Customer Reviews

Hotel Costes, Vol. 7: Sept

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I agree with Larry - I think the Costes series had been in a bit of a slump over the past couple years. Volumes 5 and 6 just didn't get me and volume four was okay but... "I Have a Cat"? Hmm. Still, I respect that there are many people out there that feel that 5 and 6 may have been the bee's knees and that's the beauty of the series - the diversity and experimentation of some of the most cutting edge tracks in the trendy French music scene. For those that may be new, Hotel Costes spans 7 volumes, 8 if you include Stephane Pompougnac's own release "Living on the Edge", and they're on the Wagram label - the same label that gives you "St. Germain Des Pres Cafe", "Paris Lounge/London Lounge/Berlin Lounge" etc., "Buddha Bar" and several others.

But to me, this one was likea return of form. From the great opening trak, a remix to "Lavish", you get a good musical vibe. Sure, there's a bit of house in this one like the others but the feel of the cd is different, a bit sexier, more experimental and diverse! Fort Knox Five's "The BRazilian Hipster" gives you a funk feel, Bobby Hughes Combo has that jazz feel in "Clive the Runner and Club Des Belugas have a good party cut with the remix to "Hip Hip Chin Chin" that was pretty popular this summer. Mo Horizon's "So Ma Guisee", my favorite track on their New Bohemian Freedom cd, was an excellent inclusion to this compilation. Great guitar, great singing, just a song. And there are other tracks here that were fantastic - I especially dug Claude Monnet's cut too. For the life of me I cannot recall the classic Musica Popular Brasil track that they sampled for Takumi Kato's "Tone"... at the tip of my tongue and at home. But I do know you can hear the original on "Bossa Nova & Samba" done by the Gold Compilation series.

I Definitely recommend this! It is one of my favorite of the Costes series and represents a good evolution of the musical styles displayed in the earlier releases and the last two. There's something for everyone (I hope!). It isn't without fault though... I prefer Audiopharm's Brazilectro 6 as it was a bit ahead of Costes 7 and Costes 7 had some of the tracks from that cd on this one. And while I dig Thievery Corporation's "Heaven's Gonna Burn Your Eyes", it too has featured quite often on other compilations, same with Schema's Paolo Fedreghini and his cut "Please Don't Leave". Meanwhile there were some cuts I did NOT fall for, like Rodney Hunter's "Work That Body" and the remake to the old Simon & Garfunkle "Sound of Silence" was a bit of a head-scratcher. But the feel of the CD is great and it's a great return to form. Check it out! And if you dig it, check the other Wagram releases but be very careful of overlapping the songs.

Almost skipped this one. Got #3 first; was so good that I got #2--loved it. So I got #1: Excellent. #4-kinda weak, but figured they can't ALL be gems. #5 and #6 so uninteresting that I almost didn't get #7. But I'm glad I did. THIS IS A GREAT DISK. Not a bad song in the bunch. GREAT GREAT GREAT.

Every six weeks, trudge thru Heathrow and check the HMV looking for a aural upper and finally on the last trip thru - Hotel Costes #7 Beautifully packaged and well thought out, can this man do no wrong? Climbing thru 10,000m with numero sept glowing in my headset, I can say the definitive answer is "Not yet"
Smoother transitions, less juxtapositions, phat beats and lush arrangements. This is not musical 'wallpaper'. People's heads will turn, lost in mid-conversation they will later ask about it. Tell them!
Like trying to disect a great meal, one can't really single out tracks. The mix is a journey. You either enjoy the ride or you don't. It's been seven rich and varied trips so far and each one keeps getting better. To those of you, like me, who've given up on music since The Jam ceased, the Costes series has lead to further explorations of many more artists. Artists invisable in realm of 'popular music' Extremly satisfying in their own right, the Hotel Costes series is also a wonderful portal for further musical exploration.
Accessable to the neophyte, satisfying for the connoiseur, a portal to re-indulge your love of music. Grab it!

I've been listening to the Costes collection for a couple of years now! I simply love them all (except for the latest Costes #8 which I think is quite a disappointment)!

Every album in this series (before Costes 8) has it's own magic. There are some which are better than others, but as a whole they are all great albums, filled with really cool, sensual music in an amazing variety of styles!

I've just bought Hotel Costes 7 and it turned out to be another great album from this series! A fantastic collection of music in the same great tradition of previous Costes releases!

If I were to rate the Hotel Costes series starting with my favourite one, it would be something like this:

1.-"quatre" (the 4th)
2.-"la suite" (the 2nd)
3.-"sept" (the 7th)
4.-"5" (the 5th)
5.-"6" (the 6th)
6.-"etage 3" (the 3rd)
7.-"Costes" (the 1st)
8.-"8" (the 8th) ...a very distant 8th place...

I have been a fan of the Costes series for quite some time now...Monseiur Pompougnac has introduced me to a wealth of new artists like Boozoo Bajou, 45 Dip, Slow Train, Physics, I:Cube, Thunderball and Hacienda only to name a few. He's also expended my bank account beyond belief! Hey, when I hear good music, I buy, what can I say? At any rate, I have anxiously been waiting for the next volume of the Hotel Costes series, and here it is! Continuing along the lines of what's to be expected from this illustrious series, Costes still brings a bevy of lounge/dance/world grooves sure to appeal to all, if not a few of you! As with every Costes CD, Pompougnac has selected some Mmoderately danceable tracks like "Lavish", "The Brazillian Hipster", "Work It Out", "Don't Stop" and "Tone 10"...to lukewarm-but-decent tracks like "Sunday Driver", "So Ma Guisee" and "Please Don't Leave"...to "Why-the-hell-did-he-put-that-crap-on-here?" tracks like "Hip Hip Chin Chin", "Palumbo", "Sounds of Silence", "Je Suis Venu Te Dire Que Je M'en Vais" and "Heaven's Gonna Burn Your Eyes". All in all, though, after a few listens even the bland tracks grow on you in a crazy way. Pompougnac is famous for mixing up various genres of music, which makes for a very interesting and entertaining listen. I mean who wants to hear the same stuff on every Hotel Costes release, right? So fans of this series, please give Hotel Costes 7 a chance before you begin rating it with 1-3 stars. True, it's not Hotel Costes 1-4, and SP's mixing this go round is a bit sub-par, but this is still typical Hotel Costes, and that ain't a bad thang! Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go check out this Rodney Hunter dude!

Hotel Costes 1 and 2 where the best presentation gifted DJ Poumpougnac could offer, 3 was different, more dance floor remixes, but then 4, 5 and 6 where probably an exploration of the unknown which, frankly, didn't reach the standards. Now, with Sept, he definitely reached his past, and has presented a varied, risky but amazing collection of songs that only he could offer. He has been in my home city recently (Madrid, Spain), and offered quite a horrible concert, but Sept is amazing. Rodney Hunters is probably one of the best tracks of all his collection, danceable but complex and non-tireable, track 7 is one of the best "batucadas" I've ever heard, and track 10 is an incredible sticky track you think you'0ve heard many times before. The rest, well fill in tracks, different, high quality down and high tempo that will keep you listening over and over again. The only fault, the mix between the songs is not too good, as it was in Hotel Costes 3.

I hesitated in buying Costes 7 after reading so many bad reviews about it. The samples on Amazon weren't convincing either. Finally, I decided to get it last week because I received an online giftcard. I got it today and the album sounded a lot better than I expected! The soul of the Costes series is still here. Remember that Costes was never the same type of music, it was a mixture of genre and various artists. Over the years it has evolved from Hotel Costes to Costes Sept, and Mr. Pompougnac's choices must have evolved, too. I personally do not enjoy every single track, even though the full remix of "The Sound of Silence" gave me a better impression this time than the Amazon sample, it is still not my type. But if you just insert it into your car's CD player, only the beautiful vibes and the exquisite beats plus the wicked rhythms would matter.

Ok... one thing i have to admit. This volume (maybe in conjunction with vol 6.) are not as catchy at their first listening. After the third time of listening the cd is when i really started getting into it. That might be the only magic spell lacking in these last volumes. Vol. 1 thru 5 are hypnotizing from the very first time you hear them. But that does not mean you should discard this compilation, because at the end, it is just another display of Pompougnac's masterpieces. What really attracts me of the Hotel Costes Collection is that all cds are totally different, even though they are all under the House Music kingdom. It's a trait that you don't happen to see in other djs, whose cds are monotonous among each other. This last volume has some great tracks like the opening 'Lavish', to 'clive the runner', 'hip hip, chin chin' and 'please don't leave'. But like i always say, the cd is better appreciated as a whole and not by its components. Any tracks i could have lived without? Probably 'work that body' (long and boooring), and 's.o.s' (cute song, but totally out of context)
But still, a great a cd! Keep it up Stephane!!!

The Hotel Costes series has a favorable element to its compilations when compared to the other biggies such as Cafe Del Mar. The sets are mixed. Anyone can compiled an album together, but mixing the tracks adds several layers of complexity to the compilation.
Volume 7 of Hotel Costes features well above average track selection, but the mixing is pretty dire. A lot of this has to do with the track layout. There are just too many examples throughout the album where transitioning flanking tracks sound out of place. This is my only gripe with the album. Otherwise a nice downtempo album that is much better than most out there.

4/5 stars.

This a good continouation of the previous albums from Hotel Costes. Songs like Lavish by Mark Rea, Heaven's Gonna Burn Your Eyes by Thievery Corporation Feat. Emiliana Torrini gave the cd the smooth lounge feeling and hits like Hip Hip Chin Chin (Yaziko Club Mix) by Club Des Belugas and Palumba by Watch TV is a good up beat to the overall cd. I gave it 4 stars as I found some tunes Clive the Runner and So Ma Guisee was not really to my liking.
I would recommend it to all Costes lovers.
Enjoy!