Telepopmusik - Genetic World

Télépopmusik is the brainchild of three French electronic artists: Stephan Haeri, Christophe Hetiér and Fabrice Dumont. Their debut album, Genetic World, combines various arrays of dance beats with an assortment of samples, lush melodies, and colorful noise. Intermittent throughout the album are samples from television programs and radio broadcasts which either simply break the span between the tracks or deal with various scientific subjects - keeping in tune with the theme set by the album title, Genetic World. While it's not an album you'd call revolutionary, it's charming enough to take home and spend some time with. The album opens with "Breathe", featuring the gorgeous vocals of Angela McCluskey - her voice alone is reason enough to hear this album. In the first thirty seconds of the song it turns from a sultry, nu-jazz track to drowsy, dance anthem. The layout of the track is customary enough - nothing is too unique - however, it's at least done well. The rest of the tracks on the CD run the gamut from mid-tempo techno, to hip-hop, to more of a break beat style. It's hard to enjoy several of the tracks on the CD, simply because they are just a little too predictable and unimaginative. Basically, when the group steers too far from the formula of tracks like "Breathe", "Yesterday Was A Lie" or "Love Can Damage Your Health", which combine Angela McCluksey's vocals with various jazzy instrumental accompaniment, the CD begins to disappoint. However, it's worth noting that the final track, "L'Incertitude D'Heisenberg", is a nice ambient adventure to close out the set. A lot of electronic music is sounding the same these days. Plus, a lot of Genetic World probably sounds like something you've heard before. However, when it works it works, and things that work should require some attention. I'd say if you melt at the sound of a lovely female voice singing over electronic beats, it would behoove you at least to try out Télépopmusik - at most the tracks featuring Angela McCluskey (did I mention that enough?). [www.telepopmusik.co.uk]