Home Read Classic Album Review: Cristian Vogel | Rescate 137

Classic Album Review: Cristian Vogel | Rescate 137

The avant-garde Chilean artist offers national anthems for his own musical kingdom.

This came out in 2001 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):

 


Honestly, I’m not sure what Rescate 137 is supposed to mean — my Spanish-English dictionary says rescate translates either to rescue or ransom — but Chilean avant-garde electronica composer and Super-Collider member Christian Vogel uses it as the name of a tropical island on the jacket of his latest solo CD. And that’s as good a metaphor as any for his exotic soundscapes.

With an emphasis on mutant funk and scratchadelic techno, these 10 jams layer bent beatboxes, wobbly synthesizers and the occasional oddball vocal — here a raspy alien-throat whisper, there a sampled African vocalist — to create national anthems for his own little kingdom. The whole affair ends up giving off a slight Radiohead-gone-roller-disco feel — imagine Everything In Its Right Place revamped into a James Brown jam played by The Residents and you’re in Vogel’s neck of the woods. It’s definitely off the beaten track, but it’s really a nice spot for a vacation. Wish you were here.

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