Des Esseintes:

Due (Shinjuku Thief Studio 54 Remix)
Residue

E.P.A.:

With Shredding Rubber (Recap by Des Esseintes)
With Shredding Rubber (Original Version)

The early 70’s were my dancing years. Between the ages of 13 & 16 I used to frequent the local Church disco and bop away to the likes of ‘Tiger Feet’ by Mud. ‘That’s right, that’s right, that’s right, that’s right’…sweet memories. Alas I soon discovered that what I thought was a cool way of strutting myself around appeared to make me look a complete twat in everyone else’s eyes. I’ve never danced in public since. Even when punk arrived and made dancing like a spastic contortionist a ‘must do’ I resisted the urge for fear of more mockery. Dance fads have all come and gone, some of which I still don’t understand to this day, but my resolution has remained firm. Until now.

"AZ50HD" is a 30 minute 4 track split cd where Magnus Sundstrom (Des Esseintes ) & Darrin Verhagen (E.P.A. & Shinjuku Thief) have a track apiece and another remixed by each other. It was the first 2 tracks of Des Esseintes, titled ‘Due & Residue’, that got me all a quiver and wanting to polish up my old groove. I suppose you could call it thumping floor filler killer beat driven tunes. Or whatever you kids say nowadays. To me it sounds eerily like very early Frontline Assembly mixed with later techno style Frontline Assembly but without the shit vocals. Most importantly though is the fact that both tunes managed to bring a smile to my sullen chops and had my feet and legs bouncing wildly out of control. Lead me to the dance floor bitch. Let the master show Mr Travolta how it should be done. Then the pace changes drastically with the two E.P.A. tracks which are a come down from the frenetic pacing of the energetic Des Esseintes tracks. Here we venture into Industrial rhythmic noise soundscapes which seems totally out of place and context but actually isn’t that bad if you’re willing to give it a chance to grow on you.

These tracks will definitely appeal to the more musically adventurous and broad minded amongst you. Nice though they are I still can’t get the Des Esseintes tracks out of my head. All together now…‘That’s neat, that’s neat, that’s neat, that’s neat’.

ANM