Vitesse
- A
Certain Hostility
Vitesse
Hewson Chen-Keyboards,
Guitars, Programming, Vocals
Josh Klein-some Keyboards, some Programming, a little Bass
A Certain Hostility
"Formed" in the most
casual sense, Hewson Chen and Josh Klein got together in
a University of Chicago dorm room in 1997 after Hewson helped
Josh record something for their Intro to Music Composition
class. Influenced by electronic music, art punk, and not-cool-enough-to-name-drop
artists, Vitesse recorded A Certain Hostility at home over
the course of 1 ½ days in late 1998. To the duo’s
surprise, Parasol Records asked to release A Certain Hostility
on the Hidden Agenda imprint, after receiving an early unmixed
version of the album. Featuring Magnetic Fields-like synth
wavery and drum machine clatter, Vitesse’s songs, with
titles like "The Stars Don’t Shine As Bright As
Streetlights," reflect the morose machinations of the
Joy Division set. Somehow the band’s unlikely cover
of Cheap Trick’s "Southern Girls," contains
just the right amount of sonic mystery.
Though
Josh played drums for Toulouse and has appeared on both of
Aden’s full-length CDs,
Hewson’s musical past is unknown. To complicate further,
Hewson currently lives in Nashville where he attends Vanderbilt
University’s Law School. Josh is settled in Chicago
where he writes extensively for the entertainment section
of a very funny weekly paper. Don’t expect any live
dates soon.
Note: Vitesse is 100% irony free.
PRESS
Bedroom music in its truest sense,
Vitesse is a Chicago duo formed by two UIC music students,
Hewson Chen and Joshua Klein. The sound is a cool, cozy,
lo-fi mix of strummy guitars and moody synth lines and drum
machines. The bio mentions Magnetic Fields but there is also
a little Ultra Vivd Scene in there as well. A Certain Hostility
is a nice documentation of a period in time when the duo
were collaborating, especially considering that Vitesse won't
be playing live anytime soon since Hewson is at Vanderbilt
attending law school and Kein lives in Chicago and is an
editor for The Onion.
- The Milk
Soft, synthetic pop that will
definitely appeal to fans of the Magnetic Fields. Features
Joshua Klein of Aden, so there's a bit of that tossed in
as well.
- Ink Nineteen
To
newest wave revival typified by The Rentals and Chicago's
own Pulsars and Aluminum Group,
add Vitesse, a subtle synth-pop duo formed by UIC alums Hewson
Chen and Joshua Klein (the former Aden and Toulouse drummer
who now writes for The Onion). If they harbor A Certain Hostility,
they keep a tight lid on it, as evidenced by Chan's detached
vocals and the songs' mechanical progression, both of which
owe no small debt to late period Magnetic Fields. Vitesse
supply the bare minimum of hooks and emotion to imply an
invitation, yet the album, home recorded in just a day and
a half - is strangely welcoming. The somnambulent cover of
Cheap Trick's "Southern Girls" would seem to contradict
the clam that Vitesse is "100% irony free." Wait,
let me guess: you "are not programmed for this thing
called 'irony."
- Illinois Entertainer
By far the best synthpop record
of the year, easily a successor to last year's masterful
You Are Obselete by House of Wires. Vitesse do not take the
traditional approach to electronic music. Rather than a bass-heavy
sound that relies on factory presets, they have a sound that
is more trebly and almost acoustic (although I can't for
the life of me think what sort of instrument would produce
these sorts of sounds in real life). The result is a sparse
but rich sound with warm doule-tracked vocals stacked on
top.
Although the music is obviously machine made, don't put the
album on at your next party unless you want to clear the
dance floor. Vitesse are not about
the rhythm, but more about the emotion. Is this Emo-core? I have no idea, does
that even exist? Vitesse create emotion, that's for sure, but this is not droning
music that puts one to sleep. Instead they create interesting, intertwining
rhythms with the music. Drums are used (drum machines that is), but the rhythm
of the music comes from the way it weaves in and out of itself. Often as fine
and complex as some sort of spiderweb, the music occasionally seems to hardly
be there. The lyrics are often pretty much impossible to hear, but the song
titles hint at a clever sense of humor: "Stars Don't Shine as Bright as
Street Lights" or "Greener Than the Everglades." And they do
a cover of Cheap Trick's "Southern Girls" which, frighteningly enough,
fits seamlessly into the rest of the album.
The real kicker about all this is that, according to the legend of the press
release, the duo that is Vitesse, Hewson Chen and Joshua Klein, recorded the
album in one and a half days, almost as an afterthought, after they had collaborated
on another project. And now they have literally gone their separate ways, living
in different corners of the U.S. An absolutely brilliant album, full of textures
and feelings that would fuel the career of a lesser band. Highly recommended.
-Lexicon |
