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Antena \ Camino del Sol [TWI 114 CD]

A true genre classic, Camino del Sol was originally issued as a 5 track mini-album by Les Disques du Crépuscule in October 1982.

The chic French trio's groundbreaking mix of Kraftwerk, Suicide and breezy Gilberto tropicalia still sounds as fresh as it did back then, when John Foxx produced The Boy From Ipanema, their first single, and future Pet Shop Boy Neil Tennant tagged Antena "electro-samba". Echoes of the original Antena sound can be heard in artists as diverse as Stereolab, Tortoise and Thievery Corporation.

This definitive double disc edition of TWI 114 features 36 tracks, with the five songs from the original vinyl issue joined by four from the 7- and 12-inch versions of The Boy From Ipanema and a selection of rare demos and compilation tracks.

The bonus disc features 19 tracks recorded live on the Move Back-Bite Harder tour in October 1982, including two previously unreleased songs: Mirador, and New York USA. Tracks 1 to 10 were recorded at Tielt on 8 October; tracks 11 to 19 at Brussels Salle Albert on 5 October.

Artwork by Benoît Hennebert. Booklet contains archive images and liner notes.

Tracklist (studio CD):

1. Camino del Sol
2. To Climb the Cliff
3. Silly Things
4. Sisséxa
5. Achilles
6. Bye Bye Papaye
7. Noelle à Hawai
8. Les Demoiselles de Rochefort
9. Spiral Staircase
10. Unable
11. The Boy From Ipanema
12. Seaside Weekend
13. Frantz
14. Ingenué
15. Joppo + Eno
16. On the Boat

(live CD):

1. Seaside Weekend
2. Unable
3. Mirador
4. Achilles
5. Camino del Sol
6. Silly Things
7. The Boy From Ipanema
8. New York USA
9. To Climb the Cliff
10. Bye Bye Papaye
11. Sisséxa
12. Seaside Weekend
13. Achilles
14. Camino del Sol
15. The Boy From Ipanema
16. New York USA
17. To Climb the Cliff
18. Bye Bye Papaye
19. Sisséxa

OUT OF PRINT. Mailorder copies ordered from LDDC are slipcased. To order CD please select correct shipping option and click on Add To Cart button below cover image, or else contact LDDC by email for other payment options.

Reviews:

"While it has enjoyed a bit of a renaissance in recent years thanks to reissues, Antena's massively under-appreciated Camino del Sol still languishes in near obscurity. Perhaps the band's odd union of electronic production and Latin rhythms (dubbed 'electro-samba') was a little 'too future' for its listeners, but what made it a peculiarity then makes it an enduring delight now. Antena were instrumental in paving the way for Stereolab's Gallic lounge experiments, and whilst the latter may have achieved more universal acceptance, Antena stand as the connoisseur's choice" (FACTmag, 11/2014)

"This essential collection of their entire recorded output is 2005's most charming musical surprise. The route map of early 1980s indie pop is currently being rewritten on a daily basis and Antena merit a chapter of their own, complementing the similarly unearthed and now highly respected ESG. Isabelle Powaga, Sylvain Fasy and Pascale Moiroud formed Antena in 1981, and created a radical and intuitive fusion of bossa nova, archaic samba-jazz and primitive Kraftwerkisms, and signed with Belgian label Crépuscule. Opening track Camino del Sol sets the mood and could almost be Stereolab, but is so skeletal that the only possible contemporary influence must have been Young Marble Giants. Antena laid the ground for Stereolab and Bebel Gilberto without even knowing it" (Mojo, 12/2005)

"Antena macheted into unexplored territory for post-punk, namely the oddball psychedelic scene of South America. Recorded with echoing minimalism, their major release Camino Del Sol evokes dreaming, singing, charmingly off-the-mark sci-fi futurism, and the black-and-white nostalgia of Jacques Brel's Brussels. It's as beautifully outdated, yet strikingly mind-boggling and timeless, as the towering Atomium over the Expo '58 grounds. So much hidden influence lies in these songs. The wonderful opening punch of To Climb the Cliff and the title track predate Stereolab's Gainsbourg-gone-Kraftwerk by over a decade, and Air's cool, Parisian sex by nearly two. Tortoise directly lifted the syncopated synthetic funk of To Climb the Cliff on their equally rare seven-inch, Madison Ave/Madison Area. Stuttering kick drums, icicle synths, and robotic bass jerks the listener through Spiral Staircase with better effect than a handful of contemporary NY revivalists. Limited to the use of the above ingredients and the occasional dry electric guitar, Antena relied on vast amounts of space for haunting texture. Each member sounds isolated in far corners of an airport hangar, allowing coke-bottle percussion, sound effects, and Isabelle Powaga's detached, seductive voice to float. The more propulsive tracks are offset by opiated cocktail numbers like Silly Things, Bye Bye Papaye, and Noelle à Hawaii. Only on Les Demoiselles de Rochefort, a cover of Michel Legrand's theme to the Catherine Deneuve film, do Antena sound positively retro-minded. Even then, the strings and horns seemingly waft from a wormhole" (Pitchfork, 03/2004)

"Wistful, seductive and strangely narcotic... Leads you breathlessly through a lush electronic garden" (Melody Maker, 1983)

"Five songs of sultry splendour" (NME, 1983)

"Antena offered a brave art bossa nova design comparable to Weekend and Lizzy Mercier Descloux. The ironic 'tropical wave' and easy listening aesthetic stands the test of time, and since Antena have been less imitated than Young Marble Giants they still sound surprisingly fresh. Includes ten bonus tracks and the usual excellent LTM booklet" (Spex, 5/2006)

"Twenty-four years on, Isabelle Powaga and her co-conspirators retain a sparkle that has deserted so many of their contemporaries over the years. Electro samba is superficially correct, but there are other forces at play. They cleave to the two-fingers Casio school, or a Farfisa electric piano sound, minimal drum machine settings, and Powaga's melancholy voice. What rescues their charming balladeering from the faux-naif is their evident affection for the genre, but also their sly philosophy of subverting it. I'd love to see them on either side of the camera in a remake of Jules et Jim" (The Wire, 7/2006)

"Will I be forever fated to like things that sound a bit like bloody Stereolab, I wonder? I'm not complaining when that thing is Antena, the French electro-space-bossa trio whose 1982 debut has now been agreeably re-presented (with tons of extra tracks) for a more understanding listenership. Antena were always a bit of a cult concern, but it's hard to see why. Granted, their odd little indie sambas were vivacious, wispy and possibly out of kilter with the dour post-punk times. OK, they did blend drum machines with Brazilian percussion, Kraftwerkian synths and Gilberto/Hardy vocals, and perhaps it wasn't so easy to get Tropicalia records back then. Maybe they seemed too kitschy: too happy, too light, too frivolous. But they're perfect right now. Stand-out tracks include Spiral Staircase, with a frantic motorik and cheap drumrolls framing a breathless, detached vocal and a twinkling synth straight off Gary Numan; and Achilles, a brilliant, sinister, synergistic masterpiece that sound like Showroom Dummies in a Sao Paulo jazz club, with Alison Statton of Young Marble Giants and Oz Mutantes on vocals" (Plan B, 6-7/2006)