A Year of Music

When I first got it, I was a little disappointed by the Young Gods’ L’Eau Rouge. All I’d heard from the album was “Longue Route”, and I was hoping the album would have more of its sample-driven heavy metal. What I got instead was a dense patchwork of samples (symphonic, heavy metal, jazz), odd time signatures, hoarse French vocals, and carnival atmosphere that was at odds with the band being signed to WaxTrax! / Play It Again Sam.

It wasn’t until a year or two later when they released their album of Kurt Weill covers that I think things snapped into focus: the Young Gods are a postmodern cabaret act. I mean the oldest, most literal meaning of “postmodern”: bricolage as a technique to highlight the fissures between the various genres being collided together. L’Eau Rouge is a heady album, driven as much by conceit as gut-level appeal, but it’s one that was assembled with great care by musicians with very careful ears. It’s grown with me over the years, and where the more overtly “heavy metal” tracks were the ones that used to be my favorites, now it’s the contemplative tracks that I most eagerly anticipate hearing again.

“Longue Route” still sounds fantastic, though: the guitar samples are heavy as anything, the swirling mix and hard panning elicit shivers, and the impassioned vocals are perfect for the music.