Artist: The Lisa Carbon Trio
Title: Polyester
Format: Single LP Gatefold Sleeve
Label: Rephlex
Catalogue Number: CAT 026 LP
Year of Release: 1994
Limited Edition of 500
Tracklisting
A1 Jazz Device (7:57)
A2 Jambient (8:43)
A3 Corazon Loco (7:55)
A4 Cuando Me Besas (6:15)
B1 Soft Drink (11:52)
B2 Paraphonic (6:56)
B3 Stereo Cocktail (6:25)
I must have been one of the only people left not to realise that this was yet another Atom Heart pseudonym. And there I was filing the record under C all these years! I feel like such a fool. Mind you, I've also got Senor Coconut under C as well, and I knew when it came out it was Atom Heart... I guess sometimes you just stick records where you know you'll find them when you want them, and no attempts to rationalise that will work. One day I might collect them all together under S.
To be fair, this is apparently the alias that Uwe Schmidt most likes to pretend is a real person, and putting it out on Rephlex was a first (and only, to date).
Listening through to this record again though, it's hard not to spot the obvious reference points to other Atom releases, and even the touch of Pete Namlook, who he was working with a lot at the time, and is credited here with "samples and jazz". Jambient, for example, could have been lifted from Datacide, and the same title was used for a [recommended] David Moufang & Pete Namlook collaboration released on Fax the following year.
The general feel of the record is much more low-key and laid-back than the other Lisa Carbon records, when the moog-funk was ramped up along with the 60s kitsch feel. Corazon Loco (Crazy Heart) is the closest to the novelty-funk of Senor Coconut, and Cuando Me Besas (When You Kiss Me) pick things up a little bit, but during the B-side opener you could have a lovely nap.
Paraphonic is up-tempo, but lacks variation and drive; Stereo Cocktail establishes a nice groove, and there's some manic synth solos over the top but on the whole the record lacks the defined personality of of later releases.
This record, incidentally, is completely free of copyright with regards to the samples used. A position Atom Heart seems to have changed with more recent releases, if his introduction to Son of A Glitch is anything to go by...
Download Atom™ - son of a glitch - 01 - message to the consumer
