INTERNATIONAL PONY / X-PRESS 2 VS RADIO SLAVE - LEAVING HOME / LAZY

When anyone refers to Germany, they always use the cliché that they make everything crude, but durable; correct, but without soul. Well, International Pony is a good example of the perfect knowledge of technique without spirit. I mean, does anyone doubt that its three members know how to make music, but do they convey anything with it? The background of DJ Koze, Cosmic DJ and Erobique demonstrates the solid training that has helped them to realise their dream. For example, the former is a well-known producer in his country, has remixed Blunfeld and Chicks on speed and has two albums out, Music is okay and Plattenmeister, the latter with his side project Adolf Noise. Cosmic DJ's solid rhythmic training in various schools in his country stands out. While Erobique has killed time with a solo album, Erosounds, and as a newspaper cartoonist, all this after having received a good musical education based on the piano and having belonged to ska, soul and jazz bands. But they have also forged their own legend by proclaiming to the four winds that they met on a Fischmob tour back in 1998 and that, curiously, they realised that their souls were soul mates (soul lovers) and decided to lock themselves in a Berlin hotel room to, oh, miracle, come out three days later with three vinyls under their arms. From there, remixes for Tocotronic, Bob Sinclair and Deejay Punkrock and their debut: We love music. An album full of soulless soul, good arrangements and little to highlight except for the collaboration with the Angelino hip hop trio Stepchild on "Hangin' around", one of the few floats on an album that will soon sink into general mediocrity. All amidst old school funk like in "International pony theme" or "Superyou" and electronic jazz like in "Meet some friends". And to top it all off, the best part of the album is a remix by Akufen -one of the best electronic music has produced in recent years- entitled "Leaving home" and an attempt to get closer to his style, such as "A new bassline for José", which includes a telephone conversation between a supposed radio announcer and a listener in Barcelona. These Germans will never stop dreaming of sunshine and a good Cruzcampo. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.