Friday, September 26, 2008

Friday Floorfillers: Brian Eno & David Byrne, 'The Jezebel Spirit'


Brian Eno is not a name that immediately comes to mind when you think of clammy dance floor anthems. But his work with David Byrne both in the role of producer or in collaborative work like this, have led Eno to abandon his natural inclination towards the calm while losing none of the alien otherworldly nature of his best work.

While the twosome look more like they should be doing your accounts, they manage to breed a frankly out of control funk beast, appearing like two crazed children with a cheap chemistry set pouring ingredients into the test tube without fear of the cataclysmic results.The track is built around an arrresting vocal sample of an unidentified exorcist going about his work with spiritual fervour bolted to vast layers of african drumming which underpin, making this a downright feverish experience.

The percussion sounds less like any conventional instrument and more like the contents of your pots and pans drawer being emptied onto the floor by some giant earthquake and promptly rattling down the street in a random manner with a preposterously groovey bassline sounding more like some kind of cosmic rubber-band being plucked by the gods themselves. Massively influential DJ Larry Levan saw the future and installed the track as a peak set mainstay, recognising the equal parts of raw genius and art school daftness that make the track a true original.

Where to find: My Life in the Bush of Ghosts (1981)

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