released September 9, 2009

Review:

Full length LP from this French bonhomme who has made
two other CDs for the label, Guillotine and The Bath Of
Stars, titles which for some reason makes me want to peg
him as a Surrealist collage-artist trying to improve on
Max Ernst’s Une Semaine De Bonté. This LP divides sharply
into two sides. The Agreement side boasts some pretty
wild electronica loopiness which burbles away in relentless
fashion, almost veering out of control like a tremendous
amount of coloured candies being fed into a coal-chute by
a concrete mixer. Very maximal! The barrage of subterranean
sweeties subsides briefly in the middle of the composition
allowing M. Beloeil to pick up his electro-acoustic stylo for a
little doodling on the drawing pad of INA-GRM, and then it's
right back to the blocks of unusual sound (plus extra sheets
of white noise fuzz) which are increasingly lined up like child-
ren’s blocks in the playpen, spelling out incomprehensible
messages. In fact Beloeil might be trying to invent a new
language. He certainly seems happy to let these digital
manifestations of his id run rampant. Apparently there’s
some recordings of accordion music in here, played by
guest musician James Mannox. I’d never have guessed.
The Reaction side is completely different to be above
and is a set of experimental electro-pop tunes with drum
machine beats and artificial processed sounds. In fact,
one wonders if Beloeil is simply and deliberately using the
factory presets on some Casio product. These eight pop
tunes, filtered through the mind of a supreme ironist,
are verging on the ‘cheesy’ and could easily pass them-
selves off as refugees from a record of Library Music, or
a 1970s schools and colleges soundtrack record. Colourful,
fun, entertaining.

Ed Pinsent in The Sound Projector



Remarkable entry from the Entr'acte label - a bi-polar platter
of electro-acoustic composition and Casio keyboard miniatures
with a truly unhinged charm and sense of humour. For those
who are unfamiliar with both the label and the artist; Entr'acte
have been quietly and impressively releasing a stream of esoteric
records from the likes of Sudden Infant, Carlos Giffoni, and
Strategy (among many, many others) for the best part of the
last decade. Jacques Beloeil has previously released a couple
of CD's for them before delivering this LP, apparently 5 years
in the making, yet formed from individual, single-take recordings.
That crazy A-side comes off like a 2.5D version of the recent
Keith Fullerton Whitman album, listing kitchen intensils, TRM pan
and delay effects, a bottle of red wine, and glass and accordion
from James Mannox as the ingredients, stirred to strange perfection
by Rashad Becker at D&M. The flipside is rather more ephemeral
yet easier to grasp. Nine brief, diverse configurations of jolly Casio
keyboard composition, often repetitive, but keeping our attention
fixed with unpredictable melodic swerves and a distinctly unique
sense of arrangement. Perhaps imagine a dadaist conversation
between two slighty squiffy Sk1s in a cute Parisian bistro and you'll
have some idea of what to expect. Mental, highly recommended
album for the real diggers among you.

(Boomkat)