From the beginning intro of this French artists showcase, you can tell that it is something different. Cosmo Vitelli born Benjamin Boguet in France in 1974 has been producing house inspired music for almost a decade now. Beginning as a songwriter and guitar player, he evolved into an international traveling DJ and producer. His first artist album "Clean" evokes thoughts of house, techno, Michael Jackson, and real instruments being played by real people (instead of computers). The first track on this disc is titled "Party Day". It is a very exciting song with an 80's pop music sound but flowing vocals and a trancy synth loop. Very sheik. On "Perfect Lies" Cosmo transports us to a fantasy land of ringing bells and soft spoken vocals. It makes you feel as if you are in another world altogether. "Alias" returns to a harder sound and deeper bassline. Cosmo dishes out some hardcore guitar riffs and with his signature sweet vocals. He slows it down a bit on "People Should Think, Robots Should Work". This song has some dark organ sounds with a robotic vocal.
This track brings up images of Fahrenheit 451 and what it would be like if machines ran the planet. Think of this song as where 2001: A Space Odyssey meets house music and then throws back a couple of sleeping pills. Very interesting indeed. Mr. Vitelli funks it up something serious on the song "Icons". He retains the 80's raw and raunchy synth sounds and drops in a heavy bass riff for a cool as ice sound. It feels like Stevie Wonder should be playing the piano part on this awesome track. It has that kind of intensity to it. Slowing it down once again with some Asian inspired woodwinds, "Be Kind to the Machines" has a beautiful balance to it. It has a broken beat bassline with relaxing synth sounds of what I can only describe as outer space. From there he takes the track from Days of Our Lives theme loop to a jungle feel all without missing a beat. The only part that was at all uncomfortable was at the end he put in a distorted bass riff that made me think my speakers were blown. Other than that it is a great track. He rounds out the disc with the aptly named "The Sleep Lab". If there was such a thing as the sleep lab, this would be the music they would play.
He returns to the lighter pixie sound and beautifully mends it a smooth filtered bassline. Cosmo Vitelli intelligently blends down tempo, rock, house, and some other weird stuff to produce a one of a kind album. Be on the lookout for this Frenchman, as his sound will be leaving a mark on electronic music.
