DJ MARCELLE/ANOTHER NICES MESS: A DIFFERENT FRIDGE FOR CHEESE

Is DJ Marcelle a masochist? She hates musicals and called her 2022 album 'DJ Marcelle: The Musical'. She dislikes cheese and calls her new album 'A Different Fridge For Cheese'.

Probably the answer has more to do with her wicked sense of humour and her love for original track and album titles. The singular producer and dj from Amsterdam lives in that rare league of artists who are out there, doing their own thing, continually pushing the boundaries of electronic music and having a great time in doing so as well.

This new album is like any Marcelle production (and dj-set): it's hard to pigeonhole. Dub, techno and avant-garde influences are clearly present but the overall feeling is one of freedom, excitement, adventure and playfulness. Ideas bounce off another and Marcelle is certainly not content with one single formula.

Each track becomes a new beginning, a new adventure. Where can we take this? What if we try that? Bristling with possibilities, structures are pushed and pulled and explode excitedly.

Album opener and closer 'Muslimgauze Was Right Part I and II' are short pieces of rhythmic noise, 'Big Room Techno Looking For A Room' is a weird and very danceable techno track and the bouncy 'Nice Feet' is not only another great dance track but also the second tribute on the lp ('Muslimgauze Was Right' the other one); this one is an ode to the best female footballer in the world, Barcelona midfielder Aitana Bonmati. 'New Equipment' describes the mood of the track perfectly. For a The Fall fan the track title 'You Don't Have To Be Weird To Be Weird' should ring a bell. Insect sounds dominate stop-start track 'To Bee Or Not To Bee'. 'A Difficult Fridge For Cheese' (nearly the title track!) is a storming avant-garde track featuring voices of some of her (musical) friends like two members of avant dub outfit Holy Tongue and fans and friends she met whilst dj-ing in amongst others Brazil and Portugal, asking in their native language to leave the cheese in the fridge, por favor.

This brings us to the album title. The title was inspired by a visit to her dj-friend and fellow The Fall-fanatic Carlos Souffront in San Francisco. Souffront, in daily life a cheesemonger, does have a different fridge for the cheese in his house. Upon seeing this, Marcelle decided to name her new lp after this.

For future album titles controversial phenomena like 'pop choirs' and 'dj schools' are warned! After 'Explain The Food, Bitte' and 'DJ Marcelle: The Musical', 'A Different Fridge For Cheese is Marcelle's third album being released on the Berlin label 'play loud!'.


THE WIRE REVIEW

Since 2019, Dutch producer, broadcaster and outsider sound artist DJ Marcelle has been releasing mischievously omnivorous electronica that merges out there experimentation with elements of techno, free jazz, noise, acid, dub and more. Marcelle's creations stand firmly outside of the rigid, beat-locked tropes of club music, and her fifth album gleefully collapses the boundaries between different strains of electronic music and sound art to create an adventurous set that fizzes with vitality, originality and humour. The album is bookended by the bubbling, rhythmic noise of “Muslimgauze Was Right", a two part tribute to the late experimental musician Bryn Jones, whose work addressed issues arising from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. “To Bee Or Not To Bee” cleverly wraps breathy house rhythms and gurgling synth bass around a buzzing swarm of insects, seducing the ear into sensing rhythm and melody that may or may not be there. “You Don't Have To Be Weird To Be Weird" gathers found and industrial sounds into a stubborn groove, then playfully guides them around the edges of the stereo space. The title references a line from The Fall’s “Totally Wired" and is in the same key, as if designed to be mixed against it in a DJ set. Fun interludes keep the palate fresh and curiosity piqued between the longer, more immersive tracks. The title track combines dreamy piano with fridge hum, door squeaks and voices collected from all over the world asking, “Excuse me, could you leave the cheese in the fridge, please?". The cartoonish and monster-footed “Big Room Techno Looking For A Room” is a real highlight, as is "Nice Feet", an ode to Catalonian female footballer Aitana Bonmati which splices samples of of effusive sports commentary against hyper-vital African footwork. Equal parts ridiculous and sublime. (Leah Kardos)