Rendezvous - Another Round Please

Every few years one gets a dance album like what this Israeli pair have put out: an inferno of funk.... a meltdown of techno soul. This is a re-release of their debut to a larger audience and it appeared in my mailbox completely unannounced. Getting it out of my system is going to require more dynamic measures because in spite of all the influences listed in the press release, one name looms large over this smoldering bastard child: Fluke. The supremely delightful slow burners on here are straight of out the 'OTO' era of the band while the addictive, catchy melodies come from 'Risotto' and even some of 'Puppy'. Rendezvous are not a Fluke knock off, however. They break their songs down to much more primal elements than the purveyors of that techno rose ever did. There are a few Jarre-isms, the wandering synth lines could come from no one else. Thing is, this has all been updated and given an acoustic edge which neither of the aforementioned artists have ever explored in their own work.

Heavy doses of dub can also be found on "Another Round Please" with more than a few Kingston-worthy echoes jumping up and down demanding your attention. This record really takes me back to the late 70s locked in my room with a turntable and a pair of headphones having my mind roam the cosmos without any thought of the world outside, or for that matter, even the rooms beyond my door. The exploratory quality of this release pushes and shoves it's way to the head of the pack, easily casting aside any contenders with a casual flick of the wrist. The lack of any vocals is what sells Rendezvous' album to me more than any collection of snazzy big name remixes or clever video clips. These two guys are more than capable of letting the machines tell you the tale without any need of posturing lyrics or jingo-isms. There's a string arrangement which informs one of the songs on here gloriously. Triumph is in abundance on "Another Round Please", I knew it was going to be special the moment I put it on and that giddy goofball smile graced my lips when the first notes kicked out of my speakers.

Precise calculations of emotional response, whimsical glances back at where we've been, more than a few jaw-dropping sections of victoriously confident groove. Here are eight shots of pure synthetic vehemence which stand up and demand to be heard. They say "We are not of flesh and blood but we feel, oh how we feel". Multiple rhythms are deployed and highlight an arsenal that I don't think has even been halfway utilized yet. If BT had kept at his ruminations on that Binary Universe instead of pandering back to the safety of those ladies or better yet if Conjure One finally fulfilled the promises of darker territory, they would only eat this band's dust. Appropriately enough, there is a slightly Israeli tinged tune on here but rather than conforming to the instrumentation we expect, they reduce it to just the best bits before shutting it off completely and moving yet again into another, even stranger direction.

One thing you can always count on when you hear a band from this part of the world is that they'll have a myriad of nuanced details to process which are, quite frankly, somewhat humbling to bear out through audio. Most times that I listen to what comes out of Israel, I have to kick myself for not having heard earlier. Rather than espouse the angst so many in that part of the world dwell upon, Rendezvous are quite inquisitively hopeful in their songs and trust me these are songs you will go back to again and again and again. They want to know, they want to reach out and go beyond the confines and limitations of expectation. No genre can contain them, and if there were more acts in that haze of strobes who put as much into their tunes as Rendezvous it'd be a better world indeed. These guys lay it all out on the line, there is no backup plan nor is there any other option besides success. A fine, thin line to traverse it may be but Rendezvous do handstands on it while walking backwards wearing blindfolds. This is the gutsiest record I've heard all year. Mar 23 2012