LB
Pop Artificielle

THE REVIEW

LB, AKA Lassigue Benthaus, AKA Atom Heart, AKA Senor Coconut, AKA Midisport, AKA Flanger.
Real name Uwe Schmidt.
Herr Schmidt has never enjoyed great notoriety, apart from a minor interest growing around the figure of Senor Coconut, mainly due to the bizarreness of the project rather than actual "artistic" merits (Reworking historic Kraftwerk tracks in cha cha cha style is an endeavor one would expect more from Rocco Tanica than from a by-the-book German).
Nevertheless, our friend Uwe is an interesting character, one who can have fun making a merengue cover of "Beat It" after producing an album using the microsampling technique (Midisport - 14 Footballers In Milk Chocolate).

The work I am about to dissect in this review was released in 2000 and is once again a cover album. "Pop Artificielle" indeed contains some iconic tracks of popular music revisited in glitch pop style.
The heterogeneity of the tracklist immediately catches the eye, ranging from James Brown - "Superbad" to John Lennon - "Jealous Guy" and even reaching, to the wonder of my eyes, the Ryuichi Sakamoto of "Thatness and Thereness". I randomly play a track: "Ashes to Ashes" by that Bowie just returned from Berlin at the dawn of the '80s.

But is it REALLY "Ashes to Ashes"? THAT "Ashes to Ashes"?
The organic and human nature of the original is barely recognizable in these cold, almost sidereal atmospheres, recreated through crystalline sounds and meticulously detailed parts.
The other tracks follow swiftly, without any style falter, in a short-duration work (not even 40 minutes) remaining constantly enjoyable, reaching artistic heights of considerable depth ("The Future" - Prince, for example) and surprising with jazzy piano solos that manage not to seem out of place.
I would like to note the peculiar vocal re-synthesis system used in this record, designed by Schmidt himself, because after all, who but a robot could sing such tracks?

In conclusion, is this album a masterpiece? Not in its entirety, but certainly, some tracks are. Knowing the author's sense of humor, I'd say it's just missing a cover of Barry White.