Aug 2, 2017

RhoDeo 1731 Aetix

Hello, the Tour is over, more time for some French music


Today's artists are the gorgeously provocative duo of Mona Soyoc and Spatz who released a couple of singles on their own punk label, then signed to RCA which seemed a remarkably odd union, which produced two blindingly brilliant albums, 'Try Out' and 'Bypass' that found the haunting, mad vocals hemmed in by and stretched out over the alternately boiling/icy keyboards, the shattering chatter of arching/dive bombing guitar and stabbing electronic rhythms.....N'Joy

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KaS Product is a French electronic duo. Their music has been considered part of the French cold wave and electropunk movements. Formed in 1980, the duo consists of Spatsz on electronics and rhythm machines with Mona Soyoc on guitar, vocals and piano. Spatsz worked at a psychiatric hospital previously while Mona worked with a jazz band before meeting Spatsz.


KaS Product was founded in 1980 in Nancy by the singer and guitarist Mona Soyoc and the keyboardist Spatsz. Soyoc was born in Stamford, Connecticut . She plays in jazz clubs before meeting Spatsz. In charge of synthesizers and drum machines , Spatsz worked at a psychiatric hospital previously while Mona worked with a jazz band before meeting Spatsz.

In 1980, the group released a first 4-track single, Mind / Seven , and the maxi single Play Loud . The music of Kas Product is chronicled in the British music press and supported by critics like Jean-Eric Perrin , head of the Frenchy but chic section of the French music magazine Rock & Folk . In 1981, Kas Product plays the first part of a tour of Marquis de Sade . Their first two albums Try Out and By Pass , co-produced by Gérard N'Guyen 4 , 5 are published by the French branch of RCA 6 . In 1985, the duo was signed by Disc'AZ , which produced the singles Shoo Shoo . Their third album, Ego Eye , was released in 1986. The band separated two years later. Try Out and By Pass are reissued by the Last Call Records label in 1994

In 2004, their song So Young But So Cold gave its title to the compilation So Young But So Cold: Underground French Music 1977-1983 , directed by DJ Ivan Smagghe and producer Marc Collin . Published by Tigersushi, it brings together artists from the French electronic scene of the 1980s, such as Jacno and the Modern Mathematics. The following year, the first two albums of the duet were remastered and reissued by the label Disques du Soleil et de l'Acier . Since then, the group has been reforming episodically. In 2005, they gave a concert to the Eurockéennes of Belfort , then Paris to La Locomotive. In 2009, Bertrand Lamargelle devotes a biography to them, published by Editions du Camion blanc 11 . Kas Product is performing at the Souterrain de Nancy festival in 2011 and then at the Nancy Jazz Pulsations in 2013.

Mona Soyoc is invited on the Organic album of Zend Avesta , recorded in 2000 . In 2006, she composed new songs and performed solo for the festival Les femmes s'en mêlent . In 2009, she participated in the recording of Team Up , a second album by the Nancy group Variety Lab , on which she performed Money (That's What I Want) , a song written by Berry Gordy and Janie Bradford.

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An inspired blend of the murkily primitive and crisply cool, KaS Product's debut album relies on a partnership that seems initially to make little sense but quickly becomes something really special. Mona Soyoc's voice almost instantly calls Siouxsie Sioux to mind, equally strong and passionate and sometimes using cryptic or archetypal imagery instead of flat description, but it never feels like a simple cloning, with catches and calls in her voice all her own. Her guitar work aims for the simple but effective: heavily flanged rumbles, quick solos, and melodies that have a skeletal, creepy feeling somewhere between the B-52's' demented surf and the Cramps' horror-shock. It's easily the match of any proto-goth work from around the same era -- check the aggressive riffing on "Countdown" and the downright evil noise she kicks up on the brilliant "So Young But So Cold" -- and on its own would deserve greater attention for Soyoc. Meanwhile, Spatsz's electronic work is brisk, bass-heavy, and effective at building up a quick, sudden hysteria not all that removed from Fourth Drawer Down-era Associates. Hearing the sudden swoop of synth moans on "Man of Time" and unearthly alien drones on "Digging in a Hole" just adds to the collapsing, careening atmosphere of the album. The resultant combination is so good it's almost a crime that KaS Product haven't gained more attention -- perhaps ironically they were too warm for electronic freaks and too chilly and futuristic for rock fiends. Other highlights are the easy swing of songs like "No Shame," a finger-snapping sashay down the boulevard (if the setting were Blade Runner, perhaps), and the feminist humor of "Underground Movie," complete with director's commands.



 Kas Product - Try Out (flac  251mb)

01 One Of The Kind 3:29
02 Man Of Time 3:22
03 No Shame 3:17
04 Countdown 3:26
05 Never Come Back 3:17
06 Underground Movie 2:38
07 So Young But So Cold 3:01
08 Digging In A Hole 3:07
09 Sober 4:31
10 Breakloose 3:00
11 Pussy X 3:26

Kas Product - Try Out   (ogg  85 mb)

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KaS Product re-thought the limits conventionally agreed about rock in France. A crossover research that mix punk urgency, new-wave sounds and an imposed minimalism in order to take advantage of a duo configuration while being on a DIY direction. Kas Product is really a French duo of Spatsz (who left his job at a psychiatric hospital to do this project) on the electronics and the drum machines, and Mona Soyoc (who used to be a jazz singer) playing guitars, piano and singing.  The result is a rather strange combination of minimalist cold wave synth music, fuzzed out guitars and dramatic vocals.  It sounds a little odd when describing it but it actually works rather well, sort of like a more adventurous and experimental version of Eurythmics or perhaps a less krautish version of Chrisma.  "Loony-Bin", "Smooth Down", and "Tina Town" were the definite highlights on here though most of it was quite interesting.  "W. Infatuation" seems to explore the darker side of synth, but it's still pretty neat.  It also goes into the jazzier side of things with "Mingled and Tangled" which worked quite well, probably one of the more "formed" songs.  It's an interesting electronic assortment from a rather unusual band that should appeal to fans of this sort of thing.



Kas Product - By Pass (flac 360mb)

01 Loony-Bin 3:44
02 Seldom, Often 3:41
03 Smooth Down 2:51
04 Mingled & Tangled 3:37
05 Tina Town 4:53
06 T.M.T. 4:08
07 Devil Fellow 3:23
08 W. Infatuation 3:00
09 Taking Shape 3:05
10 Tape 2:06
Bonus
11 Sweet & Sour 4:04
12 Scaper 4:04
13 Crash 3:07
14 Party 2:32

Kas Product - By Pass   (ogg  118mb)

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Revolutionizing rock music by replacing guitars with synthesizers, Kas Product has left three albums that bear witness to the musical and creative effervescence of modern young people in the 1980s. Their first two recordings ( Try Out and By Pass ) are often cited , Rightly so, as reference albums in electronic rock music, not to say new wave. Released in 1986, Ego Eye is often forgotten in spite of more convincing tracks such as "Fever Lust" and "Above".

It is the label here, which decides to repair this injustice by reediting the album, while adding two rare titles ("Is not It So Good" and "Shoo Shoo"). It is the opportunity to rediscover the minimalist and innovative compositions of Mona Soyoc (vocals) and Spatz (Keyboards). Ego Eyes nevertheless deviates from the group's eclairage electroclash arrangements in favor of more pronounced blues / jazz sounds. The American origins and the jazz experience of Mona Soyoc are certainly responsible for this melodic evolution.

Kas Product does not operate a 180 ° turn. The album nevertheless sounds very synthetic and the Nancy duo always proposes titles wildly effective as proves the ravishing refrain and the drunken rhythm of "Nothing In The Way". The guitars are also more present on this disc, giving it a less cold appearance than the previous productions of the band. The surfs colors, mixed with synthetic incantations of "See For Yourself" and "Until Then" give rise to two devilishly catchy tubes. More accessible than ever, the french duo is trying to handle its nervousness and articulate a concrete, pop sentence. As they get farther and farther away from their punk and cold roots, the duo produces and surprises once again its fans by a new album with resolutely new wave hues.



 Kas Product - Ego Eye (flac 260mb)

01 Fever Lust 3:38
02 So Bad 3:11
03 Peep Freak 3:55
04 Gift Of The Gods 3:22
05 Street Haunt 3:40
06 Above 2:22
07 Ain't It So Good 3:47
08 See For Yourself 4:06
09 Razz 3:50
10 Clown 3:44
11 Nothing In The Way 3:00
12 Until Then 3:56
13 Shoo Shoo (Out Of Sight) 4:53

Kas Product - Ego Eye   (ogg  105mb)

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A collection of lost recordings by French mutant experimental synth group KaS Product, all originally recorded in the period 1980-83. Mainly recorded on tape, synth and drum machines, KaS Product's mixture of Spatsz' hypnotic, electronic and angular hard-edged beats, matched to the spiky vocals and guitar of Mona Soyoc, have led to comparisons with Suicide, Liliput/Kleenex, Cabaret Voltaire as well as to the group being forerunners of the cold wave/synth wave movement. The recordings here are taken from their early releases on the local Punk label from Nancy, France, at the start of the 1980s that were first put together on CD by the French Fan Club label in 1990. Compilation of 1980 EPs "Mind" (tracks 1,2,3,11) & "Play Loud" (tracks 4 to 6) + unreleased.



Kas Product - Black and Noir  (flac  187mb)
 
01 Mind 2:43
02 Black & Noir 1:49
03 Seven 3:52
04 Take Me Tonight 3:58
05 In Need 3:10
06 Malena 2:42
07 Crash 3:04
08 Mezzo 1:54
09 Electric 3:12
10 Party 2:28
11 Doctor Insane 0:25

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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great one Rho. Thanks so much!

Espírito da Floresta said...

Thank you so much for this incredible group, KAS Project. Muito obrigado !!!