v/a: The Flight of Everson K v/a: The Flight of Everson K Radio Khartoum is pleased to invite you to the premiere episode of 18 Frames Per Second, our series of imaginary soundtracks. The Flight of Everson K was originally conceived of as a thriller soundtrack. Swedish holidays turning to havoc on the bullet train from the Riviera to Odessa, via Tokyo. But in the end, this record has more to do with childhood Saturday afternoon outings to the cinema. Stumbling in on the middle of a movie, trying to guess what gone's before...and staying till the film repeats.
Master of globetrotting pop seduction, Sweden's elusive Chocolate Barry kicks off the affair with "Passion," a marvelous surf reincarnation of a track from his flexi single debut. Those seeking more of Barry's music are encouraged to track down his debut album, Cucumber Trees and Ice Cold Lemonade (issued by France's impeccable Mini Tenor label in 2001). Another exclusive track by Barry is featured on our own The Stations of Abandoned Days soundtrack.
Next up, "Barcode Warrior Twelve," a spy theme with an orchestral sweep for the year 2020 is brought to us by Bizarre, Estonia's veteran purveyors of fierce dreampop. We haven't heard as much as we would have liked from Bizarre in the years since Everson K, but Tallinn-based Kohvirecords did release a CD with an album's worth of remixes of another Bizarre track in 2000—good at least for sampling the Estonian independent scene.
Serge Gainsbourg and the Divine Comedy may battle for the soul of Cyrille Essiar, but his arrangements are all his own: dynamic, rich, and unusual. Ably assisted here on drums by Eugene Adell, multi instrumentalist Cyrille locks into a frenetic piano driven groove on "Tempo." Essiar's debut mini-album, Summer in Minsk, was released by RK in March 1999, garnering the Frenchman cult status in, of all places, Sweden.
Brought to our attention by Michaël of Watoo Watoo, we don't know very much about Didier Duclos, aka Christine. Other than the fact that this Parisian gentleman is quite good at writing songs in different styles. The track here, "Barry's Life," being a charmed lo-fi take on the thriller genre, while his contributions to later 18fps volumes were quite different again.
Sweden's Seashells turned out a couple of the snappiest jazz and jangle pa-pa-pa laden pop discs of the 1990's for labels Marsh Marigold and North of No South. The Erik Domellöf penned piece here, "A Nice Day to Kill," is the last original recording by the 'shells in some time. This track is a perfect example of what 18fps strives for. While being unmistakably Seashells, there is a twist: 60's spy stylings filtered through a quirky guitar waltz which may remind some of Broadcast. As of late 2001, a Japanese Seashells retrospective release is planned.
Instant Life is a project of Magnus Boman (Oven & Stove) and Thomas Öberg (Bob Hund). Anywhere between pop and experimentalism, Instant Life reanimate the spirit of early 80's art pop independence (This Heat, Five or Six, Club Tango and Pseudocode come to mind), but without an 80's sound. The trio has produced a series of instrumentals for 18fps, which pay homage to key moments in world cinema. "Ms. Raki" which provides an epilogue for Everson K, is pure noir...from the vantage point of Stockholm watching France watch America....
For further information about the artists or label, interviews, etc., please contact Radio Khartoum.