An album quite unlike any I've heard thus far this year and one with a specific and quite wonderful charm. God's Trash Men Sent to Right the Mess, from Belgian duo Fievel is Glauque, is the record in question. It's a collection of brief but inspired musical collages that combine the joys of off the wall freaky be bop, left bank experimentalism, daisy era hip hop eclectisism, and outre derring do. Hope that gives you some idea of what it sounds like. Possibly not.
A record that came out at the end of January and one I've only just picked up the scent of. Well, better late than never in this case. Very much so. There are twenty tracks on here in all and most of them check in between one and two and a half minutes. It doesn't hang around. God's Trash Men is a blast from the first second of its opening track, a truly new variation on well trodden paths and an altogether delightful listening experience, pure and simple.
It's certainly a blast, at the risk of repeating myself, that's for sure. Reminding me sometimes of the early Eighties Jazz and retro adventuring the likes of Everything But The Girl, Prefab Sprout, Weekend and The Bristol scene groups that orbited around Rip Rig & Panic indulged in. God's Trash Men... is a record that sounds ahead of the pack in every respect and is certainly the most truly original album I've heard thus far this year.
These are not so much tunes so much as fragments. But they're fragments that make complete sense. The record finishes with its longest track. The four minute closer ironically entitled No Title, which has a brilliant end effect with singer Marie-Amelie Clement-Bollee intoning the title like a stuck record, bringing this inspired album to an utterly inspired close. Paris, polo neck, 1960, London, polo neck, 1980. Brussels it seems, polo neck, 2020.
This is a record that you want to recommend to people. To buy so you can play it to them. To buy so you can play it to yourself. I hope it breaks out of cult corner. I doubt it somehow, Can't seem to track down a vinyl version as of yet. But my goodness, it deserves to. It's a small but beautifully formed classic. Hear it.
P.S. Slight disclaimer. This record might never surprise you quite like it does on the first listen. On my second or third now and it's slightly less startling. More comfortable. Like a cosy armchair. I'd still maintain it's a quite wonderful record though.
hey, thank you! this is really nice. your references are, as is rare in a review, spot on. re: weekend, actually our next album (and we have several's worth of material finished, this was just the easiest to get out there since it was recorded in mono & thus uneditable) has a cover of a song by the gist (well, actually by spike & debbie, I guess that's giving things away). prefab for sure, but I'll add a reference that might help explain the compositional / energetic steez of fievel: england's glory, peter perrett's pre-only-ones group. and: the homosexuals / it's war boys label. and nancy nova. (: but of course this is all influence on an unconscious level simply via long-term adoration: I deplore the model of music-making that takes a set of vaunted sounds and tries to synthesize them into a new produkt.
ReplyDeleteyeah, we certainly can't afford to produce vinyl and no labels were interested. we were happy the album reached so many people despite only getting larger-scale coverage via one bandcamp article. I guess people have taken kindly to our rough mono tape recorded rehearsals, which is really very flattering. thanks again, and I invite you to check out this new album featuring some fievel personnel via my little self-release label: https://laloi.bandcamp.com/album/exit-from-the-ultra-world
Hey, how great to hear from you. Love the record so much. Thanks also for the other reference points. I'll give them a listen. Also thanks for the link. Shame there's no vinyl version yet. I'd buy it. One thing you may already be aware of; the album is ranked very highly in the Best Ever Albums site chart for this year so a lot of people in the States must be aware of it I imagine. Vet good luck with all this stuff. It's great; Again, really nice to hear from you: https://www.besteveralbums.com/yearstats.php?y=2021&rank=67#183821
ReplyDelete: ) cool! never heard of that site.
ReplyDeleteyeah, definitely check out england's glory. my favorite thing peter perrett was ever a part of. and led to my crossing paths with maher shalal hash baz, an incredible group you should check out.
you can hear a lot -- too much -- more of my published music (under various pseudonyms & in collaborations great & small) at https://zachphillips.bandcamp.com
thanks again
zach