felix kubin: zemsta plutona

Felix Kubin, the nuclear powered horseman of apocalyptic dance music, is back. The manic producer and agitator brings forth a new solo album. Zemsta Plutona strikes through our living room like lightning, leaving scorch marks and enlightened souls. His inciting machinations have multiplied over the past years and there seems to be no end in sight. A master of absurd self-staging, his work blurs the boundaries between sci-fi pop, conceptual chamber music, radio play, theatre and film. He prefers futuristic costumes and experimental haircuts, cultivating a fashion style somewhere between Kim Jong-il and Captain Kirk. But most of all Kubin is a brilliant composer and an errant arranger. The opening track, "Lightning Strikes" sets the path: The rhythm from a distorted human beatbox, enervating synth lines and an operatic chorus result in a Kubin hit par excellence. "Atomium Vertigo" opens the door to a magnetic groove to which Nicolas Ekla (Lem, Les Brochettes) murmurs foggy French negations. "Nachts im Park" (At Night in the Park), on the other hand, sounds like a soundtrack to a modern Edgar Wallace thriller: retro-futuristic computer music, the opposite of easy listening, but flirting with it. Whichever piece attracts you on this timeless album -- the snappy "Flies Without Memory" or the ghostly "Restez en Ligne" -- Kubin forever sounds like himself and always sounds new. An example of something new here is the inclusion of amplified acoustic instruments like drums, trumpet, trombone or laundry rack. In "Piscine Résonnez!" synth-sequences and fanfare sounds wander around while angry French girls yell something about manta rays in the swimming pool. Kubin dedicates himself to the great theme of feeling controlled remotely in "Der Kaiser ist Gestorben" (The Kaiser is Dead). Here, our life is steered by an invisible hand; a commemoration on existentialism and the topos of urban alienation. Mixed by Tobias Levin, this double LP version of Zemsta Plutona contains two vinyl-only bonus tracks and is Kubin's first release for German label ZickZack.