The very best record of Solex's entire career
Dan Mohr | Lynnwood, WA, USA | 06/07/2010
(5 out of 5 stars)
"If you're bored with your current music collection and could use an infusion of something weird, wild and altogether wonderful, I highly recommend checking out the 'sonic collagist' Solex (a.k.a. Elisabeth Esselink) from Amsterdam. I fell in love with Esselink's music back in 2001, when she released her third full-length album Low Kick and Hard Bop. Since then, she's released one more proper LP (2004's The Laughing Stock of Indie Rock), a one-off EP, and numerous remixes for other bands - until this month, when she released her first new album in six years, a collaboration with the married musical duo Cristina Martinez and Jon Spencer, titled Amsterdam Throwdown, King Street Showdown! It's already my favorite new album of the year. I could try describing it, but I wouldn't do as good of a job as the label releasing Esselink's new record does:
"Punk rock royalty Jon Spencer and Cristina Martinez have joined forces with Dutch electronic heroine Elisabeth Esselink, aka Solex, for the most exciting collaboration/confrontation since The Jetsons meet The Flinstones. Imagine if you will, a fisticuffs of funk, garage and soul between Captain Beefheart and Ike & Tina, with a sprinkling of hip-hop courtesy of Mike Ladd.
"The triumvirate have created a sonic dilemma with Amsterdam Throwdown, King Street Showdown! Do you listen or do you dance? Whichever, you'll have your shrink on speed dial as you contemplate whether it mocks Jesus to have this much fun, what with the apocalypse being just around the corner and all.
"Amsterdam Throwdown, Kingstreet Showdown! kicks off with the sugar-fix that is "Bon Bon", a dirty, funky concoction, complete with strings. "Galaxy Man" is an outer-space go-go party with Link Wray's corpse on the decks! "Dog Hit" is a tale of irresponsible pet ownership, as if told by sexed-up and AWOL philharmonic orchestra members on MDMA! "Aapie" is a tribute to our ancestry and invites us to unleash our inner monkey! As you can see, there is something for all tastes.
"Throughout, Elisabeth Esselink has ingeniously fattened up a rich tapestry of cool, the perfect canvas for Cristina and Jon, who pepper-spray it with personalized lunacy whilst shrugging off the wannabes scrambling for their plinth. To whit: 3 pioneers. Meet them in the street after dark. There's gonna be a psychedelic genre-bending knife fight. So don't forget your scuba fins and get ready to dance! You lucky, lucky bastards you.""
Track Listings (15) - Disc #1