feater: socialo blanco

Sometimes -- despite the high-octane, fast-track, and hyper-hysteric music business -- you come across things that seem so pure, perfect, and poetic that it almost hurts. Socialo Blanco is one of these objects. It appears understated at a first listen, startling at the second and totally enamoring by the third run. To lay it all out on the table: it sounds like a Music From Memory reissue, looks like a Growing Bins Records discovery, and feels like a flea-market-hippie-uncle-record-collection find. Based on the language (coincidences and misbehavior included) and direction of the classic EMS Synthi AKS and recorded by hand and directly to tape (no MIDI, no sync, no computer), it is at once out-of-time and out-of-touch with current sound aesthetics, but that only makes it even more contemporary (vintage), like a great piece of furniture. Unsurprising, if you know that Feater is helmed by Daniel Meuzard. Hailing from Vienna and having made a name for himself as a trustworthy and skilled studio equipment dealer and working closely with producer and studio engineer Sam Irl, the man has a knack for turning yesterday into today. Already is his project's second album, Socialo Blanco is the result of all of this and some magical and effortless sessions. The voice of Vilja Larjosto from Finland and Ghana's Eric Owusu (Pat Thomas, Ebo Taylor) on percussion, spontaneously invited to the recording sessions by fellow Viennese Giuseppe Leonardi, are the icing on the cake. All of that and especially the non-conformist pop song "Time Million" symbolizes the heart and soul of an album that deserves to be billed as such. And that is no mean feat.