HERCULES AND LOVE AFFAIRHercules and Love Affair
(Mute)
**** 1/2 (out of 5)
On the self-titled debut disc from the dance-music collective Hercules and Love Affair, DJ Andrew Butler’s yearning to return to the dark, glittery glory days of New York’s turn-of-the-’70s gay disco scene is nearly palpable—it’s there, woven into every sinuous bassline, every tautly layered trumpet solo, every hypnotic, metronomic keyboard riff. And whenever Antony Hegarty (from Antony and the Johnsons) steps behind the mic, you can feel the tips of Butler’s fingers miraculously making contact, however briefly, with the ecstasy of the past. Few musical experiences this year can compare to hearing Hegarty’s spinetingingly androgynous voice deliver a song like “Blind”—he captures the thrill of being transported high above your surroundings by a piece of music, but also the melancholy realization that you’ll only fall back to earth once the song is over. It’s like hearing Little Jimmy Scott reborn as a disco diva.
Despite some pacing problems in its middle third, Hercules and Love Affair is yet another triumph from the DFA record label, which continues to produce some of the most emotionally complicated dance music ever made. It’s Now, Voyager dance music: it’s music that can’t help but ask for the moon, even though it already has the stars.
0 Yorumlar