CD in six panel digipak. Bric-a-Brac is Death By Chocolate's third full-length release, following their eponymous debut, and Shortlist Prize nominee Zap the World (confirming Iggy Pop as a fan), in the early 90s. This album is the result of a collaboration between band members based in Santa Barbara, Bristol and Colchester. Bric-a-Brac comprises thirteen tracks - eleven self-penned and two covers - as diverse as the title suggests. Death By Chocolate's aesthetic foundation corners are firmly planted in an idealized novelty of mid-century modernism, especially early 60s abstract expressionism, definitely swinging 1967 Carnaby Street, a bit of the more fun elements of late 70s new/no wave and the work of the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. There's also more than a hint of foodie-ism. Bric-a-brac is an aural scrapbook written, performed, recorded and produced by Death By Chocolate. Open it up...There's a trip around East Sussex on a BSA Bantam... we even stop for chips on the way home! Missing your departed heroes? They're back for one night only (although probably not quite as you'd care to remember). For some, the album may well prove a useful study aid: How many Kosmonauts can you name? What are the principle uses of Xenon? What was Vincent Price eating in the early 60s? How do you plan the layout of a department store? Musically-speaking, Death by Chocolate's third album is just as eclectic, fusing together electronica, spoken-word, jazz and psychedelia, with a dash of swingle. Souvenir rulers, umbrellas, cricket pads... even Spit the Dog gets a look-in at the House of Bric-a-brac.
M**.
great fun!
Hoe does this record sound? Like a mixture of Ladytron '604' and Young Marble Giants 'colossal youth' made in the sixties... (and of course like all the things mentioned in the other review). I love it!
P**W
A fun pop buffet
Coming some years after their last release (2002's Zap the World), this sees Death by Chocolate picking up where they left off, with nostalgic pop confections that taste unmistakeably of growing up in Britain the early 1970s (though the cultural references stretch from the 50s to the 80s). Day trips, jumble sales, hotel menus, the space race, public information films, kids' telly... they're all here, served up with lashings of tasty keyboard work and the odd unexpected chord change. There are jazz and lounge tinges, a few nods to Delia Derbyshire and the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, and to some of Raymond Scott's electronic music. Angie Tillett's ingenue voice is a little reminiscent of the ye-ye chantooses of old.Their rendition of the theme from 'Are You Being Served?' is fab - a mod workout, all too brief, but it gets a reprise in the hidden extra track - and they also rescue an obscure George Melly tune from the soundtrack of the sixties caper, Smashing Time. All in all, brilliant fun and very nicely done.
