- Confession time: it entirely escaped my attention that Black Strobe—a pretty serious enthusiasm of mine in the early-to-mid-'00s—had released a new album and two singles in the past few months. A quick listen to the Godforsaken Roads LP from October removes much of the mystery. It's Rebotini (Black Strobe having been Ivan Smagghe-free for the best part of a decade now) as Nick Cave tribute act, going full-blown into the iffy rockabilly leanings that made 2007's debut LP Burn Your Own Church such a disappointment.
Thankfully, Eastern Boys Extended finds Rebotini operating far closer to the dramatic, synthetic "gay biker house" that made Black Strobe's earlier efforts so much fun. The first and last tracks here are extended versions of cuts from Rebotini's score for Robin Campillo's film Eastern Boys, while the middle two were written for the EP. These are unsurprisingly the more fully formed of the four, with the intertwining bass melodies and music box key spirals of "L'eternel Retour" making it both the most DJ and ear-friendly thing here. The EBM-indebted "This World Is Not My Home" is more caustic, but its doomy clangs and booms still make for an enjoyable listen.
Of the two longer soundtrack cuts, closer "Un Peu De Verre Casse (Extended)," with its flashing synth-freakout finish, is the more engaging. "Cette Fete Dont Je Suis L'otage (Extended)" is glinting and meditative, but goes too far at ten-and-a-half minutes. Both have atmosphere—and value—but the middle two tracks are destined to be revisited with far greater frequency.
TracklistA1 Un Peu De Verre Casse (extended)
A2 L'eternel Retour
B1 Cette Fete Dont Je Suis L'otage (extended)
B2 This World is Not My home