Alexkid – Mint

by David Gluzman

There is no question good dance music comes from France… …do ‘Daft Punk’ or, ‘St.Germain’ ring a bell? Well it’s been a hard time coming to find this latest gem of an album from ‘Alexkid’ (who you guessed it, is from France).

Mint is his second full fledged release following up his previous album “Bienvendia”. His first album can be credited in an episode of “Six Feet Under”, he has also produced the original music cast for the Jennifer Lopez advertisement for her perfume “Glow”. In all honesty I had never heard of ‘Alexkid’ prior to a suggestion from a fellow ‘downbeat’ fan. I’m sure glad I took his suggestion to check this out..

I’m not sure if I could consider this album downbeat or downtempo (whatever you want to call it), but it certainly is first-class. A mixture of electronic chilled beats with the occasional house beat. The track ‘Fleur Blue’ sounds like a mix of old school video game sounds, yet it suites the track just fine. Other standout tracks, come from the vocalist side of the album: ‘Turn it Round Again’, ‘Don’t Hide It’ and ‘Pick it Up’ are all 10 out of 10’s. The beauty of this album lies in the variety of the music that will aurally appeal to you; it’s almost like listening to a soundtrack to a movie.

The finest tracks on this CD come from the vocal assistances on several tracks: Philippe Rykiel, Ian James Whitelaw, Lissette Alea, Hanifah Walidah, amoungst other very talented guitarists, trumpeters and turn-tabilists. Seriously though, when you hit the vocal tracks (starting at Track 4 – Turn It Round Again), the album takes off. The vocals are absolutely spectacular.

There is no question in my mind that this is a must have album for 2003 if you like any sort of electronic music, heck even hip-hop enthusiasts could get into this. We’ve been extremely lucky to hear a resurgence of some incredible French talent. Pop it in drive and forget about it.

  • Alexkid – Mint
  • by David Gluzman
  • Published on November 1st, 2003
Artist:
Alexkid
Album:
Mint
Label:
F Communication
When:
September 23rd, 2003
Rating:
9.5 / 10

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