CD
Unrelentingly adventurous second album from French producer/avant pop agitator Aude Van Wyller aka Oi Les Ox. The debut from a few years back was a real shock to the system type record, boundless in its hard and fast usurping of rules and convention, the kind of provocative statement you hope for from a debut but rarely get. AI Les Axes is braver still, a kind of alterna-pop nightmare vision of the future that imagines a love-hate affair between flawed technologies and persistent human spirit. There is, after all, AI in the title for good reason. In truth, I'd usually run from such concepts (not a fan of AI nor the troubling dehumanising, neo-liberal discourse that surrounds it), but Van Wyller seems to instil the entire endeavour with a unique anarchic energy, consistently left-turning into oblique song structure and sideways spun art damaged pop instinct that you can't imagine ChatGPT being able to make sense of. Which is a long-winded way of saying just how unique AI Les Axes is. Some might not find this the easiest listen on first run, but stick with it - this is the result of a vibrant and fearless imagination stood right there on the bleeding edge. In time, we'll catch up if we're lucky.
