He's the German producer whose listless disco could be from Manchester, LA, Ontario, even outer space
Hometown: Cologne.
The lineup: Marius Lauber (music, vocals, production).
The background: If we decided to spin an annual awards ceremony out of this column – and if we did we'd call it the Newbies – then today's act would be a hot contender for the gong for Best EP By a German Who Sounds Like a Displaced Los Angelino. Elliot by Cologne-based singer, songwriter and producer Marius Lauber aka Roosevelt features four tracks of such wan, washed-out techno and listless disco, it's like Balearica designed for Venice Beach. Lauber – recently the second most-worshipped human over at Hype Machine – is signed to Greco-Roman, the London label run by Alex Waldron, Dom Mentsh and Hot Chip's Joe Goddard, which helped break Disclosure and Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs (whom Roosevelt has supported on tour). So that augurs well. But even if it had been issued on a dingy imprint with zero credibility this music would still shine.
Roosevelt makes dance music for people who don't dance because they're too depressed. It's commercial but it cuts deep, like New Order in Ibiza. The title track, as has been pointed out, is also heavily reminiscent of Caribou's Odessa, with its liquid bassline and "beatific waves of cascading synths" (thank you, Pitchfork). The song has the celestial grooviness of AR Kane after they swapped feedback for funkiness on A Love from Outer Space, which is nice, because apart from the Guardian nobody really talks about AR Kane anymore. It has the haziness of shoegaze but the heavenly heartbeat of disco and house. Lauber's voice is from the school of vocalese founded by Bernard Sumner, and is as winsome and fey as you could wish. He's the ghost in his own machine-pop, haunting every note with a trail of deadened dedications to an ex-girlfriend.
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Elliot, we were saying, is blissfully sad acid house for people who usually listen to Sarah Records. Around You combines throbbing bass with a chattering sequenced keyboard motif and chillwaves of synth as Lauber chases the memory of another lost opportunity. Montreal is fabulous disco pop, the sort of aching nightclub music New Order perfected on Technique. Finally, there's Sea, which first came out last year and which we fully intend to still be listening to next year. In fact, if we can find the repeat function on our iTunes we might end up playing nothing else.
The buzz: "It sounds like that weird pain that you get at the sides of your face when you've been smiling for a really long time."
The truth: The finest ever artist named after a president of the USA, and certainly better than the Presidents of the USA.
Most likely to: Win awards for angst disco.
Least likely to: Find love in outer space, or anywhere else.
What to buy: The Elliot EP is released on 7 October by Greco-Roman.
File next to: AR Kane, Caribou, Washed Out, New Order.
Links: Roosevelt's Facebook page.
Tuesday's new band: Eagulls.
by Paul Lester via Music: Electronic music | theguardian.com
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