This 23-year reissue of No Type founder David Turgeon’s debut digital EP under the name Camp is the perfect occasion to ponder an alternate reality where the maligned glitch genre really gets to live up to its name.
The product of a time when “glitch” and “clicks ’n’ cuts” represented the epitome of avant-garde coolness, Camp’s music turned out to be its own contrarian beast, as Turgeon used glitch to channel his own romantic, politically-aware world view into dense, strangely groovy tracks, shaking from the unstable chemistry of loving intimacy. Féministe throws away the masculine grid of glitch-house with a mixture of ragged sub-bass, unhinged stereo panning and proto-ASMR tingles. Frequent collaborator Kaia Wong (Asyncdrone, Mixel Pixel) also adds her own, unforgettable vocal turn on “Soundwalk” atop a torrent of grinding bass. The glitch in Féministe is not just a cool sample to pepper onto a slick techno production. It is in the fabric itself.
And indeed, despite a few more EPs in the same vein (Mobile, Numérique, Wear…), Camp’s unruly experiments remained a road not taken, while glitch paradoxically turned into a digital-optimistic genre, often maligned for its unflinching adherence to a strict recipe. Meanwhile, 23 years later, Féministe’s 6 tracks don’t really show their age, which is in no small part due to acclaimed composer & engineer Stephan Mathieu’s light & assertive remastering.
(About that title? Here’s what Turgeon says about it: “I would like to think it’s not just performative allyship—but I won’t delude myself. If I were to release a new album with such a title in 2023, I guess that would be kind of cringe. When this EP was originally released, feminism as a concept had faded away from the mainstream discourse. I’m glad it’s back. The truth is, I always considered the original EP to be toying with the idea of a makeshift community trying to deconstruct & resolve some of its biases. Maybe it’s a kind of naive roleplaying?”)
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review by jon vaughn on
archive.org (2004):
Yes, this No Type release is one of it's most important contributions to the field of electronic groove music. It is really like no other minimal techno that is out there - only comparable to Camp's other two masterpieces of the same/similar era on Fallt and Groovylabs.
There is something eerily heartfelt and timeless to the melodies and beats put forth in this work - yet they can be easily recognized as a response to both early minimal techno & house (berlin's chain reaction & cologne's kompakt) and unstable-ungenre of clicks 'n' cuts. Thankfully, Camp does not dwell on enforcing the glitch aesthetic and is most interested in haunting your consciousness with fragments of music and media set into an ever-gradually-changing patterns of Minimalist groove - but DARK groove - this shit is freaky! There is a highly unique (& perhaps 'outsider' or 'bruitist') 'Camp'-style & song pattern that I never heard anywhere else. The basslines are SOOOO deep & sick they might induce vomiting at high enough volumes! (& powerful enough SUBS;)Most of the bass drums also have an equally sick treatment - sometimes sharp, high and reminiscent of the 'trance'-style pingy-hard & high bass drums (but don't think this music is "trance" - no way! althoug it is VERY HYPNOTIC) or they are delayed and panning! (breaking the law! breaking the law!)
For many, the stand-out track is the 'anthem'(!!!), "Soundwalk" featuring the vocals of K. Wong ... "you said ...you're tired...can't decide...i threw them...in the ocean" (or something like that) ... this freaks me out - I shiver as I dance..get goosebumps...together it produces a profound eroticism...worthy of late night club moments & underground sketchy basement parties with lots of smoke machines and strobes...(and all that other stuff;)
So, select "CAMP" for your next party!
& at the very least - DOWNLOAD THIS! & get it pumpin' at your next house party or when you're cruising down the boulevard or makin' experimental-freaky-love!!!
jnvn
