REVIEW: Wagon Christ, Tally Ho! (Astralwerks)
- Tim Hulsizer
Luke Vibert has been around since the late 80's, sampling all sorts of odd sci-fi movies and other sources to create a home-grown sound that is bass-filled and spacy, throbbing and dynamic. His vision of dance music is a more simplistic one and he feels that he never quite reached that until now.
Previously, Vibert experimented with faster breaks, resulting in the brilliant Plug drum'n'bass material. Remixes followed, for artists like Meat Beat Manifesto and Nine Inch Nails. He has previous albums of Wagon Christ tunes and he also recorded under his own name (MoWax Records' awesome Big Soup disc from last year), all of which results in a track record that is exemplary if not consistent. He may not stick with one genre all the time but he never disappoints. Besides, who wants an artist to restrain themselves in favor of cultivating their own musical niche?
His sound is also hard to miss. Bouncing along with a mind of its own, Wagon Christ beats seem to bubble over with ideas while remaining singleminded in their purpose: entertainment. The fact that he seems to be an artistic pioneer in breakbeats doesn't change the fact that he doesn't see himself that way. "With Wagon Christ the music doesn't really have any pretentions," states Vibert. "It's not supposed to be overly analyzed at all. I hate it when people read too much into dance music."
That doesn't seem to be a problem here. From the faster rhythm of the title track to the tongue-in-cheek mode of "Juicy Luke Vibert" and "Piano Playa Hata", this is all on the light side of electronic music. That may scare off some of the more hardcore supporters of underground beats, as these are some of Vibert's "fluffiest" songs to date, but that's really what the Wagon Christ pseudonym is there for. It's an outlet for him to explore his more accessible ideas and present them to the listener. Even the comic book-style cover art yells "fun!"
Best of all, it's got something for the die-hard fans like myself as well. It's difficult to put my finger on exactly what that "something" is, but if pressed I'd have to call it the Vibert Touch. He leaves an indelible fingerprint on anything he does. Perhaps it's the sparing but effective use of vocal samples, or simply that moment where you nod your head and say, "Yeah, that's a Vibert track." Whatever it is, it keeps me coming back to hear everything he does. It's also the reason some people consider Vibert/Plug/Wagon Christ the best artist out there, calling Luke a genius. At the risk of over-analyzing this "dance music", I think I have to agree.
