Warp, 2003
Although Big Soup remains my favorite Luke Vibert release, YosepH ties with Throbbing Pouch (under Vibert’s Wagon Christ pseudonym) for second place. In a departure from his usual sample-filled hip-hop style, Vibert delves into spacey synths and old-school acid. “Liptones” sets the pace, with Nuggets library music-inspired glissandos. It’s a dramatic little track which manages to sound retro and futuristic at the same time. “Freak Time Baby” makes extensive use of 303 squelches, the likes of which I haven’t heard for years. Likewise, “Nok Tup” combines ancient echoey synths with a funky bassline. The big single, of course, is the catchy “I Love Acid.” Vocodered vocals swirl over beats and bleeps in a blissful tribute to Chicago acid tracks. This is followed by a good old-fashioned pyschedelic freak-out with scattered samples over noise. The only thing missing is a Lyndon B. Johnson sample or two. “Acidisco” is even more fun, with a sweeping melody over freestyle beats and more 303 warbles. And the hits keep on coming. Vibert’s written a tribute album to the last forty years of electronic music. The result is a fun record which sounds surprisingly fresh in today’s world of sound-alike software.
YosepH is just beautiful, fresh and retro. leap about like its 1989/2019. tra-la-la-la
This is the best album i’ve heard in a long time. It manages to sound fresh and new even though it is practically a restropective of dance music from the last 40 years. An ABSOLUTE masterpiece.
I don’t think I’d call this a masterpiece, as there is some filler and lag here and there, but for the most part, an excellent, acid-soaked release from one of the more underrated patriarchs of electronic music.