Solex vs.

Cristina Martinez + Jon Spencer

Amsterdam Throwdown, King Street Showdown!

(Bronzerat)

Record Review by Marcel Feldmar

Not a huge follower of Solex, though I do enjoy what I’ve heard in the past. The past being, oh, between 1998 and 2001, or, in terms of the Solex discography, “The Matador Years.” So there have been a couple of releases between 2001 and now that I have not been formerly introduced to, but since I’m not writing about those albums, I figure that’s alright. Solex is the band name placed upon the music of Elisabeth Esselink, who moved past her beginnings as a part of the Dutch indie band Sonetic Vet and is now based in Amsterdam, doing her thing, and what a thing it is.

This album, moving far past the beginning experiments found and flown on her 1998 release Solex vs. The Hitmeister, still retains many of the same techniques. The hits of beats and samples and beautiful vocals. Here, though, Solex is not pitting herself against cheesy records found in thrift store bargain bins. She’s not moving against the country blues play between herself and Stuart Brown that she worked with on The Laughing Stock of Indie Rock or the jazzy pop eclecticisms of Low Kick and Hard Bop. She’s not throwing down in the ring with the crazy collage of Pick Up but instead she’s hitting it with husband and wife team Jon Spencer and Cristina Martinez. As in Boss Hog. As in the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion. As in this album is low-down and dirty. Upbeat and bluesy. Garage rocking and soul striding.

Solex Blues Explosion!

There is still a back and forth to the songs here, but as an album it remains pretty damn cohesive, calling on the styles and swagger of the supporting cast to hold it all together. Mike Ladd makes a couple of guest appearances, laying it down on the microphone through songs like “R is for Ring-A-Ding” and “Action,” both strong songs, but it’s the perfectly placed attitudes of Jon and Cristina that make this an album to listen to. Happily groovin’ and bluesin’ in the background, the duo allows Esselink to take the center stage while providing a solid, and sometimes happily amusing base for her to work with.

Fifteen songs long, but it doesn’t seem like it. It seems like it’s over a little too quickly. The album starts off on a high note, with the hard and happy soul groove of “Bon Bon” and then slips into a little R&B pop garage that almost has a hint of Cibo Matto or Buffalo Daughter playing in the breakdowns. You can dance across this whole album. A nice sexy hip sway in “Galaxy Man” and an almost Beastie Boy transcendental hit in “The Uppercut,” which holds a rhythm that makes me feel a little crosseyed and painless, if you know what I mean.

“Don’t Hold Back” is a sweet sexy slide that keeps on sliding straight into the slow burn of “Too Much, Too Fast”, and then there’s “Aapie.” Jon Spencer charming your pants off and tickling your funny bone with a story about a man and his monkey.

“Do you want to have a monkey of your very own?” he asks.

“Hell yeah.”