Mr Ozio & Gaspard Augé - Rubber (Because)

This collaboration between two of France’s big names in electro looks like something to get excited about, on paper at least. It’s an interesting collaboration as it is the soundtrack to Quentin Dupieux’s (Mr Oizo) short film ‘Rubber’, about a murderous black tyre that kills all it comes into contact with, a bit mad to say the least. The film isn’t out until April so I can only go on the music and a couple of YouTube trailers!

When I first got wind of this album I was initially excited as to what it would be, but on listening I found it to be a completely underwhelming experience but then this can be the case when listening to soundtracks of films that aren’t even out yet.

The title track is quaint and amusing at best and doesn’t really seem to go anywhere, the concept of a murderous car tyre doesn’t really translate into the music. The end result sounds more like the product of an afternoon ingesting copious amounts of something or other.

In fact it is hard to pick any stand out tracks here as the whole album is just an exercise in the banal, it just doesn’t stand up as an album in its own right although I am sure it soundtracks the film adequately. The casual sounding nature of this collaboration is what sticks in my mind here, they could do better especially being familiar with their previous work as producers.

I wouldn’t bother with this album unless you want to pretend to be a rubber tyre rolling malevolently through the Nevada desert exploding people’s heads as you vibrate uncontrollably. Try it on your way to the shops, imagine doing that in the queue in Shamesbury’s right before you drop some segment of your bowels, you could probably get away with that in Hackney too.