Troubadours - Everything Is Being Recorded All The Time

Extremely hard-to-pin down art damaged experimentalism with a distinct prankster streak from new outfit Troubadours, a trio made up from ssabæ's Laura Lippie,Trance Band's Kim Khan and someone calling themselves 'Dr Winzo'. Made over three years and between several different locales - Lyon, Berlin, Denpasar and, probably most tellingly, a commune in Abbecourt - there's a highly disorientating, seemingly centreless feel to their approach, maybe a product of the protracted and geographically refracted nature of recording, but more likely reflective of the sideways bent artistic perspectives of its creators (a quick glance at the track record of those involved tells us as much). There aren't so much connecting threads here as there are schizophrenic arrangements of inspiration, cycling through (post-)post-punk and no wave dissonances, neo-folk drone, Recommended Records prog absurdity, and upside down alternative hip-hop. That this is coming (mostly) out of France right now makes comparisons to groups like Nina Harker and Kou, and Tom Val's Les Disques Omnison label easy enough, though it's a little besides the point to claim anything this uniquely strange sounds much like anything else. Such is the way with down-the-stairs backwards avant fuckery of this nature. If it often feels scatalogical, on the closing track 'IT'S ALWAYS BEEN HERE' they become something closer to transcendental, a single note synth drone hum overlaid with various wordless vocal incantations that defies understanding but takes you right Out There. Comprehension doesn't really get you far with a record like Everything Is Being Recorded All The Time. So sip your absinthe, smoke your smoke, enter the ZONE.
 
FFO: Nina Harker, Kou, Orion Music Workshop, Dali Muru & the Polyphonic Swarm, Patrick Stas