Solex Vs the Hitmeister

Solex | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 10, 1998)
• Original Release Date: March 10, 1998
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Matador Records
• ASIN: B00000649P
• Also Available in: Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #184,206 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars sometimes little risks pay off, August 8, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Solex Vs the Hitmeister (Audio CD)

i bought this largely out of curiosity - expecting a sort of quirky diversion but not much else. paydirt! if the story about the genesis of solex is true, then ms. esselink has created a more innovative and finely crafted album as a lark than most of the thousands of djs who devote themselves to cut-up tunesmithing full-time can cobble together in a single track. it's concomitantly hypnotic and organic, occasionally frantic, frequently fun, and always brilliant.

i'm not sure i get entertainment weekly's comparison to bjork. ms. esselink's voice isn't the strongest bit here. she coos and mutters insistently over strange frozen vignettes, but her voice never soars exactly. but her voice is perfect for her purposes. she repeats herself like a teletubby in a padded cell as she relates and obsesses over mundane anecdotes and suggestions of subtext. don't try to follow her with the lyric sheet! she'll drive you nuts as she circles back around to the beginning a couple times before working her way slowly to the end of the "story". just ride with her as she skitters off the track and back on again.

and the music matches her issues; she's thickly layered and warped the disparate samples over meaty beats and swarms of chiming percussion until it's appropriately claustrophobic, paranoid, and neurotic but never hostile. what a great way to slowly lose your mind!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Solex is the hitmeister in disguise, January 3, 2000

By 

ptitchitza (Leiden, Netherlands) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Solex Vs the Hitmeister (Audio CD)

Snappy collection of cute pop miniatures, like sketches of a day in life of Solex. And just as I'd think one of them is perhaps a liiitle bit too "sweet" some new interesting detail brings the balance back, be it a less-than-ordinary beat or passage. Somewhat reminiscent of a crossover between Portishead and Bjork, with singing having a kind of "girlie-freshness" (pardon my English, folks) comparable to Kate Pierson of the B-52's. If qualities of "Solex vs. the Hitmeister" were a prevailing standard for the songs they play on most of the FM radio stations in my area, I wouldn't have to hit that frequency button on the radio so often.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Great Little Hard-To-Define Album Thingy, March 24, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (Hempstead, New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Solex Vs the Hitmeister (Audio CD)

This album is FUN - that's the first word that comes to mind. Snappy little beats, clever lyrics, and a rollicking little sample-laden sound that never stops to take a breath. It actually sounds like Solex had fun making it... a minor miracle in itself. (Most musical artists these days sound so world-weary that you wonder why they get out of bed in the morning.) If you can appreciate a bizarre little slice of life from a clever gal who owns a used record store, check it out.

P.S. I wrote Ms. Esselink, who "is" Solex, and she wrote back, politely and charmingly. A musician who answers fan mail - who would of thunk it?