Track By Track: Cosmo Vitelli’s “10 Tracks That Might Help You For Cooking But Would Clear The Dancefloor”

 
Music

It's hard to believe that I'm A Cliche has now been in operation as a record label for 12 years. Where does the time go? In celebration of this fact the label has decided to commemorate some of the music which has been shared across this time period by unveiling the first in a series of upcoming compilations.Hilariously titled "10 Tracks That Might Help You for Cooking but Would Clear The Dancefloor" the record does exactly what it says on the tin. We spoke to Cosmo Vitelli about what was cooking on the release. See his thoughts below…


1. Entertainment – "Bley C" (2008)

Entertainment is a duo we produced with Julien Briffaz, who forms Bot'Ox with me. Juan de Guillebon—the bassist—releases music on Tigersushi under the name Dye. Very few people noticed their EP on I'm A Cliché and I think this record deserved better recognition as an elegant tribute to the late 1970s NY post-punk and no wave scenes. "Bley C" is one of my favourite pieces on that record, somehow exploring places we've been given glimpses of by Brian Eno.

2. Bot'Ox – "Fathers and Sons" (2011)

Bot'Ox was given the opportunity to compose the score of the French film "Mineurs 27" (2011) and I'm inclined to believe it's the best record we've produced as a group. It's unfortunately only available as a digital release. Ideally, I think that Bot'Ox is very fit for the movie score format and the flexibility it allows vs. the classic structure of pop songs. This one was produced unbelievably fast. "Fathers and Sons" is—like all tracks on this compilation—quiet, melancholic and light years away from electronic club music.

3. Runaway – "Dead Dog Farm" (2007)

Runaway is NY's disco & house DJ Jacques Renault, and Marcos Cabral who now releases music on L.I.E.S among other labels. I've released their first records as a duo before they went solo and we were very close. Since I quite like that our records don't exclusively cater to clubs, I asked them to make one track that would differ a lot from their usual productions. They improvised a jam (ugly term, eh?) with Brennan Green on trumpet (if memory serves me well) and a cellist whose name eludes me. I've always found the result absolutely beautiful. They've tried to do another version on a later EP but in my opinion it didn't touch the original.

4. Uncle O – "SF SF" (2008)

Uncle O is Olivier Carrié, a man who first impressed me with his incomparable knowledge of music. To put things in perspective, he already was a resident DJ at the legendary Parisian club Les Bains Douches in the late '80s. After he had a 7" under the moniker Jackos with Bot'Ox singer Mark Kerr, I started getting into his solo work, mostly sample-based. I urge you to lend an ear to this LP of his we released. It's very underrated. I chose to extract "SF SF" for this compilation but at least half of the album would have fit perfectly.

5. 10lec6 (or Dixlexsix) – "Sticky" (2012)

Another record produced by Bot'Ox. To be honest, it wasn't quite the easiest project we've worked on. As I've started detailing the personnel of all these records, here you go: 10lec6 (pronounced "Dixlexsix" in French) is made of Jess from the French house duo Jess & Crabbe, and other musicians connected by the idea of living on the overlap of Bad Brains-style hardcore and the percussive groove of ESG (the band uses no melodic instrument… only a bassist, drums and percussions). This band deserved to be huge. They toured as Gossip's opening act for a while but they couldn't overcome some hurdles and we slowly drifted apart. I believe they have a new record coming soon. I'll probably be its biggest fan.

6. Bot'Ox – "Another Form of Fatigue" (2013)

Another Bot'Ox cut. This one's from our first album with Judy Nylon on vocals. I was in love with her solo album produced by Adrian Sherwood in the mid-'80s. We wanted to make a track in that On-U tradition which I'm a massive fan of. Although the result sounds very different, it's one of my favourite track of ours, all albums combined. OK big words maybe…there's only 3.

7. Cosmo Vitelli – "Delayer" (Quiet Village remix) (2006)

Yes, I've put out some solo EPs of my own on my label. "Delayed" is possibly my favourite along with the last one and the remix Quiet Village (aka Radio Slave & Joel Martin) made of it is an obvious fit for this compilation.

8. Dirty 30 – "Rip It Off" (2007)

Aka Alixander III, half of Azari & III, authors of one the of the biggest "hits" on I'm A Cliché: "Hungry For The Power". Before they were a duo with whom we ended up having a falling out, I've released two of Alphonse's (that's his actual first name) EPs, among which this track reminds me a lot of "How Much Are They" by Jah Wobble, Jaki Liebzeit and Holger Czukai, which is quite a sign of good taste in my book.

9. Etienne Jaumet – "Pour Nadia" (2009)

I've known Etienne for nearly two decades now. We used to have quite another musical life back then. I've even brought him to play sax on the label's very first release of the label, an EP under the moniker C.H.E. which I wouldn't call essential… Anyway I had a few demos CDs he used to make and give to his friends before his music was commercially released. I liked quite a lot of it so I've asked him if I could pick one of those unreleased tracks. We  recorded a version of it that I mixed. The result is "Pour Nadia".

10. Red Axes – "Dreams Like A Tale" (2014)

Red Axes are every label manager's dream. Among the most gifted musicians I've ever known, never attached to things they've already done, always focused on their next projects, and so productive. To top it all, they're incredibly loyal and have impeccable ethics. You can guess my relationship with them goes far beyond our collaboration on the label. "Dreams Like A Tale" is taken from the only album they've released to this date.


Buy the release HERE

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