Rules

スタイリッシュなファンクネスとメロウネスが心地良すぎな2009年2NDがヴァイナル・リイシュー!!

キングス・オブ・コンビニエンスのアーランド・オイエがフロントマンのバンドTHE WHITEST BOY ALIVEの2009年リリース2NDアルバムがヴァイナル・リプレス!
クラブ・シーンからも支持を得たのも納得のスタイリッシュなファンクネスとメロウネスが心地良すぎ! "1517"はサッカーゲーム『FIFA 10』にも使用されました。

Erlend Oye was responsible for a couple of the more quietly influential releases of the early 2000s -- the Kings of Convenience's wispily gentle, prophetically titled debut Quiet Is the New Loud and his affable, microhouse-popularizing DJ-Kicks set, not to mention his fine vocal contributions to Royksopp's early singles -- all thoroughly excellent if hardly earth-shattering work. In the latter part of the decade, though, his output and impact seemed sadly diminished as he lapsed into a middling, milquetoast groove as frontman for the smooth pop outfit the Whitest Boy Alive. The group's second outing is, like everything Oye touches, never less than pleasant, poppy, and unfailingly polite. And his Berlin-based bandmates know their way around a nimble lite-funk strut as well as anyone (Maroon 5 come to mind, as do Phoenix in their more straightforward moments). Newly official member Daniel Nentwig, in particular, offers some tastily chunky electric piano tidbits; his presence on every track (as opposed to only two) helps make this a fuller-sounding affair than the band's debut, as well as somewhat more kinetic. And Oye's croon is as golden as ever, gliding through his earnestly considered reflections on ill-fated relationships. But sound is one thing and spirit another, and the album feels, on the whole, more tired than inspired. A handful of marginal highs aside (the minor urgency of "Courage," the fluid sobriety of "Gravity"), it's hard to shake the feeling that Rules would be a lot more satisfying if it broke a few more. ~ K. Ross Hoffman

キングス・オブ・コンヴィニエンスのアーランド・オイエ率いる4人組の、3年ぶりとなる新作。昨年モデュラーからUK／USデビューを果たし、レーベル主催のフェスにもヴァン・シーやカット・コピーらに混じって参加するなど、シーンの第一線で活躍している彼ら。ここでは全曲一発録りのメロディックでダンサブルなギター・ポップを披露し、ギター主体によるダンス・ミュージックの新機軸を打ち立てているぞ。
bounce (C)白神 篤史