PRICE:
$15.50
IN STOCK
ARTIST
TITLE
Your Ear Knows Future
FORMAT
CD

LABEL
CATALOG #
MELO 058CD MELO 058CD
GENRE
RELEASE DATE
1/20/2009

Your Ear Knows Future is the second album by Brighton's Baikonour, aka Jean-Emmanuel Krieger. Three years on from For The Lonely Hearts Of The Cosmos, his acclaimed debut, Baikonour has delivered another burst of smart, proggy poptronica, bursting with Gallic charm and myriad, fully-realized ideas. Krieger was born in Versailles, France, the city that also spawned Air and Phoenix -- but it's Brighton, UK that he calls home and where the album was recorded, with Jean-Emmanuel playing all the instruments on the record bar the drums, which were played by Fujiya & Miyagi's Lee Adams. Your Ear Knows Future finds Baikonour making confident strides as an artist, turning in a collection of tracks that fuse electronica with motorik Krautrock and the dynamics of My Bloody Valentine and The Cocteau Twins. However, it never strays from Krieger's modus operandi: to mix electronic and traditional instruments and produce music with timeless quality. In describing individual tracks, Krieger cites Amon Düül 2, Popol Vuh, Harold Budd, Eno, Neu! Vangelis, Magma and Melody Nelson-era Gainsbourg as inspirations. The biggest influence, however, is Nepal. Krieger is a frequent visitor to South Asia, and has worked raising money for Tibetan refugees. He set up and runs his own charity organization, Help Rural Nepal. For this record, Krieger took each track title from phrases and names he has encountered there. "Shikarettes & Khukuris" are Nepalese cigarettes, "Chiru" is an antelope that lives on the Tibetan plateau and "Fly Tiger" is a Himalayan spider. "Ye Ama Pioo!," meanwhile, translates as "I'm having sex with your mum" in the Tamang language. He makes his music on computer, using emulations of classic '60s compressors and EQs. As well as a large selection of vintage guitars, keyboards and effects spanning the '60s, '70s and '80s, he always tries to select the correct element for the sound he's after.