- Although no one is willing to publicly admit this, a lot of our current techno, tech-house, and minimal luminaries are coming from (or are at least somehow linked to)… electroclash. About five years ago, Damian Lazarus, for example, used his Futurism mix series and his now legendary eight Body Rockers parties to bring Tiga & Zyntherius, Northern Lite, Ladytron, Peaches, Fischerspooner and Chicks on Speed to the London underground. Our favorite Berlinette, Ellen Allien, signed bands like Toktok vs Soffy O. (of 'Missy Queen’s Gonna Die' fame) and Smash TV on her label. Systematic’s head honcho Marc Romboy has been seen rubbing shoulders with Tommie Sunshine, one of NYC’s most voluble electroclash ambassadors. Fuck, even Ivan Smagghe, the paragon of icy and distant Parisian coolness, had a Bis track (hey, did you just hear me say the words “Bis” and “Smagghe” in the same sentence?) on his first mixed compilation! (And I’m not even talking here of the reigning nü-rave cohorts, who came out directly of electroclash’s muscular, more masculine thighs.) Sure, everyone have moved on now and are creaming their panties these days for rare doleful Âme remixes, Oliver Ho productions, and Eastern Block minimal DJs, but it’s easy to forget that not so long ago, someone like Felix da Housecat was everyone’s favorite house commander with huge glasses: Italians might do it better, but he did it good too at some point, you know. Listening to ‘Kittenz and Thee Glitz’ now, Felix’s breakthrough LP from 2001 and one of electroclash’s milestones (unless it is the only one?), you can’t help but notice how visionary he was ('Pray for a Star' was deep house before Dixon said it was cool again), and single such as 'Madame Hollywood' and 'Harlot' still have today, no matter what you ever thought of Larry Tee, that frosty yet alluring aura all timeless pop songs have.
That’s good, then, because for his first album in three years, Virgo Blaktro & The Movie Disco, Felix is all about the pop song nowadays: "I leave it up to Digitalism, Justice, and Boys Noize to make the noise, 'cos I've done that. Now I'm more into making songs, telling stories and good melodies - sorta like how Prince was." In his current bio, he even adds: "This is the first record I've done with black folks, but to me it's not a color thing, it's more like a roots thing. This record has a black, soulful groove, it's more like Sly And The Family Stone. With this album I wanted to go Parliament, I wanted to go Prince, and at the same time I wanted to go like George Michael and Pet Shop Boys, only them being black. This stuff is all black-influenced." In other words, it seems, he wants his current sound to go back to a funkier version of the 80s, and, as Chromeo proved to be profitable and diverting on their two studio albums, there is still something to be said about a single-minded dedication to everyone’s favorite decade’s most forgotten corners, Talkboxes and not going for that and meetings in the ladies room and all that shit.
That said, it is thus slightly contradictory that Felix’s recent tracks are mostly nodding toward Devo ('Sweetfrosti'), Men Without Hats (the promo 12” version of 'Pretty Girls Don’t Dance') or Stuart Price (as everyone else noticed, album closer 'Future Calls The Dawn', an update on his 1993 single 'Thee Dawn', sounds uncannily like a Jacques Lu Cont remix), i.e. all very white new-wave and electro-pop references. Also, to add insults to injury, Felix’s idea of so-called black '80s groove seems to have a lot of 30-second interludes in it: seriously, a third to half of this new album is made up of inconsequential skits or, at best, of 120-second pop songs more suited to soundtrack TV commercials than fill actual dance floors. Incongruously, even 'Tweak', an eight-minute stomping single from 2005, is shown here in an abbreviated, underwhelming version that is weirdly out of place in such a laconic pop context. Sure, 'Lookin’ My Best', for instance, is a dazzling update on 'Madame Hollywood'-type sounds, but it is too little, and a bit too late.
A few years ago, Felix was talking a lot about wanting to put together an all-girl trio tentatively called Glamorama and producing all their tracks à la Phil-Spector-as-studio-guru (presumably in pre-wife-killing mode). Although that idea never materialized, it is still a fitting reminder that Felix’s mind was never fully embracing the '80s groovier and funkier side in recent years: all he really wants to do is take dance music back to pop’s true golden era, the '60s, a time when allure and glitter, fame, vanity and glitz, cohabitated with innocence, immediacy and frugality of means. In other words, he wants his music to sound like The Shirelles on E. But as far as ‘Virgo Blaktro & The Movie Disco’ goes, Felix sounds lost, confused, and out of truly distinctive ideas, an amazing pioneer whose current work is thorn between the fatuous concept and its actual mundane realization.
It’s over, really. IT’S O-VER. I've decided it’s over.
Tracklist01. Ti Prendo e Ti Porto Via
02. Moviedisco
03. Nighttripperz
04. Monkey Cage
05. Sweetfrosti
06. Something for Porno
07. Pretty Girls Don’t Dance
08. Tweak
09. Radio
10. It’s Been a Long Time
11. Blaktro Man
12. Mad Sista
13. It’s Your Move Baby
14. Jesus Bleibet Meine Freud
15. Lookin’ My Best
16. Future of the Dawn
17. I seem2B the1