Tolouse Low Trax
Jeidem Fall
Karaoke Kalk

Tolouse Low Trax is a solo project by Detlef Weinrich (aka DJ Sport), who's a member of the Düsseldorf based electronic group Kreidler, as well as being a record collector and the man behind a bar/club called Salon des Amateurs, in Düsseldorf. Tolouse Low Trax is a humoresque take on the name Toulouse-Lautrec; the French post-impressionist painter Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Famous for portraying some of Paris' hang-outs (the Moulin Rouge cabaret, or other 'pleasure-houses') when decadence was the latest (if not only) fashion at the so-called 'fin de siècle'. Let's see if Jeidem Fall is as 'morally loose' as the life led in Paris towards the end of the 19th century.

Jeidem Fall is Tolouse Low Trax' third album, but it's my first encounter with Weinrich's world. Tolouse Low Trax (TLT) creates minimalist industrial dance music. The opening "Geo Scan" is sort of a brutal starter. It's quite a rhythmical track, yes, but it also feels like a descent into darkness. The title track is a bit lighter, and takes us back to the city jungle. It's a jungle out there. It's a jungle everywhere. Weinrich knows his repetitive formula for sure, and this path of repetition is the chant of the album. "Sa Eline" is quite interesting, with its very effected voice part. Imagine an old Yello single played on 33 rpm.

TLT's music made for gloomy, lazy dance floors late, late at night, like Karaoke Kalk states: 'A dark swaying shadowy mass, ideal for a journey at the end of the night and all those non-places where longing sleeps and the last romantics dance while getting drunk.' Hopefully not as drunk as poor man Toulouse-Lautrec (he was an alcoholic), known for the invention of a cocktail called 'Tremblement de Terre' (or 'Earthquake'); a potent mixture containing half absinthe and half cognac - in a wine goblet, 3 parts Absinthe and 3 parts Cognac, sometimes served with ice cubes or shaken in a cocktail shaker filled with ice.

All in all, I think I'd prefer a couple of Tremblement de Terre's down the hatch before entering a Jeidem Fall tanz party. This is quite extreme music, even though "Civilisation Penta" (one of two tracks included on the CD version, or digitally available only) almost sounds like a pop track (its running time is also of regular pop length - all other tracks stretch for like 5 to 8 minutes). "Barka " is also a quite cool track, and so is "Words Are Closed Up" (the second non-LP track). Yet, if you're up for some dancing, you'd better grab your all black dance clothes and shoes.

Copyright © 2012 Håvard Oppøyen