Scarlet Life, Sugar, Spice, Saccharin & Cynide (DivaNation/UndergroundInc.) 9
Preston Klik, the guiding force behind the debut albums of Scarlet Life and Karma Sutra, is a musical veteran with several albums under his belt. He founded Big Hat in the eighties and achieved modest success with My Scarlet Life in the late nineties. One could call those years his apprenticeship, with this year marking a dramatic rebirth, having earned his wizard's hat. Retaining only one-quarter of the previous band, Scarlet Life is completely new animal. Klik has struck gold in recruiting fresh new talent, with singer Chandra Clark, turntablist DJ Skeptik and stand-up bassist Zebulun. The new band takes off from where the previous band left off with sensuous trip-hop, forging into uncharted territories on the strength of a unique combination of talents. Scarlet Life is Clark's debut tenure as a singer, but she performs with forceful, seductive confidence at the level of Tracey Thorn (Everything But The Girl, Massive Attack). DJ Skeptik's scratching and sampling is currently the most seamless integration of a turntablist into any band. The diverse elements, including Klik's ghostly melodica, trumpet, keyboards, programming and sonic textures are tied together by Zebulun's fabulously sleek and slippery acoustic bass. The result is a stretching of horizons between the earthly and the cosmic, or what the band calls "acousto-electronica." While one might expect gooey, spacey mood music, the album features surprisingly memorable pop songs with clever hooks and imaginitive vocal melodies that could prove to be more accessible than the immensely popular Portishead (see "Take Me," "Bored"). The sultry pace is punctuated by the uptempo "Perfect?" that incorporates industrial breaks and a Killing Joke sample. The danceable "Favorite Girl" begs for a 12" remix that could be a big club hit. Throughout the album, Klik weaves in sonic details that blur the lines between the natural and artificial as successfully as anything by Laika. While Scarlet Life so far remains a secret to most of the world, they have already surpassed most trip-pop contemporaries, with the potential to create a league of their own. Their live show is not to be missed, as the band's multiplicity is even more visually striking with charismatic Clark's fabulously colorful glam wardrobe, the eccentric, bearded mod Zebulun in sunglasses, Klik's platinum ponytails of power and Skeptic's young poker face. Oh yeah, and there's the mind-blowing jazzy cover of The Cars' "Just What I Needed."
