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Moulin Noir
"Boy In Darkness"
Format:
CD
Online date:
16/6 2004
Label:
A Different Drum
Genre:
electropop
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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
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He’s back, the man behind the retro machines and time tunnel thingamajigs. Those of you, who have ever heard Moulin Noir know what you’re in for, well executed retro synth-pop. First of all, and this is general, it goes for everyone. Just because you can put 16 songs (or 80 minutes of music) on a CD does not mean you have to. This CD’s Achilles heal is the number of songs. If Anders Wikholm would have satisfied with eight songs instead of sixteen the album would have been better and more complete, as it is now you grow weary of the album long before it’s beginning to reach its end. This is unfortunate because there are enough really good songs for a good album and had he only learned from Smashing Pumpkins “Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness” this could have been a classic. It doesn’t help that track eight is a really mellow, down tempo, instrumental, orchestral thing making you loose the mood you had going. It doesn’t really pick up again until track ten, which is one of my favourite tracks of the entire album. This song, “Luvrgrl”, is an up-tempo bleepy little thing as taken directly from the hottest ‘80’s nightclub; you can still smell the hairspray and cocaine. Following this song is another slow, dark and orchestral song about rape, incest and the junkie solution. Now where’s the party at, ‘cause this is bumming me out, just when I got in the mood for dancing. These kinds of things are the reason why you should hire a producer or at least, let someone listen to the layout of the album before finalising the track list. Anyway, nag, nag. Whine, whine.
As per usual the music of Moulin Noire is very retro, reminding us of John Foxx, Gary Numan, Ultravox, White Door and sometimes Rational Youth. Mr Wikholm is a good musician, knows how to write music and has a voice that is as made for new wave synth-pop, better than most and guess what! He doesn’t sound a bit like Dave Gahan, that’s rare considering we’re speaking synth-pop and makes Moulin Noir almost unique. Unfortunately you eventually get a bit annoyed at his voice and proper English pronunciation would help, still the voice is better than most. He is also a fairly good engineer and the mix is ok but it would probably have been better if he had let an outside producer really work with the material giving it that little extra edge, it would have helped. Now it’s more old-fashioned music for old-fashioned people. Now I’m not saying that that’s bad, I’m just saying that that’s what it is. As mentioned before, this album could have been a killer had it only been treated with the proper care, as it is now it’s just another good synth-pop album. A bit pure silk but that’s just dandy.
/Magnus Nilsson
Check CDDB tracklists for this record:
Moulin Noir"Boy In Darkness"
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