Abstrackt Keal Agram
Cluster Ville

We are in 2003, and it seems that the trip-hop era has definitively ended. It was well-known that the hip hop roots of music by Portishead, Massive Attack, Lamb, Morcheeba (first album) had resulted in a shift of the thematic axis of rap (from socio-political themes to the more intimate and personal sphere); now with the usual technicalities, the super-specialized critics talk about "Abstract Hip Hop" to designate the elevation of perspective from the contingent and the infusion of romanticism and lyricism into the expressive framework.

The French duo Abstrackt Keal Agram seems to be the pioneer of the genre, positioning themselves with "Cluster Ville" as a crossroad project between "music for imaginary films, abstract hip hop, and noise rock". Translated, all this simply means a remarkable duo influenced by the french touch of St. Germain, Air, Etienne De Crecy, creators of delightful sound tapestries, ethereal, fluid, and extremely elegant: the two guys from across the Alps know their way around turntables and sequencers, as evidenced by tracks like "Piéce", reminiscent of Coldcut and Kraftwerk, and "Del", splendidly lounge yet theoretically perfect for a "slow" dancefloor.

Mu-zi-qa-e-lec-tro-ni-ca of "supérbe" quality.