2000-2004 Lost Recordings

Review by: Michael Upton at igloomag.com (05.16.05)

Although the press and jokey liner notes for Lost Recordings 2000-2004 are a lot of fun, don't let them distract you from what becomes clear when you listen to the CD. Despite the detailed biography of The Exposures and the song history for their music, this is most definitely a new Jan Jelinek record. More than that, though, it is far and away my favorite thing he has done since his full length debut Personal Rock (as Gramm, Source Records).

When I interviewed Jelinek a few years back he explained that he is listens to a lot of rare groove, reggae and soul. Although the album La Nouvelle Pauvreté (by Jan Jelinek & The Exposures, ~scape) started to reveal these influences more obviously, Lost Recordings 2000-2004 is the first release on which they really take over. I love all this stuff, as well as my nerdy bleeps and bloops, so it's almost like he was thinking "I'll give that guy down under exactly what he's always wanted."

Quite a few artists into bedroom electronics have taken to absorbing the lessons of hip-hop producers, but this album is more of a parallel evolution from shared influences. There's a bit of the boom boom clap, there are cut up samples from jazz, soul and funk, but no faux scratching, no phrases out of rap acapellas, and no (head) nods to either the Neptunes or Timbaland.

The other aspect of this recording that is worth picking out is that while the overall sound is approachable and generally quite cheerful, the details are quite prickly. Loops of sampled sound expand and contract across the head-nodding beats. It's a technique Jelinek pulled out on his loop-finding-jazz-records, but is much more successful here, where it lends a strange, artificial swing to the already funky source material.

I enjoyed the record so much I don't even see the point in delving into individual tracks. There are eight tunes on the short CD, in-keeping with most other releases on Eastern Developments. All eight are very worthwhile if you're interested in an adventurous approach to downbeat music or other releases by Jelinek.

The Exposures first came to the public eye on their collaboration with Jan Jelinek on his release La Nouvelle Pauvreté a couple years back. At the time, the mysterious group even went on a short tour with Jelinek and performed the songs, but before that time and since then, they've kept a low profile. Now, the group has dropped an EP of what are supposedly their Lost Recordings from 2000-2004, including a paragraph of background for each track. If it all seems like a bit too much explanation for such a rather staggered output, it very well may be. Some have suggested that The Exposures is yet another pseudonym of the prolific Scott Herren himself or simply a ruse by Jelinek.

Regardless of who is behind the tracks on this eight track and twenty-four minute release, there isn't a lot here that hasn't been done before and better by others. "Collage of Digital Passion" opens the release with a super repetitive rhythm loop and samples of the word "love" dropped all over the place. The track fails to really do much more than meander while "The Knack" stutters another rhythm sample (with upright bass) alongside some other breathy jazz samples but fails to really coalesce into anything during it's short running length.

"Ein Lied Für Frau Thyssen-Henne" steps things up a bit with a low-rolling, glitched-out track that clips some warm xylophone hits on a loping beat for some good fun while "Post-Crossings" is the closest thing that the album has in terms of a beat that might make you shake your booty. Elsewhere, "A Machine Under The Influence" and even the closer of "Sake Rock" just come off like underdeveloped instrumental hip-hop tracks that just sort of meander along for a couple of minutes before fading out. Considering the release is "Lost Recordings" that span a five-year timetable, this short release might just be part of an elaborate joke by someone, and if more people like me buy into it, whoever is behind it should have a good chuckle on the way to the bank.

(from almost cool music reviews)

This album is a great 'bread and butter' album. This is the kind of stuff that keeps my life going. More beautiful music from Scott Herron's (not the Gil) superior record label. http://www.easterndevelopments.com