Pleasure & Romance

Xlover | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 8, 2005)
• Original Release Date: 2005
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Gigolo
• ASIN: B0007XTOMA
• Also Available in: Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #471,936 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Lovesucker

2. Sex Rebel

3. Machine

4. So Blue

5. Faking It

6. Strip Down

7. U

8. In Love

9. Sex Or Head

10. Lady Lover

11. Voodoo U

12. Darling Nikki

13. Bonus Track 1

Editorial Reviews

WICKED ATRIST ALBUM Fresh new offering from the xlover camp. Features guest tunes from the likes of princess superstar & also felix da housecat

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars wow, May 17, 2005

By 

Nikki Jackson (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Pleasure & Romance (Audio CD)

so i've been waiting for this release, ever since i heard xlover's remix of Blondie
not sure what to expect, this album really blew me away. it's got the perverse funk of early prince with some hard edge production quality of someone like nine inch nails.
there is even a cover of prince's 'darling nikki' with a guest vocal from Princess Superstar no less! this is worth the price of admission alone.
i was expecting a synth pop record, and was surprised by the depth of the songs. overall, the minimal, tough production really sets xlover apart from all the other bands flirting with pop music and dance music. this is really modern dance/pop music,
for fans who long for something bold and daring, yet accessible. nice packaging too.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars it's dirty, it's minimal, it's wonderful, January 30, 2006

By 

M. Absher "the world famous Tuesday" (Loudoun County, VA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Pleasure & Romance (Audio CD)

Xlover is amazing. that's all i can say. i bought this CD on a whim, cause there was a sticker that said "featuring Felix da Housecat and Princess Superstar!" i like Felix, and i like the Princess, so i bought it. this cd is really nothing like either of them though. Felix has that distinct 80's eurotrash vibe, and Princess Superstar is most defintely rap (although, My Machine, is another really good electro CD). this is dark moody minimal electro, but don't get me wrong, it's still completely danceable. don't be suprised if you bob your head and don't even realise it. it's very sexually charged, even if it's not in the lyrics. the best way i could describe it would be... fixing your lipstick in your rear-view mirror during a high-speed police chase (Faking It), letting heartbreak fester into anger (So Blue), bumping into someone so gorgeous and conceited, it makes you hate them (In Love), rolling around with princess superstar on satin sheets, while prince watches from the key hole (Darlin' Nikki). i know i've probably confused all of you, but if you're into Electro at all, in any way. you NEED this CD. i'd say it's my pick for Best Electro of 2005, if not Best CD of 2005. and FischerSpooner said Electro died in 2003. psh.

5.0 out of 5 stars I Want to Fake It - With You, August 12, 2007

By 

TastyBabySyndrome "Matthew Lewis, author of M... ("Daddy Dagon's Daycare" - Proud Sponsor of the Little Tendril Baseball Team, USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Pleasure & Romance (Audio CD)

When I first looked into Raymond Watts and his new proliferation of bands listed under the label "Sick City," I was amazed by the talent he had managed to amass in such a short timeframe. First he was working with Sow, the longtime partner of Pig and good friend to those with an ear for French oddity, and then there was his work with Hellbent and Haloblack. Hellbent was a great listen, too; when you listen to their sounds you find yourself moving all over the audio board, going from "here" to "there" in the electro-pings of sensation that only got better with experience. And Haloblack was even better, lodging itself in my discman for a month because I couldn't put it down. This led me to wait for something new to come out and to the point of writing all these bands down (that, and to introduce you to other bands that also go under the same label), and when it finally did it came in a little wrapper called Pleasure and Romance.
I've been listening to it off and on for the last two years since then, happily noting the album's content and just how good some type of dance music can get.

Xlover is one of those bands that should have been given a lot of exposure but somehow managed to slip through the rungs undetected. They had some success overseas, sure, and their sultry sounds seemed like they would translate into at least a modicum of success in the US market. Still, the market in the US is unpredictable for any type of foreign band and, thusfar, getting noticed seems to be something that is elusive for Xlover.
That's a shame, too, because Xover has a lot of things going for them and most consumers of dancefloor, electronica, EBM, and even a little industrial might find something for them here. They have some sexy sounds, some kinky material, and a beat that makes you want to move when you want to hear it - and a voice that seems to seethe with passion. My personal favorite of all their songs has to be the song "faking it," where our beautifully-vocal female chastises her partner because she has to "fake it when she's with (you)." The songs are sometimes explicit, too, talking about places on the body, places on the map, and places where I was entertained to hear a vocalist going.
You hear stuff like this in male vocals from time to time but, from a female, you hear people chastised and they oftentimes back down.
Not from Xlover, however. Not by a long shot.

Many of the songs have a 1980s kinda feel when you listen to them, and most of them have a dancefloor presence that you generally find in a lot of overseas talent. The instrumentation isn't overly complicated either, but the oddity of the adventure and the complexity of the feminine domination in each track really makes up for that. Anyone familiar with Raymond Watts, hedonism extraordinaire, could say that Xlover is the sexual counterpart to Pig.
I personally love that and recommend it strongly.