“This change of course for Latino vibes can be unsettling, but it stays in the fields of Robert's mojo; joyful Dance Music”
1 Living In Amerika 9:33
2 Lost Dreams 6:37
3 Electric Structures 6:26
4 Food Hunter 11:11
5 Once Upon a Time 8:26
6 The Universal Drive 5:33
7 Flying Objects 6:24
8 It Doesn't Matter 6:12
9 Motion 6:38
10 True Fairytales 5:36
(CD 72:52) (V.F.)
(Groovy & Latin Beats)
Since Robert Schroeder discovered the joys, and complexities, of his new electronic toys, he has enjoyed producing sparkling albums both in terms of sound and styles. FRESH FOOD is the 3rd opus of the Food For Fantasy series. And if the first 2 touched strongly varied rhythms perfumed with an electronic approach closer to the roots of Double Fantasy and of Berlin School, this 3rd CD takes a more serene tangent where the guitars so biting and the rhythms so stormy in opening get lost in a Latin romanticism that disconcerts more than it charms in the second part of the album. In fact, Food For Fantasy is boarding on a new romantic crusade, gradually abandoning the groovy and electronic Californian rhythms by an even more romantic approach linked to these Latino rhythms.
Living in Amerika is one of the titles to have a Berlin School essence with its mysterious intro which is filled with barely audible whispering out from dark choruses with a haze floating on pulsations and percussions which intermingle to create a cadence enveloped by a synth with shivering layers. A finely syncopated line, whose notches make shake a nervous rhythm, makes spurt out a rhythm whose constant switching forms are bitten by a heavy electronic guitar which borders the territories of Mind Over Matter with powerful solos and riffs. Sometimes hard and rock, other times tender and ethereal, Living in Amerika navigates between a syncopated circular structure and a linear structure skipping slightly in an atmospheric patterns filled with cosmic sound effects. It's a very good track with heavily sharpened guitar riffs and solos, like on Lost Dreams which offers an almost hip-hop structure with these pulsations surrounded by a heavy bass line a bit sensual and installed on percussions and cymbals rolling. The guitar solos scream and overlap soft mellotron strata, thus giving an electronic dimension to this cosmic hip-hop. A heavy reverberation wakes up Electric Structures which moves on a hesitant rhythm, invades that it is by a cloud of galvanizing layers and tortuous tears of a surgical guitar. The more the title progresses, the more it embraces a heavy rhythmic structure supported by tribal percussions, a booming bass and sequences which flutter around a nervous keyboard and a wild sound fauna. Food Hunter offers a nice romantic respite with a lonely guitar whose hybrid sonority of its mixed chords is biting an ever so ambivalent structure, nourished by percussions with metallic clicks, a bass line with flowing chords, an island xylophone and finally a few sensual sighs.
With Once Upon a Time we dive into a more techno universe, with good percussions and a bass line which trace a sustained rhythm. A hypnotic rhythm surrounded by keyboard chords and guitar solos à la Ashra Temple as well as sinuous and strange layers of a synth which scroll in circles around an intoxicating title with nostalgic scents. Another great track on FRESH FOOD! The Universal Drive releases a more serene atmosphere with its layers of childish refrains which sing among circular reverberations and a light rhythmic structure. A rhythm modeled on a sober and sustained bass line as well as equally moderate percussions, including some xylophone chords. A simplistic title whose absence of guitars clashes on an album whose main essence is a wild guitar. Very heterogenous, Flying Objects is as strange as its title. Its rhythm is imprecise and is based on pulsations which are assisted by a few strokes of the bass drum. The guitar floats in a stellar nebulosity misty with layers of a prismatic synth which swallows the random chords of a guitar à la Manuel Göttsching. It Doesn't Matter is the second quiet track. It also creates a strange climate of serenity which will envelop the rest of this album in an atmosphere where the rhythms become less heavy and the vibes more serene, like a Latino's New Age. Firmly plucked, the notes of an acoustic guitar give way to a cosmic samba where synth strata predominate in a Latin ambience, just like the languid Motion where one has the impression that the arrogance of Phil Molto's guitars (aka Robert Schroeder) is swallowed by the soft layers of a synth asleep by the soft whispers of a night muse. True Fairytales concludes this particular opus of Food For Fantasy with an approach still close to the Latin spirits. Nervous, the tempo wipes the soft atmospheric permutations where the winds blow in a ringing atmosphere, helped by a synth with layers and whirling solos. Discrete a guitar with plucked chords flows in anonymity and oblivion, thus following this progression a little disconcerting at times of FRESH FOOD.
Is FRESH FOOD a disappointing album? For some Food For Fantasy fans, this change of course for Latino atmospheres can be unsettling. If groovy anthems and Space Funks are less present, the fact remains that this Caribbean-flavored approach follows the FFF tangent. It's all about taste. But tracks like Living in Amerika, Food Hunter, Once Upon A Time and Flying Objects are tracks that bring us closer to the old Double Fantasy but modernized, while the rest of the album respects its Caribbean-flavored progression, but more inspired of sweet and languid Latin beats.
Sylvain Lupari (December 2nd, 2010) *****
Available at Spheric Music & CD Baby