That Will Be Lunch - The Mixtape of Things

  by John Clarkson

published: 21 / 7 / 2016

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Review

One is reminded when listening to Alvin Spetz and That Will Be Lunch of the classic Morecambe and Wise sketch in which Eric Morecambe grabs conductor Andre Previn by the lapels of his jacket, pulls him up close and tells him, “I’m playing all the right notes…but not necessarily in the right order.” As he did with his previous project Full English Breakfast with whom he recorded two albums, electronic musician Spetz is clearly taking an impish joy on his new album, ‘The Mixtape of Things’, in throwing things which shouldn’t really gel together into a musical melting point and seeing what sticks. There is perhaps inevitably for music as experimental and eccentric as this the odd jarring moment. Opening track ‘Train Home’, for example, packs too much into its forty second running time – a whirring techno beat, a nursery rhyme tune and a vocal sung through a vocoder about saving a tenner on the journey home – to make much sense and merely comes across as flippant. Unlike Eric Morecambe whose total ineptitude as a pianist has led Previn to remonstrate with him, Spetz, however, normally gets its right, his mischievous humour, cut and pasting techniques and musical dexterity making an appealing combination. ‘The Campaign for Plain Nuts’ is particularly effective, combining a rollicking tune reminiscent of the Small Faces with ancient vintage electronica, wonky sound effects, TV show samples and a sing-along chorus about the best place to buy cashew nuts (“Just stay clear of Waitrose/Make sure that you do”). There is also a stunning cover version of Talking Heads’ ’Once in a Lifetime’ which with its jangling lo-fi electronic chords, abrasive House beats and vocals sung through a distorter, proves even more skewed than the original. In a recent online film to promote ‘The Mixtape of Things’, Spetz has said “everything that is there is to be discovered has been discovered, that there is nothing original anymore,” but he has nevertheless still come up with something as distinctive as it is unusual. He is a unique voice in electronic music.

Track Listing:-

1 Train Home
2 Counts Box
3 Crumbtrail
4 Watch The Movie!
5 Silverback
6 Breakfast Matters
7 Stafford Beer
8 Office Poet
9 The Campaign For Plain Nuts
10 The Plague
11 The Right Stuffing [Xmas In Space]
12 Receipts
13 T-Towel Souvenir
14 Once In A Lifetime
15 Smaller Boats [Get You Closer]
16 Untitled

Band Links:-

http://www.thatwillbelunch.co.uk/

Label Links:-

http://www.theinternetatemysoul.co.uk/