The old adage 'good things come to those who wait' is particularly pertinent to Vitalic's latest offering. Whilst some bands fail to justify their extended hiatus on delivery, Pascal Arbez has come up with some impressive behemoth tracks cleverly interlaced with older material.
Introducing himself to the world in 2001 under various pseudonyms such as Dim and Hustler Pornstar, before settling on Vitalic, his then Poney EP announced the arrival of an altogether original and different French-electro artist. Four years later, three of the four cuts from the EP have made it onto 'Ok Cowboy'; 'La Rock 01' and the two Poney tracks, Parts 1 and 2. All three are imperious acid-electro anthems, with a tinge of insanity likely to make itchy dance floor feet twitch. Whilst the three re-released tracks will be familiar to seasoned fans, they by no means dominate the album and, instead of forcing a square peg into a round hole, Vitalic has managed to manipulate and adjoin them with newer tracks that are move than their equal.
New single 'My Friend Dario'‚ is an electro spasm of dense sound, and 'No Fun' is a jangle, speed freak-out of a track. 'Trahison'‚ offers subtle undercurrents of hip-hop whilst 'Nooo'‚ and 'The Past'‚ offer a greater minimalist and spacey ying to the denser track's yang.
Vitalic's lack of samples goes almost unnoticed, which is a complement to his ability to manipulate and arrange his synthesized sounds into a visceral and vibrant album that, despite its density, offers a lot of colour, scope and horizon. With decidedly mediocre offerings in the past months from Daft Punk and Fischerspooner, 'Ok Cowboy'‚ peers down at them from its envious, imperious position.
~Michael J.
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