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 Fly Pan AM - Ceux qui inventent n'ont jamais vecu (?) [Constellation Records - 2002]Welcome in Fly Pan AM territory. Fasten your seat belts please. Thanks you very much. These guys really like to confuse you. They even had me completely fooled for a while in a ‘Andy Kaufman’ kind of way: I was listening to “Ceux qui Inventent…” for the first time, immediately hitting “play” before even reading the song titles or having a good look at the artwork, and then suddenly, in the middle of track #3, there is a big ugly one-second long silence. Of course my first reaction was “Oh great, I have a defective CD” but after listening longer I realized that the whole album is full of those things – the band calls it “self-sabotage” and, once you get used to it, it becomes as much part of the music as the guitar-bass-drums are.It’s hard to fit comfortably Fly Pan AM in any existing musical genre without feeling like it doesn’t fully works. If I really had to give a short description it would probably be something like “instrumental stuttering rock/dry funk/musique concrete fusion”… Meh! The band usually plays fairly simply structured (but with a few twists) and repetitive pieces generally composed of a solid lock-groove foundation held by the bass and drum with clean guitar motifs woven into the mix. At times the band can be surprisingly energetic; for example on the second track what started as a moderately calm song based on a funky 4 notes motif suddenly goes up a notch in ferocity thanks to slapped bass and weird sounds that would make Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth) proud.This band likes experimenting on the song level, but also in the post-production stage with all kinds of noise and tape manipulations... If the music were a well-oiled machine, they would take a handful of sand and throw it in with a grin. This gives the album a particular texture and makes it unpredictable; with strange noises coming at you from every direction – one time I was sure that someone was using a vacuum cleaner in another room - and many doubts as if what you are hearing is normal or if your stereo equipment is on its final breath, the band does everything to keep you on your toes and it works in the sense that it adds an interesting layer to the album instead of just being an annoyance.This is a B+ album from Fly Pan AM. It is very good, no doubts about it, but I believe that it is not the best they can do. What they show us here is that they have the ideas and the skills; now all they have to do is sharpen their songwriting abilities a little before they can give us a truly great album.Post Scriptum: As usual I must mention how great and original the packaging by Constellation is. Good job guys.  
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|  | | Fly Pan AM - Ceux qui inventent n... | Welcome in Fly Pan AM territory. Fasten your seat belts please. Thanks you very much.
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| | | Creepy Images Books - Killer Art | Of all the cult/exploitation genres, Giallo stands as one of the more visually & art-based- be it with the grand/ dramatic location, choreographed murder...
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