N°1 by Flabbergast

Following the playful tones of Feathered Sun and Carlos Nilmmns, Circus Company continues its run of distinctive singles with a four-track release from new production entity Flabbergast. While the name might not be familiar, the imagination-soaked minds behind the music are synonymous with the history of Circus Company.

Guillaume Coutu-Dumont is of course one of our most treasured sons, a Montreal-man turned Berlin-boy with no less than two albums and seven EPs scattered amongst our back catalogue, let alone his achievements elsewhere. He first came to light on the Mutek and Musique Risquee labels, both of which have had the guiding hand of Vincent Lemieux at the controls, and now the two long-time friends have joined forces in the studio to conjure up some heavy grooving voodoo that feeds directly from their respective experiences in the freakier ends of the house and techno spectrum.

On all four tracks, there is a concurrent theme that binds together this new sound world of Flabbergast. The production hits raw and direct, with dead-eye rhythms providing a functional structure around which surreal sonic decoration can frolic. “Frozen Beans” has a twitchy lead and all manner of displaced vocal snippets drifting around the sparse mix, but there is still space for the warmth of a Rhodes to sneak in before things get too unnerving. “Gros Sabots” meanwhile has fun with some roughly hewn drum breaks, before “Wash Karma” gets into a spooked-out, exotic incantation of minimal techno with an emphasis on cheeky funk of the highest order. With its delicate elements, flairs of percussion and deadly bassline, this is the kind of track to sneak up on the unsuspecting and shake their hips with inappropriate intent before they know what’s hit them.

Circus Company is an independent French label, founded in 2000 in Paris.

circuscompany.fr
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