- Lawrence Le Doux's two EPs for Vlek explore a single sound thoroughly. But the Brussels producer has made more than just careworn house music in his career, and his latest turn on the label revives an older and stranger project. Baleine 3000 is the trio of Lawrence Le Doux (real name Laurent Baudoux), France's Afrojaws and Japan's MC Illreme (who recently made a bizarre disco EP for Mister Saturday Night under his own name, Jun Kamoda). The trio had an EP on Sonig in 2009, and their grab-bag of whimsical hip-hop must have sounded out of time even then. Parts of The Nap call to mind Anticon supergroup cLOUDDEAD, of all things. But while it's an odd sound to be hearing in 2016, it's an extremely pleasant one—and somehow a nice fit for the fuzzy Vlek aesthetic.
This seven-track EP works its way from one end of the group's stylistic spectrum to the other. The opening three tracks sound like the contents of a mixtape left to melt on the passenger seat during a perfect teenage summer. The guitar loops burble, the beats stumble and Kamoda's cute interjections flick between Japanese and English, and between singing and singsong rapping, with playful ease. "The Nap" borders on sickly, but it's short enough that the flavour remains enjoyable. "Fried Oyster"'s yowling blues-rock samples sound like they've been stitched together on a clunky cassette deck, finger poised nervously on the "record" button.
The EP's back half moves towards ambient. "Europ" is loungey synth-pop, and "Bird Call," with its warbling chord samples, is a cousin of "Terre," a highlight from Baudoux's Terrestre EP. In the brief "Neon," looped voice and sparse chords recall the wallpaper synth gems of Hiroshi Yoshimura. Then "Heroica (Ambiant Mix)," with its pitter-patter tablas, rocks you gently off to sleep.
TracklistA1 Gonna Rain
A2 The Nap
A3 Fried Oyster
A4 Europ
A5 Bird Call
A6 Neon
B1 Heroica (Ambiant Mix)