Release Date: Sep 30, 2016
Genre(s): Electronic
Record label: Ed Banger Records
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Ever since stumbling upon a freak hit in 1999 with the moronically catchy advert soundtrack "Flat Beat," Mr. Oizo (aka French film director Quentin Dupieux) has been one of dance music's most unlikely, even reluctant stars. He's never come close to attempting to replicate the single's success; his subsequent albums and EPs have been knotty, convoluted, and perplexing.
Whilst Quentin Dupieux may be known in select circles for his work as a movie director and soundtrack composer, it’s the alias of Mr Oizo - the electronic musician behind an unlikely number one single of yesteryear - that will cause most people’s ears to prick up. An unexpected hit worldwide in 1999, "Flat Beat" - and its video featuring a furry yellow character named Flat Eric, who features here again on the artwork - have become synonymous with his work till this day. But while that was Dupieux's undeniable commercial peak, there have been many highs since that have helped him secure a cult following among aficionados of French house.
The new album by Mr. Oizo—French musician and film director Quentin Dupieux—is his most directly-focused since around his 2008 sophomore Lambs Anger (The connection between that album and his new All Wet is strengthened by the seeming re-appearance of the Flat Eric character on the artwork and in the “Hand in the Fire” music video. ) Much of his work has some slightly-rougher textures and is a bit more… sonically sporadic (“playful”) than what you’ll find here, for better and for worse.
As experimental and offbeat as much of Quentin Dupieux's creative output has been over the past two decades, the French electro-house artist and film director has also never shied away from exploring more commercial material. Working under the alias Mr. Oizo, his 1999 hit “Flat Beat” did, after all, top the U.K. singles chart, thanks in part to a popular Levi's commercial that featured both the song and a yellow, head-bobbing puppet named Flat Eric.
Mr Oizo 'All Wet' (Ed Banger Records)What a year it’s been for the Ed Banger Records. Busy P’s French powerhouse delivers every year, but 2016 is shaping up to be one of its best yet. The first half has already seen EPs from Boston Bun, Borussia and Fulgeance and albums from label mainstays Breakbot and Cassius. Now, though, it’s time to concentrate on one of the most wonderfully weird characters in the game, Mr Oizo.
Los Angeles is a city of immigrants, so it’s hard to get a bead on a contemporary “West Coast sound.” The region has long been known for a breezy, laid-back vibe that connects cool jazz, the Beach Boys, the women and men of Laurel Canyon and Dr. Dre-style G-funk. But that narrative ignores the bounty of regional Mexican and Latin American music, to say nothing of sounds spilling from patchwork populations.
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