Staff Reviews

Benjamin Schoos - China Man Vs China Girl

Review by Didz Hammond

When Benjamin Schoos succeeds in his thinly veiled kidnappings of musical alumni it inspires the songwriting to get up of its arse and deliver.»

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when not running the brilliant freaksville label, benjamin schoos is concentrating his efforts into producing lush, string-laden, melancholic and very french pop. here, on his debut british album, he's working with guest vocalists inluding laetitia sadier (stereolab), mark gardener (ride), chrissie hynde (the pretenders) and parisian icon marie france. inspired by the technical genius of orchestrator jean claude vannier (serge gainsbourg's 'histoire de melody nelson'), who he met in 2006, and the creativity of new york noise producer kramer (shimmy disc, galaxie 500, low, bongwater), with whom he has worked on three albums, benjamin has now decided to explore his inner soundscapes on 'china man versus china girl'. composed and recorded in nights at the freaksville lab, benjamin has created a rich, rhythmic fm pop sound drawing on the glossy melody and soaring synthesizers of '70s soft rock with orchestral flourishes taken from the besy of french cinema soundtracks. touched by the charm of benjamin's songwriting, chinaman versus china girl has attracted some highly prolific guest appearances: a duet with laetitia
sadier (stereolab) on the wonderfully catchy pop song 'je ne vois que vous', lead vocals by mark gardener (ride) on the romantic, barryesque 'worlds away' and chrissie hynde duetting with parisian chanteuse marie france on caustic ballad 'un garcon qui pleure'.with the occasional nod towards surrealist poet arthur craven and great american boxer jack johnson (to whom mile davis dedicated an album), 'china man versus china girl' is a collection of melancholy, cinematic songs analysing the pugilistic dimension of life, art and love under the unlikely metaphor of wrestling.
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