Backstory: France’s Chris Joss is an engineer of electronic music and a multi-instrumentalist who plays drums, keys, bass and guitar. He records for Eighteenth Street Lounge, the record label run by Washington, D.C., downtempo kingpins Thievery Corporation.
Why you should care: Those who think French dance music stops with Daft Punk and Justice have a sweeter and mellower alternative with Joss. He never stays in one place sonically for too long, which keeps this album exciting from start to finish without so much as a real lyric in the whole set.
Verdict: Joss’s crisp and clean songs have a throwback feel and could easily be mistaken for some loungin’ oldies but goodies from the ‘60s and ‘70s, but his technical trickery keeps him firmly in the future. He seems to be inventing new hybrids by sampling different vocal textures and playing with tempos and styles that are supposed to be disparate. “Atomic Tape,” for example, melds rockabilly guitar warbles, hip-hop scratches, sitar riffs and samples of sneering young voices. And it all seems to make sense.
X-Factor: Much of Joss’ music sounds like perfect fodder for film soundtracks, an area in which he has a personal interest. An amusing highlight of his career to date is his contribution to the soundtrack for “Inside Deep Throat,” the documentary about the infamous porn flick, for which he reworked some of the original film’s score.
(0 ratings)
Write a review