out for a while: Sid Le Rock - Written In Lipstick [Ladomat 2000 / Mute Tonträger]

Artist:
Sid Le Rock

Title:
Written In Lipstick

Label:
Ladomat 2000 / Mute Tonträger

Cat#:
LADO2162

Release Date:
08th June 2004

Format:
CD, vinyl, download & streaming

Tracklist:
01.
Torque

02.
Close Again

03.
Bull Dozer

04.
Three Steps From Shore

05.
Lost In Gräser

06.
Le Monsieur Zut Suit

07.
Jalapeno Rock

08.
Ocean View

09.
Stranger Danger

10.
Add It!

11.
Alive N’ Swell

Press Info: People used to move to NY or London to get a bite of the action and start a band or something, but not anymore. These days, it seems, many invariably converge towards the artistic magnet Germany’s become in the last decade or so. Its many large cities now sheltering creative brains from all over the world, not least those involved in electronic music.

Sid LeRock is one of such travelling luminaries. Originally from Toronto, Canada, he somehow ended up settling down in Cologne and hasn’t looked back. Don’t fantasise about some clever marketing ploy though, this ain’t no Sex Pistols homage. Why lie about it? Sid LeRock is Sid’s real name. To tell all, his mother used to be into Sidney Poitier the first black actor to win an Oscar back in 1964 (remember this was an important step-forward for America at the time). And LeRock? Well some things in life just fall into place, don’t they?

A playful eccentric brimful of imagination Sid’s got that slightly demented charm true to genuine artists. With a passion for black humour and whiskey (Crown Royal please, a habit that’s apparently aged him well) he is 31 today but – by his own admission – still has the mind of a 13 year old.

A fact that could explain why he recently took the risk of quitting the safe lifestyle of a well paid 9 to 5 job for an existence more suited to his true nature (“There’s no happier place for me to be than the stage”). Spending his weekends performing live to audiences (and himself) in smoke filled clubs and loving every minute of it, there_s no way he was going to pass on all that techno circus.

In his early days he played bass and sang backing vocals in a DIY punk rock band named Broad Daylight. However group effort wasn’t the road to be, he soon worked out that by making music as a soloist he’d only have one ego to battle with which was already more than enough.

That’s not to say that at times maverick Sid does not feel alone, hence the few aliases he has been putting music under – as if by swapping identity again and again his multiple artistic personas were eventually able to fully express themselves and get a life of their own. Up to now people in the music world knew him as Sheldon Thompson, an electronic musician with a handful of nicknames: Pan/Tone (for his dancefloor orientated releases on the Sub-Static / Bip-Hop imprints), Gringo Grinder (for his Onitor / Kompakt releases) and some more. However for this new project, his absolute pride and joy, he’s made the decision to revert to his real self.

Signed to Mute / Ladomat 2000 Sid LeRock now unleashes “Written In Lipstick”, a debut album full of promises. If its incentive is as yet unknown – it will be for the listeners to decide as he points out himself the record’s purpose was for the Canadian export to open himself up, to incorporate past and present interest in music into his own folds.

“I would say that my background in music is a bit of a buffet. I did everything – and everything does me. Everyday I have a new favourite record of all time. But more of my influence came from the obscure with groups such as Ween, Violent Femmes and the loveable Fugazi.”

At times melancholic but never dark “Written In Lipstick” offers Sid’s various personal shades of organic electro-rock. Also drawing from indie and pop, it gently incorporates melodies and vocals to striking results. The songs and instrumentals are beat-led (hey this is the 21st century) but our man is not obsessed with the dancefloor, far from it he swears he’ll never deejay for fear of becoming “just another book on the shelf”.

The album came about unannounced during a holiday in Canada. With nothing to do for two weeks and frigging cold weather, Sid wrote and produced most of it in one spontaneous outburst. A clear, judicious simplicity running through its repetitive grooves and spacey ambiences, “Written In Lipstick” pleasurably ingrains itself into one’s consciousness whilst unveiling new aural details with each listen.

Built on persistent 16ths patterns (bass, guitar, ride) the opener “Torque” behaves like an aural strobelight. Straight after, the grungy male vocals and druggy sway of “Close Again” set the mood. It’s no wonder our man chose Germany to drop his bags, he shares an intrinsic connection with the Kraut underground, which has for decades spat out fascinating electronic-rock bands of the arty kind.

There are many impro-rides locked into pounding mechanical grooves too: the solemn yet engaging “Bull Dozer” (balancing out between a schizophrenic wah synth and a vintage Cure bassline), the indie-disco of “Jalapeno Rock” or the paranoiac techno of “Stranger Danger”.

That’s still only a fraction of the picture. “Three Steps From Shore” is a deep mantra complete with delicate synths and live violin. “Lost In Gräser” and its plaintive vocal nod at no-wave with a zest of Underworld thrown in. “Le Monsieur Zut Suit” is kiddie electro-pop that will easily enchant the dancefloor. Evocative and atmospheric “Ocean View” features a French vocalist from Marseille (“We only worked on this track for a blink of an afternoon because we preferred to go swimming instead”).

By the end of this intimate experience comes one of Sid’s rockier attempts and a firm winner at that. “Add It”, a cover of (legendary eighties country-punk rockers) The Violent Femmes, gives him the occasion to impersonate some kinda cool Lou Reed character under the influence of MDMA. The mesmerising “Alive N_ Swell” is a tortuous conclusion that could go on forever.

With its multiple moods and human heart it’s not difficult to see why “Written In Lipstick” fares better than many other electronic albums. This is truly the work of a dreamer but after all, what’s his dream?

“I guess it is to have one that I can finally remember to hold on to. A secret? I’ll give you one: my life is an open book in a locked room.”

Snippets:

Full Track Streaming:
“Add It!”