Customer Reviews

Loops From the Bergerie

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a fine album and something of a breakthrough for Swayzak. Messrs. Taylor and Brown have acquired formidable technical skills and have applied them impressively - but gracefully - to a body of songs with good, accessible melodic content. You're in no danger of hearing Loops on your local radio station because "accessible" in this case hardly means "commercial". But Swayzak joins Kruder & Dorfmeister, Andy Cato, Matthew Herbert and a small handful of musicians who, in my opinion, can produce an entire album of satisfying electronic music (i.e. music performed with electronic instruments).

In this album, Claire Deitrich and Mathilde Mallen provide first rate vocals. Richard Davis's vocals are a bit pinched at times - think The Cure or Depeche Mode - and at other times reverbed into more satisfying fullness. (I wish they would add a collaborator like Daniel August of Gus Gus...)

But Swazak has crossed a bridge with this release: you won't hear a rhythmic "etude" or a pile of loops without a melodic "home" on this one. There is a unity and maturity to Loops that I have felt was coming through Snowboarding, Himawari, Dancing and the others - but is emphatically here now. I can't wait for a new one.

Thank's god there still good music around!

I am an "old" fans of all good music and i am happy when i can listen still something that "go ahead in my brain and heart".

Swayzak (sorry...but they choose this teutonics name...)is a miracle in a thousand and thousand of electronic dance Cd of the last 10 years!

The average of others CD is 2,3 max 4 tracks good and the rest weak and boring.

Swayzak is not in this average! Loops from the Bergerie is a work between the dark side of the new wave (i am speaking Joy Division, Modern English etc) and the coming out from the post wave electronic dance (New Order...and friends).

If you want you can also dance with it, but buying this CD only for dancing is too reductive.

This Cd is for listen and listen (loud of course and with all the bass on!).

All song are ok, instrumental, with vocal and even with the female voice (Then There's her).

Keep it coming and Another Way are very "old style electronic disco" and probabily are my favourites, but also Speakeasy is a special ones.

Buy it and don't loose your time in reading my review!

This cd is great.

love the concept of this album, which is more song oriented than track oriented. And the vocals make so mcuh more accessible . These guys have been on and off for me. I liked some of their previous stuff so I gave this cd a go.

IMO this is one of the best electronica/dance albums of this year... probably top 10 or at least top 15.

The tracks are dubby and kind of chilled out but they have a really good techy groove going on. IMO this band sounds very sophisticated nothing cliche ...just really good music when they are on.

And there is a lot of good tracks, my fav are:

Keep it coming

Another way

Bergerie

Jeune Loup

Snow Blind

Then there is here

and Speakeasy

are my favourite track for sure.

the rest just doesn't do it for me.

Anyways, if you like chilled/dubby/electro techno with good vocals. Get this cd.

Great songs.. because that is what they are. The speakeasy track is great too with the rock and roll rifts and the whistling in the background.

I've been following Swayzak for years now but sort of fell out of loop with them for awhile. SO, when I decided to buy this album, it was with the knowledge that I was not quite sure what I was going to get. Well I am really freaking glad I did.

This album is so awesome, it's hard to describe. It's greatness is mesmerizing. Not to overstate it, but it is the best album I've heard in two years. If you enjoy a sort of soft-techo dubbed out bliss that nods towards the 80s, go buy this right now. If not, buy it anyway!! You truly will not be sorry.

2 1/2

Mildly impressive set of dance tracks rarely step outside of their methodical pulse pounding ways to show the talent that does make this outfit better then just another DJ. Though the majority are vocal laden, catchy numbers, intercut with a few more eclectic tracks, the album hardly rises above it's head bobbing notions to glue any melodies too the picture. When they are not busy ripping off artists like Depeche Mode (Keep It Coming) or sounding like a second rate Junior Boys, Swayzak moves along enough to merit a listen, but hardly.

UK duo Swayzak is good at what they do, producing some very clean and palatable dub, micro-house and techno dashed with a bit of electro-synth. On "Loops From the Bergerie", their atmospheric sounds are augmented with 80ish vocals from Richard Davis and David Brown co-member of Swayzak, giving songs like "Keep It Coming", "Another Way", "My House" and "Snowblind" an organic-David Bowie-an quality. Many may think that the vocals are unneccessary, but compared to the "dirty" vocals on "Dirty Dancing", these are a bit more aurally appealing. This clearly is not Swayzak's best material compared to "Snowboarding in Argentina" and "Himawari", but it still showcases some very fine production work from yet another outstanding duo from the ol' UK.

I'm a diehard swayzak fan. I own all of their releases (including the little known but awesome collaboration THX: Experiments in Synchronicity). I've even seen them live twice. However, with their latest offering I've never been more disappointed.

Loops From the Bergerie plays like leftover tracks from Dirty Dancing, swayzak's brilliant tongue-in-cheek ode to the 80s. It completely falls flat and feels totally uninspired. It's hard to believe these are the same guys responsible for the amazing 4-on-the-floor wizardry of Snowboarding in Argentina or butt shaking tracks like State of Grace or Caught In This Affair.

Some tracks are pretty good. I love Another Way, Jeune Loop and 8080 but the rest are just lackluster. Claire Deitrich makes another appearance trying to rehash the brilliance of Dirty Dancing's Make Up Your Mind with Then There's Her. She explores the same themes but god is that song just plain awful and a complete waste of her talent.

Overall, Loops From The Bergerie is a complete waste of swayzak's talent. I only hope their next full length redeems themselves from this huge disappointing mess.