Tom Ze
Postmodern Platos
»
Tom Ze
Postmodern Platos
Luaka Bop, 1999
RiYL: Stereolab, Tortoise, The Sea And Cake, Arto Lindsay, Caetano Veloso |
Enter David Byrne's Luaka Bop label, which returned Ze to the spotlight with a series of great records throughout the '90s. Enter next the Chicago band Tortoise, 4/5th of whom served as Ze's backing band during a May 1999 U.S. tour which exposed him to an entirely new and modern audience.
Although some of the participants on Postmodern Platos, a remix album sold exclusively at the aformentioned shows, bear Ze's influence more than others (particularly McEntire/Tortoise), they all come up with some fairly interesting reworkings here.
The three versions of Ze's "Defect 2: Curiosidade" reveal as much about the original song as they do about the remixers. McEntire dips the initial melodic figure into a tureen of delay effect, before spreading layers of percussion underneath the main acoustic guitar riff and Ze's vocals. A somber, Tortoise-y outtro leaves no mistaking who is behind the boards on this one.
High Llamas overlord Sean O'Hagan goes for a dreamier approach a la his 1998 Hawaii album, allowing various soothing sounds to sway into the mix while the guitar melody plays below. O'Hagan reverts to Beach Boys-style psychedelia for the track's final two minutes, isolating Ze's off-key vocals and a corny organ riff brushed off from a 50's game show.
Amon Tobin slows it all down at first, with a slow-as-molasses rhythm in no hurry to move forward. A few minutes later, that sludgy melody has been upended into the kind of ass-shaker that Tobin and labelmates Coldcut churn out effortlessly for the Canadian electronica stronghold Ninja Tune.
Ui's Sasha Frere-Jones doesn't stretch too far for his pleasant take on "Defect 1: Gene-Gene To Gene," working in the bendy guitar and bass lines and punchy drum work that marked Ui's awesome 1998 Lifelike album.
Surprisingly, it's Lennon who shows the most willingness to fool around. With aid from his Cibo Matto bandmates Yuka Honda and Duma Love, as well as Ze himself (playing electric drill and "newspaper"), the son of John first sets Ze's mouthful o' vocal atop a simple, programmed bass-and-drum rhythm. But the head-nodding, tropical-flavored instrumental that follows provides the best example (on this disc, at least) of how Ze has influenced today's new breed of tunesmiths.
The disc also includes "Canudos," a Ze original not found on any of his Luaka Bop albums. Postmodern Platos may just be a clever way to bring Ze to the attention of fans of the remixers appearing therein, but there's enough worthwhile stuff here to encourage picking up the originals.
JONATHAN COHEN | Jonathan Cohen co-created Nude As The News with his Indiana University mates Troy Carpenter and Ben French. When not traversing the globe for business and pleasure, he holds down the fort as a senior editor for Billboard in New York. Stop him and he just may ask, "what for lunch?"