Couch - Fantasy
(Matador)
Before buying the latest Kitty-Yo album to be rereleased in the US, I tried to
do some research on it to figure out what it was like. About all I could find
about Couch and the album Fantasy was the band's bio. I got so desperate,
I even had Babelfish translate a
review of the album from the German review site
Crooner. After translating it, I still
am not quite sure what the review is saying, however, the review did say that
the band was "always loosely of the stool," so I figured that had to be a good
thing.
As it turns out, Couch fits in well with all the other Kitty-Yo imports,
having many of the same great qualities all the other bands have while still
staking claim to their own little niché in the German aural landscape.
What all those bands seem to have in common is texture and groove, they just
approach it in slightly different ways. To Rococo Rot approach it as an
electronica pop band, Schneider TM approaches it as a techno/house artist,
The Notwist approaches it as an alt-rock band, Tied & Tickled Trio
approaches it as a fakejazz band, etc. Couch's approach is
as a pop-fueled post-rock band, much akin to younger American post-rock
bands like Analogue and Tristeza and also somewhat reminiscent of the
now-deceased Glasgow band Ganger.
With such an approach, in the new German ethos of groove + texture = rad,
Couch puts a much higher importance on the groove side of the equation.
But, man, it is quite a groove. The band is entirely instrumental and
uses a lineup much similar to Analogue or Tristeza with a four-piece of
guitar, bass (by Michael Heilrath, also of Tied & Tickled Trio), drums,
and keyboards. The basis of the groove is the nimble, persistent guitar
and the bouncing keyboards that create fast-paced, repetitive melodies
that gradually, organically change form over time. The drums and keyboards
create a fair amount of background crackling for texture, but the lead
here is the warm, fluffy grooves; the sound Couch creates is like being
submersed nose deep in a pool of thick whipping cream. The quick rhythms
cause the listener to feel like he is floating but more or less immobilized,
fully alert and aware but calm and relaxed.
Despite the lesser emphasis on texture, the equation of groove + texture
still works out to rad for Couch because they are able to create really
outstanding grooves. This album is among the best 2 or 3 of the current
German artists. But are they the best of these bands? That would take
some analysis...
Let C = Couch, TRR = To Rococo Rot, S = Schneider TM, TTT = Tied & Tickled
Trio, T = Tarwater, K = Kreidler, and N = The Notwist. Our formula is
a * groove + b * texture = rad
where rad ranges from 1 to 12 and a and b are between 0 and 1 such that
a2 + b2 = 1.
[ a_C b_C ] [ groove ] = [ rad_C ]
[ a_TRR b_TRR ] [ texture ] [ rad_TRR ]
[ a_S b_S ] [ rad_S ]
[ a_TTT b_TTT ] [ rad_TTT ]
[ a_T a_T ] [ rad_T ]
[ a_K a_K ] [ rad_K ]
[ a_N a_N ] [ rad_N ]
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Substituting in values for a, b, and rad, we get:
[ .90 .44 ] [ groove ] = [ 10 ]
[ .82 .57 ] [ texture ] [ 10 ]
[ .76 .65 ] [ 9 ]
[ .47 .88 ] [ 9 ]
[ .34 .92 ] [ 7 ]
[ .68 .73 ] [ 10 ]
[ .71 .71 ] [ 8 ]
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This creates a least squares problem to solve for the relative
importance of both groove and texture in Neu-wave German music.
Let M be the 7 x 2 matrix, g be the vector of length 2, and r be
the vector of length 7. Solving
min( || M * g - r ||2 ),
we get groove = 8.4 and texture = 4.8. Now it is possible to determine
the maximizing ratio of these two values, and, correspondingly,
the nature of the ideal Neu-wave German band. All we need to do is solve
max( a * groove + b * texture )
where groove = 8.4 and texture = 4.8. Using the relationship
a2 + b2 = 1 in the formula above, we get
max( 8.4 * a + 4.8 * sqrt(1 - a2) ).
A simple plot of this function, as seen below, shows the curve maximizes
between about a = 0.86 and 0.87.
Seeing as Couch's a value is 0.90 and To Rococo Rot's is 0.82, it is
certain that Couch is a rad band, but it is a toss up between them and To
Rococo Rot as to who is actually the most rad of these German Neu-wavers.
And the raddest of the rad may still be yet to come!
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