Solex vs Cristina Martinez & Jon Spencer / Amsterdam Showdown, King Street Throwdown Catchy melodies, like those found on ‘Aapie’ and ‘Fire Fire’, etch themselves into your brain, giving what could have been a dodgy mesh of two incompatible genres more of a Beck-like soundclash effect Solex provides the rhythmic beats while Martinez and Spencer serve up a soulful blues guitar scrunch.Įxact Audio Copy V0.99 prebeta 5 from 4. This soundtrack worthy endowment comes from a generous serving of strings and orchestral backing, paired off with plenty of horns and a splash of sound effects. There’s an almost cinematic quality to many of the tracks, evoking a kind of ‘Fear & Loathing’ vibe that sounds more Utah than Utrecht. The result is a record laden with positive vibes that plunges headlong into a party atmosphere. The ‘versus’ nature of the record and confrontational title implies that it came about almost against Martinez and Spencer’s will, but, as the accompanying comic explains, they jumped at the chance to add their own distinctive fusillade to Esselink’s sketches, working remotely from their New York studio. As a somewhat unlikely collaborative project between Dutch electronica specialist Elisabeth Esselink (aka Solex) and Boss Hog luminaries Cristina Martinez and her husband Jon Spencer, on paper it seems like it could be a bit of a mess.
Opening with a wail of guitar distortion, a dirty drumbeat and a silky female vocal, Amsterdam Throwdown, King Street Showdown! instantly impresses as a full-frontal blues-funk assault on the ears.