From The Vault

I got some pretty rare stuff in my collection, Nothing super amazing, just some records that people forgot. Here's one of my favourites, Golden Boy's debut (and only) album featuring Miss Kittin: Or. You might remember it for the single "Rippin Kittin" which was quite popular. I was turned onto this release from Felix Da Housecat's Kittenz & Thee Glitz, another electroclash album featuring Miss Kittin. I had a torrented copy of Or for a long while (imports are expensive) but sure enough one day, I found it for sale in jolly old England and promptly snapped it up. No other record sounds quite like it, not even it's close cousin by Felix, it's like French House smashed into some Neo-Bubblegum Pop and picked up some Kraftwerk on the way. That was an awful analogy, it's very hard to describe but trust me it's hella catchy; Let's start suitably with the first proper track and road trip anthem, Autopilot.



Catchy right? Despite erring on the side of bad eurodance a bit, Golden Boy pulls it off in style, with Kittin's vocals and the poppy sounds almost working too well together. As seen in this next track, where she talks about.... well, everything really.



It's not all quasi-pop though, there are some great instrumental House-y tracks on here too, the first of which being Nix: A track which sounds surprisingly electro like in parts. It's pretty good, but it becomes so much better own after the little breakdown at 1:45.



The second, with a name that is impossible to pronounce, is less dancefloor based and instead sounds like the soundtrack to some neon lit cityscape in the not too distant future (or maybe Freemont Street in Las Vegas). Also get a load of the amazingly smooth synths during the breakdown at 3:12 :).



And what better way to finish up than with the song that started it all, the only single from this release, Rippin Kittin. A slow paced, fairly chilled number with some odd lyrics to say the least. A completely different vibe to the rest of the album.



...Glove's radio edit of it however injects it with that much poppier atmosphere of the rest of the album, adds a chorus and makes Kittin's vocals much louder than the original mix. Out of the two, it's my favourite, if only for the newly added chorus and the slightly re-arranged composition.



So there you have it: Or. I might get around to detailing some of my other rare gems later, including an album of Reggae remixes from the first Gorillaz album :D.

J'aime Conduire La Nuit,
-Claude Van Foxbat