SMK143 | Bedhelm – Pop Op

What be this morsel, kittens? Why it’s more howling at the void in an unseen back room, the protagonist doubtless bent double over a casio bemoaning Bon Jovi’s luxuriant mane-n-spandex years, replete with the smell of reheated andive mash circling unappetizingly in the background. Like other classic Smikkelbaard releases by Nimbus 3000 and Electropoezië, we get squeaking, Jip-en Janneke synths leading the charge whilst the vox do their best to be reasonable, you know, REASONABLE, despite the creeping ennui of everyday NL. As yer man says on the track ‘Vrienden’, ”Het is zo ingewikkeld…” Inderdaad…

This release also – somehow – negotiates the cramped space between Niek Hilkmann’s poptastic soliloquies and older shizzle like Andre dé Saint Oban. Classic Dutch C21st electropop in other words. Somewhere in this land, probably in the black hole between Alphen en de Rijn and Woerden, (maybe just behind that Zeeman lorry park) there is a warehouse full of 30-something males with 808s, waiting to be programmed. You’ve been warned.