This singular album is subtitled "songs from Véronique Vincent & Aksak Maboul's Ex-Futur Album re-imagined, performed or reworked".
Vincent was singer with the now defunct Brussels band The Honeymoon Killers while Aksak Maboul are an 'avant-rock' band co-founded by Marc Hollander. Hollander also just so happens to run Crammed Discs.
The original versions of the sixteen tracks were recorded by these Belgian artists between 1981 and 1983 but they never saw the light of day until 2014.
Depending on whose version of events you trust, the delayed release of Ex-Futur was down to the fact that the original tunes were regarded either too self indulgent, too weird or too poppy to be unveiled to the general public.
As it turned out, the record met with a warm reception from critics and these '16 Visions' show that it also won approval from a bunch of eccentric popsters and experimental mavericks from Finland, France, England, Germany, Norway and America.
In spite of, or more likely because of, being a mix of French lounge pop and Eurovision foppery, Ex-Futur has a heady charm that is hard to pigeonhole but easy to adapt or build upon.
There are no big names here but the diverse mix of talent makes up for this.
For Brits, Stereolab's Laetitia Sadler is probably the most well known artist and she brings an air of refinement to the makeover of Afflux de luxe.
Elsewhere the tunes provide an ideal template for artists to make use of in any way they deem fit. They set about the task with the wild abandon of excitable kids let loose in a playpen full of bright musical toys pausing only to ask: What does this button do? or What happens if I press this?
They might also have wondered : Do we do sing in English or in French? but it doesn't seem to matter either way. After all, Je pleure tout le temps means the same as I'm Always Crying so why should the lingo be a barrier? This is the language of pop, n'est-ce pas?
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Lena Willikens shows the way. She's a German DJ but sings in English. Her funky electro-pop version of I'm Always Crying makes for one of the standout tracks and starkly contrasts with a stiff crooning rendition of the selfsame tune by Frenchman Flavien Berger.
Words can even be a burden sometimes. On My Kind Of Doll, Forever Pavot wisely buries most of the crass lyrics from the original version. Britain's very own Capitol K (Kristian Craig Robinson) takes elements of the same song (cheekily renamed Kinda Doll) and shapes into something resembling a cheap video game soundtrack.
Another noteworthy tune is Veronika Winken which, in the hands of Bullion (British producer Nathan Jenkins), becomes a blend of Zimbabwean guitar pop and Middle-Eastern exotica.
Véronique Vincent & Aksak Maboul get to play too with a pair of 'self-covers' - Saure Gurke 2016 and Le troisième personnage/Paysage volé which contain 'surprise' (to whom?) appearances by Kasai Allstars and Aquaserge.
Like Fight Club, the first rule for members of the gang behind the remade, remodeled Ex-Futur appears to be that there are no rules. It even embraces a Norwegian underground style (from Eay & C.O.U.) of funky bass and synth leads known as 'Skweee' on the track Afflux Skoui'.
Whether it be glitchy electronica, bleepy bubblegum or 'Skweee', the laissez-faire attitude makes this a liberating, fun-packed collection that compliments and even transcends the record it was inspired by.
Crammed Discs' website
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