Ilictromix: Beauty Product (2020 Post)

NOTE: Hi there! This is an archive/re-post of an old series of Mixes that Adam used to get artists to make for us. This post is originally by Adam and is from January 2015. I am going to try and archive all these posts he did in future. I still have all the MP3s so it's just a case of re-doing the HTML and putting them on Mixcloud!

Enjoy,
-CVF

My inbox gets an obscene amount of promos, most are terrible EDM remixes, some are death metal, but once in while I stumble upon something truly remarkable. After hearing the single from Beauty Product and reading their promo I knew that they were on to something unique.

This is how Beauty Product describes the music:

              "Luxury adult contemporary dancefloor heat for rich people who can't be bothered to move very fast. Sometimes too much still isn't enough." 

And the Genre?

"slowhouse, cheesefunk bangers"

The music and art coming from this German project is almost tongue in cheek but catchy enough to keep your attention and wanting more *Think Vaporwave* Its music that drips with style and oozes with total confidence. Its hard to wipe the smile off of my face when I first heard this mix and I know that you all will love it too!



TRACKLIST
Beauty Product - Vulgar Discourse
Space Dimension Controller - BBD Alignment
Kassem Mosse - 578
Juju and Jordash - Schmofield
Beauty Product - We Are The Potraviny
Luke Abbott - Whitebox
Funky Family - Funky Is On (Leo Mas and Fabrice Instrumental Dub)
Lindstrom - Vōs-sākō-rv (Todd Terje Extended Mix)
Joe - Claptrap
Beauty Product - Obscenity With Badminton
Reinhard Voigt - Robson Ponte
Sabla - Spirits (Ital Rework)
Ramadanman - Don't Change For Me
Air Max '97 - Shape Cut
Andy Stott - Up The Box
Beauty Product - Wild Parvenu
Delroy Edwards - Always 
Falty DL - Do Me
Demdike Stare - Eulogy


After hearing a mix like that I had to know more about what exactly is going on with this scene, so I talked with Beauty Product about how this project came to fruition:


So other than the description in your first email how would you describe your style? 

The sound itself is pretty influenced by 80s - early 90s dance music (Italo, boogie, early house) - warm, fuzzy, reverby tracks that can be upbeat party music and kind of sad at the same time. The other influence on the Wild Parvenu track would be AM radio adult-contemporary pop from that same era, which is generally terrible music but also kind of strange and fascinating - stuff along the lines of Captain and Tenille. So from that comes some of the vocals and synth solos as well as the mood - a 1980s over-the-top luxury vibe that's both funky and kind of tacky. A bit like the Scarface soundtrack. All that said, when making music I really love experimenting with new sounds and ideas so the result of that is a pretty wide variety to the overall styles.

So the imprint you are on Strategic Tape Reserve, could you tell me more about it or how many artists are on the roster? 

Yes, Strategic Tape Reserve is a weird, small, very DIY label that sometimes poses as a government organization. It's released music by 2-3 other artist. So far, most of the releases have been more experimental than Wild Parvenu, but coming up is a techno release as well as something which is pretty ambient. And another Beauty Product single before too long.

What was your early production work like and how did you end up with the sound you have now?

My earliest productions were cassette 4-track hiphop instrumentals when I was 15 or so. Very hissy jams. I've been producing dance music in a variety of styles (techno, glitchy electro, etc) for about 6 or 7 years, but the Beauty Product sound is a pretty recent development.I love melodic electronic music, but I don't really care for shiny, highly-produced EDM. So this style lets me make dance tracks with poppy, developing melodies without devolving into epic trance major chords, which is satisfying. I like music that has isn't "perfectly" produced and is kind of rough-around-the-edges (like a lot of early electronic dance music). Studio funk! Also, over the last few years I've been putting together a small analog modular synth and I think the old-school hardware has had an effect on the direction of the music. 

For those who love the Wild Parvenu project what should we listen to next? 

There will be more Beauty Product music released this year!

Are the people in your local scene receptive to what you are doing? 

I've gotten a really good response from people about this cassette. When I play out live sets, I tend to go for more of a up-tempo, techno sound than the more relaxed Wild Parvenu stuff. I'm working on bringing it all together. In Germany people are definitely enthusiastic about electronic music and also open to new sounds. So this is good.

The imagery with your music is so closely tied together, which came first, and what was the inspiration? 

I put together the packaging and I wanted it to have a kind of Don Helney soft-rock on the beach kind of thing. I think the soft-focus and cursive script goes well with the washed out, reverby, but kind of detailed and ornate sound. The cassette is packaged with a motivational poster, which is a bit of a joke, but I think kind of works with the release for some reason.

Find More of Beauty Product or Strategic Tape Reserve


Adam