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MR
OIZO
ANALOG WORMS ATTACK
ALBUM F COMMUNICATIONS RELEASE: OCTOBER 18, 1999 REVIEW: OCTOBER 26, 1999
Postmodernity has long been eroding
the borders between musical styles and different media. In popular culture,
this development has given birth to a new breed of conceptual artists and
jacks-of-all-trades, effortlessly moving between projects and diverse forms of
cultural expression. DJ Spooky (himself one of those people) visited Sweden in
the fall of 1999, talking about the increasing fluidity of what he coined
"electro modern culture" and about the necessity for artists to come
up with fresh ideas and find new marketing solutions to sell them. The hugely
successful internet campaign for "The Blair Witch Project" springs to
mind as one such unusual strategy.
Quentin
Dupieux is one of those electro modern artists/entertainers and a good example
of contemporary marketing. Starting out in short film, he attracted the
interests of major French DJ:s and made videos for Laurent Garnier. He started
playing around with samplers himself, but the career didn't kick off until a
video featuring the now famous "Flat Eric" puppet found its way into
the offices of Levi's.
An ad is
made, media buzz follows and Dupieux retains anonymity behind his Mr Oizo
artist name. But most of all the acid blurps and freaky loops are synonymous to
the public as Flat Eric. No one has ever seen, or has any real interest of
knowing anything about some French guy with a difficult surname. The puppet
master is probably fine with that. The concept has definitely been sold, now he
can relax and surf on the wave for a while.
Sadly,
without puppets and fancy campaigns the music of Mr Oizo fails to mezmerize.
Apart from the title track, the ragged minimalism of "Analog Worms
Attack" is stuck somewhere on the way between the avant garde
experimentalism of Autechre and cold, lifeless beats. Not quite danceable and
not for deep listening. The quirky mutating distorted sounds do set it apart
from ordinary French electronica, but I wish Dupieux would have used these
sounds in a more adventurous way.
On the other hand, maybe I should
give the guy a break. He has made short films, music videos, commercials and
records. He's probably setting up in the fashion business, publishing a
magazine and running for president right now. Damn. I wanna be post modern
too...