Vitesse - Chelsea 27099

Artist: Vitesse Title: Chelsea 27099 Catalog#: AHA!014 Price: $10.00	Tracks on this CD:
	When Nothing's Changed
	Brighter Than The Sky
	Philosophy Or Forgetfulness
	These Long Centuries
	The Footpath
	Wicks & Fuses
	Good Fortune
	A Kiss, An Interrogation
	Everything's Amiss
	A Telegram, The Telegraph
	Stolz Darauf
	Swinging Bachelor Pad

Hewson Chen-Vocals, Instruments
Joshua Klein-Instruments

Hidden Agenda is proud to announce Vitesse’s second full-length album, Chelsea 27099, a collection of twelve sensual and sparkling synth-pop majesties. Songs drawn through a downpour of heavily layered analogue keyboard fortitude, chiming guitar filigrees and spacey feedback sirens, delicately programmed retro rhythms, and a Stephin Merritt-inspired lyrical and vocal nonchalance… A sound so intimate and personal it’s been deemed “acoustic music powered by electricity” and “pop music through a soft lens”. Vitesse is all about classic Factory Records’ heyday and Shinkansen’s current phoenix-like ascension, serious and seductive music for fans of The Magnetic Fields, The Trembling Blue Stars and Northern Picture Library, New Order and Joy Division, Orchestral Maneuvers in The Dark and The Pet Shop Boys… “Formed” in the most casual sense, Vitesse got together in a University of Chicago dorm in 1997 after Hewson helped Josh record a bit for their Intro to Music Composition class. Influenced by electronica, art punk, and no-name-to-name-drop artists, Vitesse recorded their debut A Certain Hostility for Hidden Agenda over the course of 1 ½ days in late 1998. Featuring Magnetic Fields-like synth-wavery and delicately programmed rhythms, the songs, with titles like “The Stars Don’t Shine As Bright As Streetlights,” reflected the morose machinations of the Joy Division sect, and somehow the inclusion of the band’s unlikely cover of Cheap Trick’s “Southern Girls,” contained just the right amount of sonic mystery… 100% irony free.

Though Josh played drums for Toulouse and has appeared on Aden’s ‘Self-titled (White Cow)’ and ‘Black Cow’ albums (and on Aden’s latest ‘Hey 19’ there’s a track called “All’s Fine At the House Of Klein”, an ode to Josh’s flat-swamping CD collection), mastermind Hewson’s musical past is unknown. No live dates expected.

"As much as the quote on the CD’s front sticker states that these guys sound like Magnetic Fields-which they do-the overall impact is brighter because the singer doesn’t wallow around and lacks the annoying baritone of Mr. Merritt. So what ya get is a cooler sounding New Order/OMD homage that makes sense. 12 songs that should be the blueprint for lo-fi indie folks who want to give early ‘80s synth pop a new twist." -Yeah Yeah Yeah

"It’s 1985, the disco ball is twirling from the ceiling and the shoulder pad sporting crowd is spinning in a sea of New Order and The Psychedelic Furs. This is where Vitesse comes in. The lead singer’s got a Morrissey-sounding soulful British voice, and the music surrounding him reverberates with chiming, synthesized keyboards and delicate drum loops. New wave was the best thing to come out of the Reagan era, and Vitesse breathes life into a genre dead since Anthony Michael Hall’s body got ripped. Restoring the melancholy techno music from 15 years ago, Chelsea 27099 is better than anything The Cure has put out in the past five years." -Paige Wolf Rockpile

"Vitesse and House of Wires occupy that often overlooked corner of “synthpop” where atmosphere and feeling is often more important than dance floor readiness or top 40-ness. The result are albums that initially seem difficult, but ultimately do open themselves up to the listener like some reluctant jungle orchid. With Chelsea 27099’s opening track “When Nothing’s Changed” finds the band in a more new wave mood, with “real” drums and guitars. But by the second track, they are back, with the sparkling keyboards and off key/ off tempo vocals that still manage to work. Look, let’s be honest here, if your idea of difficult music is and Iris remix, then this will not suit you. A song like “These Long Centuries” sounds more at home in the Joy Division era than today. But if you have an ear for the different and mellow, give these guys a shot. Not as immediate as their first album, but still good." -Lexicon

"A swath through time, back to the soft focus synth pop of early ‘80’s Factory Records-style OMD and Pet Shop Boys, has been cut not by a resurgence in popularity of those groups, but by a one-man songwriting army named Stephin Merritt. It’s clear the Vitesse duo of singer Hewson Chen and Joshua Klein have followed Merritt’s work as Magnetic Fields, but especially the synth pop obsessions of his Future Bible Heroes and 6ths projects, bringing a similar vocal ennui and plinking melodic sense to Chelsea 27099. While Vitesse lacks the lyrical deftness of Merritt’s preposterous wordplay, it’s too harsh to measure them against his mastery; the passionate efforts of their composition out shine Merritt’s sometimes dismissively ironic attitude towards music. These soothing synth tones are signalling another leap in the New Romantic revival." -James Keast Exclaim

"Excellent follow-up disc from one of the better synth-pop bands this side of the Magnetic Fields. I can hear a bunch of influences, but I would say this was on part Northern Picture Library, a couple parts Joy Division/early New Order, and about 100 parts Magnetic Fields. Not to say that’s a bad thing! The music is similar to that of “Holiday” and the vocals have the same sort of upbeat lifelessness to them. Very morose and intimate sounding. Not always instantly catching, but this is quickly growing on me!" -indiepages.com