Real Life Is No Cool

Lindstrom & Christabelle (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (January 19, 2010)
• Original Release Date: 2010
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Smalltown Supersound
• ASIN: B002RX6UT8
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #169,861 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

2010 release from Norwegian Electronic pioneer Lindstrom, who teams up with vocalist Christabelle (AKA Solale) to create a Disco-Pop platter. Real Life Is No Cool is an edgy Pop album of structured chaos and hypnotic beats. Lindstrom provided the structure for Christabelle to let loose and improvise most of the lyrics on the spot while they jammed.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Looong life for the DISCO (funky-electro-soul) MUSIC, yeahhh move your legs and Let's Dance Forever..., March 16, 2010

By 

Rafael Cova "Kid X" (Caracas, Venezuela) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Real Life Is No Cool (Audio CD)

The formula of Lindstrøm's expansive sounds and Christabelle's icing-on-the-cake voice adds up to a genuinely good album, Real Life Is No Cool works like good ecstasy on a dancefloor.

Composed of free-floating tidbits of sounds, Real Life Is No Cool shows Lindstrøm's newest take on retro-futurism. While his former works are always rooted in some sort of genre, the tracks here seem to break free from any mold he has founded. Although this may seem like it would detract from any sense of accessibility on this album, Lindstrøm's latest work is chock full of pop sensibilities.

Lindstrøm mines a rich seam of old funk, soul and disco, taking these ingredients and producing a brand of retro-futurist, multi-layered stomp-fest all of his own. The floating passivity of Christabelle's seemingly improvised couplets bring a welcome level of humanity back to the field and uplifts by means of raw emotional connection, rather than one repeated-to-death motif.

This Scandinavian sound has been spearheaded by the likes of Prins Thomas and Morgan Geist, culminating in the runaway success of their take-over of the Big Chill's Club tent a couple of year ago. After releasing some storming 12"'s and becoming a sought-after remixer in his own right on Oslo's Smalltown Supersound compilations, Lindstrom himself first broke through to wider acclaim with his debut It's A Feedelity Affair. He finally followed this last year with the epic mini-album Where You Go I Go Too which refined and built upon his trademark atmospherics to beguiling effect, appearing in many critic's `Best Of 2009' lists. All of which has a certain bearing on the level of expectation around this full length collaboration with fellow Norwegian, Christabelle.

The real revelation here is Lindstrøm's newfound concision. An idea that's satisfied in three minutes has never been a goal in any of his music before; whatever the merits of Where You Go I Go Too, none of its three tracks could ever work as a single edit. But Real Life changes that, charting beats and manic drum passages in digestible bites. "Baby Don't Stop," whose Chromeo meets Kool & the Gang opening seems in questionable taste until the whole, surprisingly and thrillingly, familiarizes as a Michael Jackson tribute of the highest order, is pop in glaring pieces. And from those pieces (catchy bass riff, syncopated guitar lick, punchy horns) to the disco beat and disco words ("Can't stop / I can't get enough"), it's nothing less than a worthy reimagining of "Don't Stop `til You Get Enough," which makes it the album's standout track--not necessarily the best track, though there's an argument for that as well, but the one most at odds with all of Lindstrøm's output before.

It can be unsettling to witness the artist seemingly alienate himself from his defining music; I almost want to sigh with relief when a synthesizer briefly replaces a horn line, moving a track in a more comfortable disco direction. Or see other jarring moments: the 4/4 dance beat competing with slow guitar triplets on "Looking for What?; the backing track staggering along on "Lovesick" while Christabelle sounds physically ill; the tape-looped psychedelic noise assault of "Never Say Never." These deviations from the Lindstrøm norm, not to mention Christabelle's very presence, carry a novelty that can initially prevent any song from congealing properly, making the whole pop move a dead-end.

Only in time does Real Life is No Cool seem a logical step for Lindstrøm to have taken. "Let It Happen" moves to the ultra-smooth groove at the backbone of a thick synthetic haze--it's resonant but not frilly, punchy but not overwhelming. All the consistent, buzzing sonority makes the machine-gun drums echo forebodingly while a male voice adds some low-end opacity to an already deep soundscape; remove the vocals and you're looking at an uptempo outtake from Where You Go I Go Too. Real Life`s pacing especially anticipates the criticism that the record moves too far, too fast. Every time Lindstrøm leaves his comfort zone--or the listener's comfort zone in what the listener expects from him--he calmly but authoritatively leads us back into recognizable pastures. After starting the record with six minutes of controlled chaos, he mimics the mechanical, hyper-planned feel of his long-form suites when the beat snaps to attention on "Lovesick." Similarly, the rat-tat-tat drums on "Let It Happen" lead into "Keep It Up"'s treble synths and steady, driving repetition; the forceful horns on "Baby Can't Stop" give way to a largely formless "Let's Practise"; and the clamorous "Never Say Never" sets the stage for the drowsy closer "High & Low."

It's a long-form pattern evolving in patchwork, a big declarative departure, risky but assured, for a shamelessly poppy direction. These sensibilities may have been channeled into something less approachable in the past, or at least less practical, but his attention to detail and ear for melody were always there, waiting to be mined. Once the shock of the new dissipates, what's left is an impeccably assembled record worth indulging with the vigor that any of Lindstrøm's Christabelle-less work deserves.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Disco for the present, February 15, 2010

By 

Nse Ette (Lagos, Nigeria) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Real Life Is No Cool (Audio CD)

Lindstrøm & Christabelle is Norwegian Dance music producer Hans-Peter Lindstrøm together with vocalist Christabelle Sandoo (whom he told to improvise most of the vocals on the spot in the studio).

The result is Cerrone/Giorgio Moroder-inspired synth-heavy music. In fact, the fantastic trippy "Let's practice" reminds one not too subtly of Donna Summer's "I feel love", while the downbeat quivering falsetto-whispered "Music in my mind" wouldn't be out of place on any of Summer's 70's albums.

The songs have a rough, sketchy feel, especially songs like the bouncy "Looking for what", "Lovesick", "Let it happen", and the swirling stomping "So much fun", thanks largely to the spoken often senseless lyrics, but it all works.

Changing the feel somewhat is the Funky horn-peppered "Baby can't stop" (sounding like something from the 80's), and the disjointed-sounding sultry ballad "High & low" (with breathy vocals and a disjointed-sounding guitar solo).

Fractured, edgy and experimental, this is an album that should set dancefloors alight, as well as sound good in the car, or at home.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hallmark, January 3, 2010

By 

Human_Patch_Office "Obscervient" (Seattle) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Real Life Is No Cool (MP3 Download)

With respect to the artist, Lindstrøm has always been a sort of an extremely talented hit-or-miss artist to me. His really good songs are really, really good and then his okay songs are just, okay (or maybe I just havent developed a taste for them yet). I am delighted to say this album took me by complete supprise.

Lindstrøm really is at the top of his craft, and the vocals by Christabelle are just so beautiful, and strange, and charming, and any other synonyms of those words you can come up with. The tracks on this album are so danceable, glazed over with just enough sensuality to make it perfect for an evening sitting alone with somebody, even if that somebody is just you. I am shocked at how good this CD is and I would compare it in quality to that of say, the Present Lover by Luomo or At the Controls by MANDY. Just to keep from overhyping this CD to you, there is actually one track I dont like on this album, that being Baby Cant stop. And its hardly a bad song, really. This is some of the best 'Indie dance' (if its fair to label it that) in existence. This album really is as long as it needs to be and not a minute longer. Dont make the mistake of missing out on a night with this album. I have a feeling it will be worth your time and money for a very, very, very, very long time.

& If you've never heard Lindstrøm or Christabelle before, start here.