REVIEW: Sven Vath, Contact (Ultra Records/Virgin)
- Chris Hill
A time portal connecting the early '80s electronic releases of Kraftwerk and Yello with modern house and trip-hop rhythms, Contact is anachronistic, synthetic fun, courtesy of German dance club veteran Sven Vath.
If the leadoff track, "Pathfinder", loses something in the linguistic translation ("Things are always changing/I feel that is all right/I like to discover/All different things"), the song gains a Chauncey Gardener innocent profundity from the sincere delivery. A pseudo-Casio drum machine bumps and burbles against spectral atmospherics reminiscent of Rockwell's '80s hit, "Somebody's Watching Me". The song is Vath's "follow your bliss" declaration: quoted from the press release, "The path is the goal, go and make the most of it." To accomplish this lofty ideal, Vath recruited a roster of up and coming producers to push his boundaries, digging into past favorite artists like the Human League and Thomas Dolby for stylistic inspiration.
"Your Sweat (Dein Schweiss)", the first single, pulsates with electric playfulness, fitting thick slabs of beat against simple mechanical keyboard tones. The track invokes images of Ross Geller - but cool - doing his "Robot" dance moves. Vath's curt, inflected vocals appear and disappear like Hogan's Alley targets. The song was inspired by the perspiration Vath's music generated from its audience. Quoting Vath again - "For a lot of people, sweat is something quite unsavory. I find dancing sweat very erotic. It means intensity and it's the perfect image for letting go, for succumbing to the mood."
This image is targeted with an extended instrumental run during the middle third of the twelve tracks: "Smuggler", "Contact", "Once More", and "Strahlemann & Sohne". Each track encourages the primitive impulse to surrender one's consciousness to the repetitive beats and swift, hypnotic rhythms. "Once More" has a wistful, subcutaneous romanticism, while "Strahlemann and Söhne" stretches edgy, metallic notes over various percussive noises and samples, their different beats per minute clashing against, yet complimenting, each other.
When "Apricot" breaks the streak, bringing the music back into the vocal arena, it's in a nonsensical direction. "I've lost my senses/...Apricot/balla, balla!/...Who cares about flying sausages?" Quirky and fun, it's this song in particular that recalls Yello.
Quick associations come to mind throughout the album - "Ydolem" has a '60's spy theme air, "Privado" has a Tangerine Dream benevolent ambience, and "Agent P.", the album closer, has an Art of Noise coffeehouse flavor. A bit like stumbling into an old school reunion, the familiar faces put one instantly at ease, and this album, initially new, could soon become a friend.
Surfing turf: http://www.ultrarecords.com for Vath's label and http://www.cocoon.net/ for Vath's homepage.
