits (with Matthew Herbert remixes)’

Lilian Hak / Rebels Outlaws Misfits (with Matthew Herbert remixes)

Digital

Sirenmusic / Released June 2011

 

What does it sound like?

Matthew Herbert has turned his deft hands to anything and everything, including shows wherein he rips up Big Mac boxes and tears apart Gap tees for an anti-corporate lesson in on the fly production and performance. And, like the true musical madman/genius he is, the sounds he is associated with are increasingly abstract, but reliably enjoyable.

Here he’s embroiled with Dutch singer Lilian Hak for a kind of twisted jazz cabaret. Brass sections appear with aplomb as live drums carry the tempo, while our songstress muses unabridged on technology and how people don’t need reality. In short, it’s a bit like having an upbeat David Lynch soundtrack in your front room.

The remixer extraordinaire steps up the electronic side of things, though only slightly. His Hello Mix is made from a looped and cut ensemble of vocals that serve to distort and then reveal the original song, set to a slightly Oompa Loompa style rhythm, if that’s not trivialising things. There’s also a guitar that invokes a badly tuned radio, and this is followed by an instrumental version that delivers on that promise. As difficult to pigeonhole as the EP title would suggest.

Where would I dance to it?

Rarely have there been harder questions to answer. Inside your acid riddled mind is certainly one likely venue, other than that Parisian bars, Sonar By Day, and countless other locations you’d rather be than here, reading this.

What highlights can I expect to hear?

Call us fanboys but Herbert’s always going to be a difficult one to beat. As he proves with a reworking that effortlessly retains the sentiments of the original, while introducing the kind of crazed dancefloor ideas that went into his Roisin Murphy work.

Why should I pay for it?

Just because it’s digital doesn’t make it right; releases like this don’t come around every day.

Where can I buy it?

Juno

 


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