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Album Review
by SaschaS
24-9-2002
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| Cassius' 'Au Rêve' for your pleasure |
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Cassius: 'Au Rêve'
(Virgin)
Cassius is all about après-travail moments
It is strange that during the week two Brit-dance/crossover bands issue albums – Death In Vegas: ‘Scorpio Rising’ and Underworld: ‘A Hundred Days Off’ – there are more goodies and fun to be had with the Cassius and their album ‘Au Rêve’. For the single fact that French appear to have more guts and go further beyond the commercial and mass-appealing considerations… Perhaps, fewer expectations liberate more mind matter?
Anyhow, Cassius are more adventurous and less preciously rigorous about their styling as jazz-funky guitar finds its place alongside some spiritual singing, alike on ‘The Sound Of Violence’; it goes totally jazzy then jumps onto a funk gear on ‘Under Influence’ that could have come, almost, from the Stax production line. This is a seriously musical track while this duo, Zdar and Bombass, know how to be playful, almost child-like: ‘Telephone Love’ combines a basic Kraftwerk-esque tinkle with phone rings and some decorative tunes that are simply toying before mutated vocal comes in to funk it all up.
This record is concerned with the après-work, the hours that follow the slavery, the hedonistic moments we all crave to overdose on. ‘Thrilla’ raises the temperature with a gypsy-cum-rap vibe that really got me fingers dancing over the keyboard, to even increase on, the recent Top 5 US single, ‘I’m A Woman’, a damn fine blast of a funk-workout.
‘Protection’ is such a huge slice of bedroom-ambience you ponder the late-night chat-lines and although mellower ‘Nothing’ echoes passionately, not everything is perfecto; there is occasional instance of OTT in editing, rationale… one under-realized song on the album is ‘On’, that simply appears like an aimless cut here. But the title track restores the standard brilliantly, juxtaposing rock-guitar with funk-cum-soundtracky backing that takes good 7:38 to completely blossom.
Cassius FM! has been launched this week, prior to the release of ‘Au Rêve’. A special 3 hour daily radio program, hosted by the Cassius duo, is broadcast in France on Radio FG and available everywhere else via the Internet, www.cassius.fm
Cassius will be doing a world club tour later on this year; dig the music in meantime...
8.3/10
SaschaS
24-9-2002
Cassius album ’Au Rêve’ is released 30 September 2002 on Virgin
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