Solex - Low Kick and Hard Bop
(Matador)
Yes, Solex is pop. Except in Solex's demented nation of pop, the king is not
Michael Jackson. In fact, it's not even a monarchy; it's an even-handed
democracy, with a Senate featuring influential bi-partisan lawmakers such as
Laurie Anderson, the Residents, Soul Coughing, and Tricky (circa 1995)....
Okay, so I'll admit it-- it's a pipe dream of mine. But it just happens to
match the kind of crazy noise that Solex makes. With each tune, Solex buys
me a priceless three-minute vacation to the Republic of Solexia, and I'll be
damned if I haven't been out of the U.S. too much recently.
Oh, yeah, and Solex is this one woman, too. Her name is Elizabeth Esselink.
She owns a CD shop in Amsterdam. She can play the trumpet pretty well, as
well as related instruments. But aside from the occasional guest on guitar
or percussion, her music is made mainly with samples from really old vinyl,
concerts that she bootlegs herself, and countless other sources. Each song
features about 10-15 loops and samples that would seem to clash
inappropriately in anyone else's hands, but Solex makes them work, and the
hooks are so wonderfully weird as a result. By the time she adds her nasal,
wonderfully chirpy voice, half-rapping and half-singing bent English tales,
you have... perfect. She's beautiful, too. Although that really has nothing
to do with it. Honestly.
Low Kick and Hard Bop is her third album, and it manages to get better than
her last album, 1999's superb Pick Up. It's just as eclectic, and it sounds
similar, but the material here is tighter, the experiments slightly
stranger, and the energy simply more comfortable. Solex seems to fit into
her jagged grooves perfectly now. In the opening title track, a bass synth
pulses, a harmonica blazes, an acoustic slide guitar slinks in, and funky,
laid back beats bring it all together. Esselink duets in a rap with what is
seemingly her dropped-down pitchshifted self, and as some somber piano
chords begin to build, she really gets into it with some "yeah, yeah,
yeah!"s and all the elements crash together in a single groove. You will
then accept the acute sensation of "rocking" that you may experience, as it
is perfectly healthy.
The followup, "Mere Imposters," gets some bell, block and shaker percussion
together with bouncy organ, plunking piano, and some bluesy guitar. It all
sounds great, but here, Esselink's oddball vocal melodies and
not-so-straight stories begin to truly shine: "Of course they just/ Tried to
remove/ The apple, the apple, the apple from a bucket of.../ A drink would
make/ You feel better/ They raced the waiter with the tray/ Hey/ They raced
each other the same way." They're the kind of lyrics that you don't give
much credence to in print, but when you hear them sung with such quirks,
such enthusiasm, and such unique rhythm, you're convinced they're brilliant.
I often go by the lyrical school of "what sounds good, not what reads good."
Solex could be the principal.
I need not describe each of the 15 songs here, except to say that Low Kick
and Hard Bop is as cohesively eccentric as a record can get. Still to come:
some jazz noir, some funky spy rock, some Hawaiian blues-polka (!), and much
more, all beautifully disjointed and rearranged to make the Republic of
Solexia a country worth visiting often. It beats most places, wouldn't you
say? At least the pop charts kick ass. Get yourself to the airport, pronto.
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