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Erick Moncollin better known as ADN' Ckrystall is one of the true heroes of french early 80's avant-garde electronic music.
Erick's story is that of a multifaceted artist, a master of electronic music improvisation but also a designer and a painter. He got to forge his very own sound, words like "raw" or "vintage" are too weak to depict what we have here.
What's really obvious when you first listen to ADN' is that music made with machines has rarely felt so humanised, so alive! This might be due to the way he records, live without editing, using the same keyboards, grooveboxes and racks that he was using back in the days. Of course, he never felt the urge to update his sound to fit today's standard as such a unique approach makes every of his records completely timeless and out-of-competition although ADN is not the kind of man to rest on his laurels. He's like a sound chemist, constantly looking for a new substance. That's why, it's not just another ADN' Ckrystall Lp. It feels like an accomplishment, a very mature view on this man's lifelong research.
From synth-pop to ambient, Erick has explored every conceivable genres through several monikers but under as ADN' Ckrystall, his sound is quite distinctive, a kind of jazzy synth pop, we could even say expresionist as he always gets to set up very special atmospheres: Romantic or anti-romance, believe it or not. Depends how you interpret it, depends on your mood, on the weather. Anyway, with this Life 2 love, we meet Erick at his very best. Off-kiltered electronic pop with a slice of 2nd degree and absolutely no lightness.
These 5 tracks form a perfect fragile and dramatic spectacle. A perfect introduction to this forthcoming album as they capture Erick's wide array… It starts softly with "Classe", a wonderful harrowing song that could have been written both in 1981 or 2021. Heating/cooling all the way with it's hollow sounds drowning in a sea of perfect synth layers.. Rarely happiness has been so close and so far from us at the same time.
Life 2 love is likely of the same stature, as smooth and excruciating, a simple and straight statement about this life we have to love: live for today, not just survive.
Blues in space is one of these typical ADN automated instrumental tracks between krautrock and concrete music. No vocal deal here however that agility and subtlety is more present here than ever before bringing a brilliant time token from another galaxy.
Then, Union européenne unwinds softly in that same cosmic way, leading to an existential questioning in which anybody can relate. Do we really belong to anything, any group, any community, any ideal or is that just an illusion, a mask? Our man took the example of the european union situation which couldn't be more relevant these days.
Finally, Erick made a very special cover of the epic 7 minutes-long Ween song "Buenos tardes amigo" as only him can do.. He hasn't limited himself to replacing acoustic instruments by his superb synthesizer sounds. He brought the song to another dimension giving it's lyrics all their meaning and tragic intensity.. A pure ethereal electronic pleasure.