• Basket
  • Music Jobs
  • Login / Register
  • Login
  • Register
Resident Advisor
×
Search
Submit
Did you mean
×
  • Resident Advisor
  • Magazine
    • News
    • Reviews
    • Features
    • Videos
  • Listings
    • Events
    • Clubs
    • Festivals
    • Photos
  • Music
    • Artists
    • New Tracks
    • DJ Charts
    • Podcasts
  • Search
  • Reviews
  • /
  • Albums

Hercules & Love Affair - The Feast of the Broken Heart

    • Label /
      Moshi Moshi Records
      MOSHICD57
    • Released /
      May 2014
    • Style /
      House, Disco
    • Comments /
      8 / View
    • Rating /
      3.5/5
    • Previous
    • Next
    Hercules & Love Affair - The Feast of the Broken Heart Hercules & Love Affair - The Feast of the Broken Heart
    Hercules & Love Affair - The Feast of the Broken Heart It's a nice problem to have, but pity the act who make the perfect debut. With their 2008 self-titled album, Hercules & Love Affair delivered an instant, contemporary classic that conveyed precisely who they were. Where do you go from there? 2011's Blue Songs offered few clear answers. The band's second album was torn between reductive '90s house revivalism and more esoteric, arty tendencies, and sounded unconvincing on both fronts.

    The Feast Of The Broken Heart is, thankfully, a much better record. "Hercules Theme 2014," the breezy and confident opener, leaps from the speakers, and the album barely pauses for breath thereafter. Andy Butler, the group's ringleader, is still paying homage to dance music's past (and using potentially hackneyed Speak 'n' Spell samples and vintage, Chicago house synth-string stabs), but now he's doing it aggressively and irreverently. The production is, as Butler has said, "rough, tough, ragged," recalling early house music and the steely '80s dance-pop of Jellybean Benitez. His new tracks are also full of clever details. The early '90s rave-pop of "The Light" is garnished with smoky slide-guitar and weird test-bleeps, while closing curveball "The Key" echoes 4 Hero's jazzy broken beats.

    The songcraft is, likewise, much improved. In a way he hasn't since Antony Hegarty, Butler now has vocalists on board who are big enough characters to bring a distinctive edge to the tracks, especially US singer-songwriters John Grant and Krystle Warren. Grant's sad, burnished baritone sounds terrific gliding across "I Try To Talk To You." Meanwhile, on "My Offence," Warren turns a peerless piece of jacking, retro-house into a feminist tour de force. "I've come too far from the girl I was taught to be / to let you make a bitch out of me," she roars, like Nina Simone. "5.43 To Freedom" is as hilarious as that one is bracing, with its dire warnings about hippies, communists and speed freaks.

    The Feast of the Broken Heart makes a strong case for Hercules & Love Affair's continued existence. Butler's troupe have always been unique—a dance floor-friendly manifestation of the dissenting, politicised queer underground—but now they're making transcendent music again, too.
    • Published /
      Mon / 26 May 2014
    • Words /
      Tony Naylor
    • Share
    • Tracklist /
      01. Hercules Theme 2014
      02. My Offence feat. Krystle Warren
      03. I Try to Talk to You feat. John Grant
      04. That's Not Me feat. Gustaph
      05. Think feat. Rouge Mary
      06. 5.43 to Freedom feat. Rouge Mary
      07. The Light feat. Krystle Warren
      08. Liberty feat. John Grant
      09. Do You Feel the Same? feat. Gustaph
      10. The Key feat. Rouge Mary
    0/
  • Popular reviews

    • Post a comment

      Leon Vynehall - DJ-Kicks

    • Post a comment

      nd_baumecker - Panorama Bar 07

    • Post a comment

      Adam Beyer - Teach Me (Amelie Lens Remixes)

    • Post a comment

      Ossia - Devil's Dance

    • Post a comment

      Various - Kankyō Ongaku: Japanese Ambient, Environmental & New Age Music 1980-1990

    • Post a comment

      DJ Sports - Akrasia

    • Post a comment

      Efdemin - New Atlantis

    • Post a comment

      King Midas Sound - Solitude

    0/
  • Comments loading

    0/ #260913
    • More on Moshi Moshi Records

      Moshi Moshi Records

      Moshi Moshi Records is a small London-based independent record label that has released music by bands such as The Rakes, Bloc Party, Hot Chip, Hot Club De Paris, Kate Nash, Junkboy, Architecture in He
      View the full label profile

    • Reviews

      • 1 comments

        Hot City - Buggin' Out EP

      • Post a comment

        Hot City - Something Bout EP

      • 8 comments

        Hercules & Love Affair - Painted Eyes

      • 38 comments

        Hercules & Love Affair - Blue Songs

    0/
  • More on Hercules & Love Affair

    • Hercules & Love Affair
      Follow


      View the full artist profile

    Upcoming dates

    • Wed12/Jun 2019

      All

      Kala 2019

    News

    • Tue, 29 Jan 2019

      Post a comment

      Kala Festival completes lineup for 2019

      Hunee, Theo Parrish and Fatima & The Eglo Live Band are set to play in the Albanian Riviera.

    • Fri, 01 Dec 2017

      26 comments

      The Black Madonna is working on an album

      Details of Marea Stamper's forthcoming debut full-length have emerged in an interview with The New York Times.

    • Fri, 30 Jun 2017

      3 comments

      Hercules & Love Affair announce fourth album, Omnion

      The new LP from Andy Butler's band is out on September 1st.

    • Fri, 30 Jun 2017

      5 comments

      Amsterdam Dance Event announces first round of acts for 2017 edition

      Jeff Mills, Paula Temple and Jackmaster are among the estimated 2,500 performers scheduled for ADE this October.

    • Wed, 15 Mar 2017

      1 comments

      Midland, Gilles Peterson, Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith to play Croatian island Obonjan in 2017

      Roy Ayers, Gerd Janson and Mister Saturday Night have also been booked as part of the resort's second season.

    • Thu, 09 Feb 2017

      4 comments

      Tale Of Us, Massimiliano Pagliara added to Melt Festival 2017

      Bicep, Denis Sulta and Bjarki are also locked for the 20th edition of the German event.

    • Tue, 07 Feb 2017

      144 comments

      Tony Allen, Magda, Rhadoo join lineup for Craig Richards' new Houghton festival

      Raresh, Margaret Dygas and Hercules & Love Affair have also been locked in for the August event.

    • Tue, 17 May 2016

      1 comments

      John Talabot, Helena Hauff, Red Axes play RA stage at Flow Festival

      We'll host the Helsinki festival's Backyard area for three days this August.

    Reviews

    • 3 comments

      Hercules & Love Affair - Omnion

    • 8 comments

      Hercules & Love Affair - The Feast of the Broken Heart

    • 10 comments

      Chromeo feat. Solange Knowles - When the Night Falls

    • 8 comments

      Hercules & Love Affair - Painted Eyes

    • 38 comments

      Hercules & Love Affair - Blue Songs

    • 13 comments

      Hercules & Love Affair - Sidetracked

    • 15 comments

      Various Artists - Selected Label Works #1

    • 9 comments

      Hercules & Love Affair - You Belong

    • 5 comments

      Aeroplane feat. Kathy Diamond - Whispers

    • 1 comments

      Chaz Jankel - Get Yourself Together

    • 30 comments

      Hercules & Love Affair - Hercules & Love Affair

    • 22 comments

      Hercules and Love Affair - Blind

    0/
    • RA
    • Copyright © 2019 Resident Advisor Ltd.
    • All rights reserved
    • Privacy & Terms
    • Cookie Policy
    • Resident Advisor /
    • About
    • Advertise
    • Jobs
    • 24/7

    • RA Tickets /
    • My Tickets
    • Ticketing FAQ
    • Resale
    • Sell tickets on RA
    • Submit event

    • Apps /
    • RA Guide
    • RA Ticket Scanner
    • Elsewhere /
    • Watch on YouTube
    • Follow on Facebook
    • Listen on Apple Music
    • Stream on Spotify
  • RA is also available in Japanese. 日本版
    • RA on YouTube
    • RA on Facebook
    • RA on Twitter
    • RA on Instagram
    • RA on Soundcloud