Various - Kitsune Maison 5
Album ReviewsAs good enough reason to spend a tenner on a compilation as you'll ever be faced with.
4th February 2008 / By Thomas Maxwell-Smith
Owning a Kitsune Maison compilation is a type of self-conscious statement akin to tattooing the names and addresses of every influential creative you know in the media on your lower lip and then being really forthright and obnoxious about it later on, just for good measure. Which is odd really because, judging from this fifth edition at least, it's not even that cool. Good sure, but not the name-dropping reference bible you might expect.Case in point Fisherspooner, an odd choice to start a record that, to paraphrase the Kitsuné head-honcho, 'proposes a selection of what's coming next'. Really? Nagging choruses of trumpet infused jazz-funk from a band that couldn't even get massive off something as ace as 'Emerge'? That's what's coming next?
To be fair it is followed up by the humblingly brilliant 'Broken', in which Late Of The Pier try as hard as possible to make sure no one will notice the bit ripping off 'No Good Advice' by replicating the sound of a Game Boy and Amiga declaring war on each other, and then mumbling really REALLY tunefully. Seriously, it shouldn't actually be possible to twin incoherence and glorious melody quite as naturally as LOTP do here.
Anyway thorough genius aside, highlights include: David E. Sugar's 'To Yourself', an anthemic trip through the better moments of a night in the Balearics and 'Circulate' from Rex The Dog, which is either hardcore Italo house or big gay disco, depending on how deep in denial you are. There's also a nice reminder from Does It Offend You, Yeah? that Sebastian Grainger's guest vocals on 'Let's Make Out' still produces something more Death From Above 1979 sounding than anything he or MSTRKRFT have ever managed since.
There are some excellent remixes too, Digitalism's own rework of 'Pogo' could, funnily enough, be mistaken for Fisherspooner, before it drops the kind of spiritual synths normally reserved for Justice's more epic moments. MIA's 'XR2' gets turned into a candid confessional in between exciting, if a little creepy, instrumentals; CSS basically hijack Bitchee Bitchee Ya Ya Ya's 'Fuck Friend' into a new CSS track (YAY!); while Kitsuné's token indie signings Cazals let their 'To Cut A Long Story Short' get transformed into a wonderful string laden weepy courtesy of Vicarious Bliss.
Overall however the good work is almost undone by the frequent, gratingly annoying choices that appear. Pin Me Down's 'Cryptic' sounds like it got lost on the way to NOW 24 and KID has to be the result of a saboteur sneaking a Hellogoodbye track on the record because dear God there can't be two of them? Surely?!?
Interestingly however, like some kind attempt at reconciliation, Kitsuné decide to add Tepr's remix of 'A Cause De Garcon' by the truly marvellous Yelle on as a secret track. This is either because they're so cool they don't care about chucking the best thing on the album at the end, or because they're fools. Either way it's as good enough reason to spend a tenner on a compilation as you'll ever be faced with.
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