You and I, we are not so different.

Once in a great while, you find an album that is stellar from start to finish. Not one track is bad, and maybe they each bring a different sonic template to each track, or follow a well-tread, albeit wondrous formula, but whatever the case, the album rings true, clear, and loud in your memory and mind. I have a few albums that do this for me, among Bruce Springsteen's "Born To Run", The Streets's "A Grand Don't Come For Free" and "Original Pirate Material", Daft Punk's "Discovery", Phoenix's "Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix", Sebastien Leger's "Planets", and Weezer's "Weezer" (The Blue Album of course). I am proud to present yet another edition to this finite collection: Kris Menace's "Idiosyncrasies".

Anyone who knows me knows I absolutely love the french house sound and Fred Falke, Alan Braxe, and the pair together working towards a 21st century update of the said sound. Lush, groovy, dense, spacey, infinitely melodic and hummable. Think Daft Punk. Yeah, that. Amazing, isn't it? These two have done originals and remixes out the wazoo with their own personal vein of french house in mind. Warm, mellow synths over crisp, mind-melting drums, there is nothing of the ordinary and no curveballs to be thrown, just simply inviting, beautifully danceable/listenable music.

Now on to the topic at hand. Until this point, I thought only Fred Falke and Alan Braxe held the rights to such a warm, Balearic sounding french house style. I was, frankly, wrong. Kris Menace's triple album, "Idiosyncrasies", is a testament to their sound, in his personal style, drawn-out across three beautiful, amazing discs of mellow, ambient house with a pinch of le style de la francais.

Menace's sound is less rooted in french house, where the order of the day is almost strictly four-to-the-floor drums and a driving, rhythmic, melodic hook tied down by echoing, pounding kicks and hi-hats. Kris Menace eyes these more as guidelines, instead taking interesting rhythmic patterns and layering them underneath occasionally spacey, occasionally glittering, occasionally squelchy synth lines. On "Artificial", Menace, teamed with Felix Da Housecat, take a spacey, spastic synth line and roll it up between crystal-clear, perfectly EQed drums that give it an unreal, almost surreal bounce. The results glisten, shimmer, and pulsate, as a simple yet extremely effective bassline crawls through your head, winding, zigging, and zagging for nearly five minutes. A definite album highlight.

With Spooky on "Stereophonic", the layering is done, once again, simply, but very effectively. The track starts out with a simple organ chord progression, before another arpeggiated synth line drops over it, but then a super arpeggiated synth line comes into the fray and the once simplistic ambient disco cut evolves and blossoms into a pounding, swirling amalgam of drums, organ, and panicked, relentless synth lines. The rhythm here too strays from french house, with a more traditionally housey beat that gives it an interesting counter-rhythm to that of the organ line. Another highlight.

Menace joins with fellow Frenchman Lifelike on the very first track, the epic, sweeping "Discopolis". At a little over nine minutes, you'd think a house tune couldn't hold your attention this long. You'd be sadly mistaken. "Discopolis" begins with a typically glittering synth line, on which a typical house beat is dropped, before a lazer-eqsue bassline beats perfectly against the lighter synths. After three minutes, everything drops out, and the melody comes in, a stoic, powerfully entrancing synth line that, once teamed with the synth, bassline, and drums, absolutely obliterates your mind and your body, a rhythmic and melodic house masterpiece. My favorite track off the album, probably.

The next track, "Fairlight Pt. 1 and Pt. 2" featuring another Frenchman, the aforementioned Falke, is yet another highlight, but remains a more ambient highlight, definitely more shimmering and spacey than the previous track, but a slight enough turn of events to warrant mental recognition and appreciation. Similar sounds, similar builds, but a lighter, more ambient feel makes this another keeper.

Other highlights include "Lumberjack" with Alan Braxe, "Metropolis", "Idiosyncrasy", "Sensuality", "Affinity", "Enamoured" with Fred Falke, and "Electricity", another collaboration with Falke. ANd I haven't touched on the remix CD yet!

All in all, "Idiosyncrasies" is well worth a listen, even if it is split apart into sections. A sonic masterpiece of house, space, and sound, this triple album will no doubt delight the mind, the soul, and the feet. Here's a link for all parts.

Kris Menace - Idiosyncrasies

Enjoy friends. Best wishes to all those taking exams, I need to continue studying myself.
-NL