This came out in 2002 – or at least that’s when I got it. Here’s what I said about it back then (with some minor editing):
Take two underground bands. Place them in a recording studio. Leave them alone for 48 hours and see what happens.
That’s the simple recipe behind the EP series In the Fishtank. Vol. 8 merges the talents of chamber-folky Americana outfit Willard Grant Conspiracy and trippy Dutch electronicists Telefunk. Despite the seeming disparity of their styles, however, the two acts found common ground in a series of traditional ballads. WGC’s guitars, piano and viola carry these tracks, with the ’funketeers tastefully limiting their input to some well-placed turntables, sampling and a sprinkling of analog noise. The result is a sort of Americana-trip hop hybrid — imagine Portishead covering The Carter Family — that sounds less like a clash of cultures than a meeting of the minds.
