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| Telefon Tel Aviv |
Fairenheit Fair Enough
by robert whiteman
8.9.2002
If there is a signature Hefty Records sound, it seems that, to judge by Fahrenheit Fair Enough, (and that is pretty much all we have to go on), Telephone Tel Aviv have more than a pretty good handle on it. The sound is electro-melodic. It is glitchy and metallic, and somehow, in however digital and detached a manner, it’s got a little bit of that old Detroit style soul.
"Influences and emulations are hinted at and slyly gestured towards but never aped nor announced in a self-conscious scream." |
Telefon Tel Aviv, though with a greater emphasis on melody, has the same intangible aesthetic that defined releases by John Hughes III’s Slicker, by rising superstar Scott Herren (Delarosa+Asora, Savath+Savalas, Prefuse 73), and by Japanese rhythmic dadaist Mondii. Somewhere between Ambient, IDM and Broken Beat lies this lovely fusion of sound. It is logically jarring yet emotionally soothing, and, if you were funky enough and so inclined, you might could even dance to it.
So who is Telefon Tel Aviv? That’s a good question. All I know is that Telefon Tel Aviv is Joshua Eustis and Charles Cooper, and that their names have popped up in association with remixes for NIN and Eminem. Those seem like odd pairings since the subtlety and sophistication of TTV sounds miles apart from the immediacy and general lack of musical surprise we are accustomed to getting from either of those fame-whores. Whether sprinkling their lush keyboard motifs with a post-rock guitar, a chopped breakbeat or a dash of Mantronix style electro, influences and emulations are hinted at and slyly gestured towards but never aped nor announced in a self-conscious scream. This is lushly detached digital-melodic glitch-soul, and it is very pretty indeed.
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