As a whole, this release has some assaultive bass. I have to go back to those Middle School tapes from DJ Magic Mike to find recordings that really knew how to punch up the bass, and I can just imagine La Lula talking with the staggering array of producers and mixers, asking them to punch up the bass just a bit more.
But what an album this is! Truthfully, I don't even know if 'album' is the correct term for it. It's a digital-only release because it's fourteen full-length extended tracks. As much as I love packaging and design and having a physical disc to spin, I guess this is the wave of the future. But hell, this is how a dance artist should do it. Lula's material was never meant for dance radio, and there are no concessions to it (though "Dirty Speaker," "Express Yourself," and "This is It" could all be edited down to easily digestible nuggets). This is club music and it isn't afraid of you; so here's a journey through The Underground Sound of Portugal and Me…
Track by Track:
"Goosebumps" (Unreleased NYLX Mix - Eddie Cumana ReEdit) It lives again. Old school tribal beats, but the end result feels tighter, not quite as sprawling as the original mixes (especially the fifteen-plus minute Mushroom Head Mix). But over a decade later, it still works. Eddie Cumana of Dynamix keeps things smooth, with hypnotic handclaps and a more immediate feel. The percussion keeps the tribal vibe alive and kicking.
"Dirty Speaker" (Stereosoldiers Mix) My personal favorite of all the tracks, when Lula decides to declaim her love for the speaker. Punchy and sexy, with big key beds and a great deal of texture. Even more, it's more emblematic of the deep but energetic progressive house sound that dominates the album.
"Express Yourself" (Matos Mix) Using weird drum sounds, this track becomes somewhat of an artistic manifesto. There are great keyboard noises, filtering down and then building back up. The mix plays games with dynamics, and it feels like grand circuit music, with the synth hooks twisting themselves into knots as it reaches the end. It vibes like "Meet Her at the Love Parade."
"Darkness (I Love The Dark)" (Rui da Silva Mix) This track builds on soft-hitting drums, but with very intense and propulsive keyboard progressions. This is a weird and experimental offering, and I can imagine that this is what the next wave of super-underground house music will sound like. To put it slightly differently, this sounds like what over-my-head house music of the future will be like; that's not a bad thing, just an observation that whatever sounds Mr. da Silva is serving up are cutting-edge.
"Always Lost" (Carlos Manaca Mix) Scintillating hi-hats propel this surprisingly energetic offering. Lula uses a whispery tone at first, a nice contrast to the stentorian and martial tones we expect from her music. Tight programming uses lush and angular keys to pull the listener within themselves. The sound keeps building into a playful and dark journey.
"There is Only One" (Kult of Kameria Mix) Lots of people must love Alan T. I do not. When he and Lula battle, it seems one easily won. If we learned nothing else from Atari Teenage Riot, it's that midrange sounds really stick in the mind and gut, and Lula's voice uses its abrasiveness in a way that is distinctive, while Alan just sounds draggy and annoying. This song could easily have been left off the release. No offense to any of the involved parties, but on as rich and high-quality a release as this, something had to come up a bit short.
"Lust" (Mindskap & DJ Baltasar Mix) is subtle and sleazy, with some great keyboard noises. My Secret (DJ Case Mix) has clangy drums buried in the mix (similar to the sound of da Silva's Darkness), and this deliriously baroque synth swath slicing across it. It even sounds a little New Agey at times.
"Twilo" (Carlos Fauvrelle and DJ Jiggy Mix) is a heartfelt tribute to the sounds that turned Miss Claudia Radbauer into Lula as we know her today.
"Dirty Speaker" (Stereosoldiers Mix) is my personal favorite. When Lula decides to declaim her love for the speaker. Punchy and sexy, with big key beds and a great deal of texture, this is one of the best tracks Lula's ever been involved with (I would easily rank it with "Ecstasy" and "Men=Drugs"). I Want To (Suck the Melody) (Stereo Headz Mix) is something of an awkward fit; if Lust, earlier in the record, was subtly sleazy, then this offering is just overly sleazy.
"This is it" (Stereosoldiers Mix) There's a fascinating feel to this track- simultaneously intense and soothing. The Stereosoldiers seem to be taking several different styles and synthesizing them into something different; taking breaks music and grafting it into the expansive reach of house, and the end result seems like something that could cross over onto a lot of different kinds of dance floors. Between this and their earlier offering, Dirty Speaker, I'm certainly jonesing on the Stereosoldiers sound. What astounds about the Lula project as a whole is that it works both as an artist album and a top-notch compilation: because of this, Portugal and its many dance sounds are prominent in the global scheme of house.
Highly recommended.
Released May 29th on Kult Records.
