Every Monday through Friday, we deliver a different song as part of our Song of the Day podcast subscription. This podcast features exclusive KEXP in-studio performances, unreleased songs and recordings from independent artists that our DJs think you should hear. Each and every Friday we offer songs by local artists. Today’s selection, featured on the Afternoon Show with Kevin Cole, is “Dragon Chasers” by Wax Tailor from the 2009 album In The Mood for Life on Le Plan Music.
There is a general mystique to solid trip hop tracks that many producers attempt to capture but ultimately fail to create. It’s not just drums with a bit of echo and a few Bollywood samples thrown in but something more that artists like french-born producer Jean-Christophe Le Saoût really seem to understand on a fundamental level regarding orchestration, pacing, and ambiance. Operating under the nom de plume Wax Tailor, Le Saoût returns this fall with his third LP, In The Mood For Life, on Le Plan Music.
On the opening track, “Dragon Chasers,” Le Saoût paints a vivid soundscape that evokes more than just the opium dens and thick vapor that the name suggests. As longtime vocal collaborator Charlotte Savary spins a lyrical web around the cut and paste percussion and vibrato-laden guitar the song starts to take full shape in your mind. “Dragon Chasers” transports you directly to that smokey tent in just over three minutes and will have you hitting “repeat” to get back in again and again.
Wax Tailor played Nectar Lounge in Fremont last month and continues his tour with extensive dates in France as well as supporting dates in Switzerland, Germany, and Luxembourg. For more information and updates on Wax Tailor’s European tour be sure to check out his MySpace profile. While you wait for him to return to Seattle, please enjoy this video for “Say Yes,” also from the new album:
