Death by Chocolate [Import]

Product Description
2001 album for down-tempo/nu jazz act. The perfect accompaniment for laying out at the beach with a cocktail in one hand & a CD player in the other. 16 tracks including, 'Heartfixer', 'Nu Chic' & 'Sabbatical'.

Tracks:

Heartfixer
Something Special
Nu Chic
Sabbatical
Better Now
Death By Chocolate
Jeunesse Doree
Online
Jim The Jinn
Roy's Choice
Trash Box
Jump Over
Maybe San Jose
Love's Labour Lost
North West
Saw It On The Radio

Album Description

2001 album for down-tempo/nu jazz act. The perfect accompaniment for laying out at the beach with a cocktail in one hand & a CD player in the other. 16 tracks including, 'Heartfixer', 'Nu Chic' & 'Sabbatical'.

Customer Reviews:

* * * * * The VERY BEST PAZZ-JOP CD of 2003!!!!!!!!!!.......2006-05-06

Elegant smooth sophisticated soul/jazz. So hip. So chic. So cool. If only more people could experience it! It deserves 10 STARS. Each song (except the last one!) is so PERFECTLY arranged, cleverly written, and PERFECTLY performed. It is so definitely a guilty pleasure--it is much too much POP to qualify for jazz, but the constant jazzy overtones are the best. Did I mention the clever lyrics? And so listenable: I could listen to this for days on end ... and sometimes I do! There are a handful of CDs/albums that you can say that about. IT IS WORTH THE $$$.

Excellent jazzy/lounge music.......2005-09-21

I bought this CD in 2004 and have listened to it many times since then... better in a beach, or even in a small party with close friends or family...

still in love.............2005-03-14

I bought this CD maybe 3 years ago.........and i am not tired of it at all.....still groovy, still goooood...a little funky....brings a smile in your face all the time..sound is wonderfull....De-Phazz are sound magicians!!!! Can say tgis is still my #1!!!!!!!!!!!

The most significant discovery in years.......2004-02-27

De Phazz are simply the most exciting group I have heard in what seems like a lifetime. Theirs is music at its best, the kind that everyone at our parties asks "what IS this music, it is fabulous". Do yourself a favour - if you want music that is varied in style, 99% brilliant, 100% easy on the ears, and very, very smooth, buy this album. After that, I expect you will investigate their other offerings, "Godsdog" being of similar quailty.

A nicely lounge music/jazz feel.......2002-05-22

The sound that De Phazz puts together here is not necessarily original. A lot of the tracks here are simply slightly better variations on that bossanova/jazz/soul sound that is getting increasingly popular and swamping car ads across the country. This stuff is the middle ground between downtempo and house, with a little swing music thrown in. When it's bad, it can be kind of annoying (check that ubiquitous Mr. Scruff tune "Get A Move On".....ugh!). Here it's not annoying, far from it. The first tune "Heartfixer" is a good variation on that style, even though I'm pretty sure I heard it on a commercial the other day. Oh well.

Tracks:

Mustard Yellow
Magpie
Sky Blue
The Land Of Chocolate
Orange
My Friend Jack
Daddy's Out Of Focus
Olive
Ice Cold Lemonade
The L.S. Bumble Bee
A B & C
Red
Rainbow With 'A' Underneath & An Elephant
Who Needs Wings To Fly? (From The Flying Nun)
The Salvidor Dali Murder Mystery
If You Want To Sing Out Sing Out (From Harold & Maude)
L.S. Bumble Bee (The Bee Is Coming)

Amazon.com

"My friend Jack eats sugar lumps... Sugar man hasn't got a care." It's understandable if these lyrics--sung by a vocalist who sounds like a mischievous 14-year-old British girl over a perky bump-bump-bump-ba-dump-pa guitar riff--make you think that the current psychedelic-pop revival has gone a bit too far. But Death by Chocolate, who top their polite lounge-exotica tunes with a thick frosting of hallucinogenic sound effects, are weird and charming enough for you to forgive their derivativeness. Compared with their American counterparts in the retro-psych Elephant 6 scene, Death by Chocolate are less concerned with writing perfect pop songs than with simply creating groovy mood pieces; many of the tracks here are built around hypnotic riffs or spoken words. "A, B & C" merges a Doors-like keyboard roll with a sweetly odd recitation of the alphabet ("G is for Gregorian, the ritual music named after Pope Gregory I"). If you ever thought Alice needed a better soundtrack for skipping around Wonderland's Technicolor garden, this is it. --Lisa Gidley

Album Description

Like Kahimi Karie or The Monkees, Death By Chocolate create playful pop that is deceptively simple and sweet. And, like you'd expect from English teenage girls, they sing songs about pop culture, candy and psychdelic drugs. Led by lead singer Angela Faye Tillett's runaway train of thought lyrics. DBC cover The Smoke's '60's mod classic 'My Friend Jack' which appeared on Jet Set's compilation CD. Standard jewel case. 2001 release.

Customer Reviews:

High........2004-08-13

This could be the solution for the drugs problem around the world (along with "Haha Sound" by Broadcast). And it's legal! Just expected a little, little bit more substance. Anyway may be not like anything you use to hear nowadays (but in the sixties). Bon voyage.

Death By Chocolate. 60's kisch meets poetry........2004-06-13

Death By Chocolate is almost a harsh name to represent this type of music, perhaps 'living through caramel' would be more appropriate. The sound basically intertwines the poetic musings of Angela Faye Tillett with kischy 60's grooves, a combination of Stereolab's melodic doo-wop harmonies, The Bees/The High Llamas' retro experimentalism, with a touch of Japanese cheekiness, eg, Pizzicato Five. Glossing over this is the tinted haze of 60's soundtracks, complete with cheezy keyboards, a boxed yet cheery colorful sound. I must admit, although interesting, I'm not exactly a fan of the spoken-word vignettes which dominate half the CD, yet the strength of the music itself is a creative force making it worth a listen. Think beat poetry meets Russ Meyer soundtracks meets Rainbow Quartz label bands.

Little happy music.......2004-02-17

I don't think I can add much more than what the other reviewers already said. If the world has got you down and you need to be taken away to a little happy place, this is the CD for you. Guaranteed to make you smile.

Strangest Tea Party EVER.......2003-10-07

I am not exagerating when I say that this CD is a polite hallucination: A late-aternoon tea party with the slanted light heavy on the wooden floor, stirring up the dust mites around the heads of Sally Field, Dudley Moore, Peter Cook, Angela Lansbury, Cat Stevens, a particularly large white Teddy Bear and a girl in a red raincoat (isn't she hot?) and violet umbrella. When you drink the piping tea, your lexicon is reduced to the letters of the alaphabet, letters that trip off your tongue to the halting beat of a music-box tune (where is that music box?). There is nothing more to say.....

Death By Chocolate=Extreme Aural Happiness.......2001-08-04

What a bizarre notion of a cd! 17 songs- clocks in under 40 minutes- there's no time to get bored with this wonderful sweet concotion. Even better than a chocolate Krackel bar, and it won't rot your teeth if you eat too much. None of these songs are going to set the charts on fire, but that's the fun of the whole thing. Death By Chocolate's Angie Tillett speaks over the tracks- her vocals slightly remind me of a female Neil Tennant (of Pet Shop Boys). The music is a loungey/electronic-ish batch of creamy goodness. Put this on during a fabulous dinner party, and your friends are SURE to ask "What is this and where can I get it immediately?" Fave songs: "Daddy's Out Of Focus" (ain't that the truth), and "If You Want To Sing Out, Sing Out" (from the movie "Harold And Maude".) I don't know why anyone hasn't covered that song before, it seems like such an obvious choice for a cover song.

If you like your music a little left of center (and I'm not talking about the hot, hot song by Suzanne Vega!) you will adore Death By Chocolate. And if you don't like it, it's probably because you prefer those rotten Twizzlers (that get all stuck in your teeth) over chocolate!

Average customer rating:
Death By Chocolate

ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music
Dance & DJ | Imports | Stores | Music
ASIN: B000NJLX6I
Release Date: 2007-03-27

Album Description

Average customer rating:

Perfection
Music geniuses sent to earth by the heavens !!!
FOR THE ULTRA-COOL AND QUASI-CHIC!!!
One of these things is JUST like the other!
Don't buy this

Death by Chocolate
De-Phazz
Manufacturer: Umvd Import
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music

Trip-Hop | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music

General | Dance Pop | Dance & DJ | Styles | Music

General | Easy Listening | Pop | Styles | Music

Dance & DJ | Imports | Stores | Music
Similar Items:

Godsdog
Daily Lama
Plastic Love Memory
Natural Fake
Chillounge

ASIN: B00005K26P
Release Date: 2003-03-04

Tracks:

Heartfixer
Something Special
Nu Chic
Sabbatical
Better Now
Death by Chocolate
Jeunesse Dor
On Line
Jim the Jinn
Roy's Choice
Trash Box
Jump Over
Maybe San Jos
Love's Labour's Lost
North West
Saw It on the Radio

Album Description

Customer Reviews:

Perfection.......2005-10-23

As most other reviewers of this band point out, describing their sound is next to impossible and invariably fails to do it justice when one resorts to specific descriptors (i.e. downtempo, ultra-cool nu lounge jazz with a meta-post-modern sensibility). Suffice it to say that what De-Phazz achieves on this and all their albums is utter perfection. One finds oneself constantly leaning into the music, awestruck by the absolute "rightness" of every lick and every production device they use. Perhaps the best observation I can add to this thread is that, after over 10 years of listening to nothing but classical, I heard a version of Ella Fitzgerald's "Wait Until You See Him" on the radio. It was so stunningly beautiful I had to stop my car and just listen. Except it COULDN"T have been by Ella, the instrumental sounds and production could not possibly have been around when her voice sounded like that. It turns out that it was the De-Phazz remix of that tune on Verve Remixed Volume I. In trying to fugure out just what it was I had heard (I didn't know a De-Phazz from a Dead Kennedy 3 months ago) I stumbled on to literally hundreds of other incredible artists in the downtempo-nu-jazz-IDM-breaks-etc. genres and ended up buying over 500 CD's, entirely from the "Dance-Electronics section of my local music stores, this summer. But De-phazz is still in a class by itself. Even if you're an insufferable Jazz Snob, who looks at anything more accessible than Coltrane's "Ascension" or Ornette Coleman's "Free Jazz" as rank Philistinism, you MUST own this CD (and Godsdog and Plastic Love Memory and Best of as well; good luck finding Detunized Gravity, but if you do, consider it a sign that you are among the true elect and chosen). And by the way, on a very high end two channel stereo, the production and recording are in a class by themselves, as is the case on all De-Phazz albums. More than anything I've ever heard, De-Phazz is an absolutely essential accoutrement to any respectable Space Age Bachelor Pad. Easily worth the price and the wait for the import.

Music geniuses sent to earth by the heavens !!!.......2005-10-06

The MONUMENTAL task of describing a De-Phazz album makes your head really spin out of control, just as it does when you listen to it. Any of their albums, but this in particular, is as close to musical genius as it's going to get. An almost infinite number of sounds come from every possible direction and at different speeds but in the end they all end up dancing in PERFECT harmony. It REALLY is nothing short of SPECTACULAR. They push the musical envelope in ways that no other band has ever done before, with the exception of maybe Radiohead, in its own genre of course, and I really mean that ! I am telling you, the background music in heaven is DE-PHAZZ (perfect melody in perfect harmony).

Now, after all that, you still want me to review this album? Well, let me give it a try. This is bizarrely beautiful NU-JAZZ. I mean, the sound is definitely jazz, but it flirts with hip-hop, soul, sometimes reggae, mambo and latin jazz, bossa nova, drum n' bass, house, trip-hop, etc. The feel of it all is sexy, VERY SEXY, trippy, atmospheric, soulful music that immediately sends you places you've never been before.

The majestic use of trumpets and sax, the talented drummer (and drum programming), the dreamy electronic sounds coming from the multiple keybords, the perfectly-timed scratchings, the sexy, hip vocals, and the impressive production of this album makes this, and any other De-Phazz album for that matter, a one-in-a-million gem.

A bit more soulful and less 60's retro-cool than "Plastic Love Memory" (another one of their great albums).

FOR THE ULTRA-COOL AND QUASI-CHIC!!!.......2004-10-28

De-Phazz once again offers a plethora of super-sampled tracks fused with jazzy embellishments, sexy vocals (from both male and female), and beats-to-boot. "Death By Chocolate" is so hip and cosmo that it'll get played at every soiree that you host. If you're not into some serious lounge music this definitely ain't the CD for you!

One of these things is JUST like the other!.......2004-03-05

If you like the retro-vocal melancholy, jazzy, cafeteria-style, insular-yet-panoramic, lush, smoky-lounge, orchestral, strange, ecstatic, DJ-scratchy, sublime, sampled and genre-bending compostions of Art of Noise, The Matthew Herbert Big Band, Enzso, Funki Porcini, Yello, Caleb's Cosmosis, Hugh Marsh, Future Sound of London, United Future Organization or Bowery Electric, then you will love this.

'NUFF SAID.

Don't buy this.......2003-06-29

This album is my secret weapon at party's where
hip cool rhythmic vibes are the obsession of every
D.J. wanna-be. I play this one and heads turn
and the night becomes magic.

Please don't buy this because I want to be the one
that delivers that amazing song that everyone is
blown away and says "who's this"?

Being made aware of this stellar group by Hotel Costes #1
I bought one of their earlier albums and loved it. Years
later I wanted to catch up with them so I bought DBC and

couldn't get over the intensity of this album. Did I already
mention not to buy this and maybe perhaps buy another
repetitive drumbeat release by Thievery Corporation.
Please do not buy this album as it will open a window
into a futuristic world of sound only Yello has delved.
Stop now, this is your last warning.

Zap the World
Average customer rating:

Zap this!

Death By Chocolate. 60's kisch meets poetry

Swinging pop with a surreal '60s edge

Nostalgia gets a noogie.

Zap the World
Death by Chocolate
Manufacturer: Jet Set Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Rock | Styles | Music
Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music
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Death by Chocolate

ASIN: B000069B0K
Release Date: 2002-07-09

Tracks:

Vox Wah Wah Pedal
Zap The World Chorus
Day Out
Bentley Corniche
Cutout Girl Scout
While I'm Still Young
Lime Green Fitted Blouse (With Rounded Collar & Puce Cuffs)
El Graphite
Bibi Gin
Bridget Riley
Artplay
A B & C Part Two
Cinammon Grahams
Zap The Wolrd
Swinging London
John Steed Swordstick

Customer Reviews:

Zap this!.......2006-03-22

All I need to say is "Zap the World" song - my favorite song as a little kid from the 1970 "Pufnstuf" movie remade! Original sung by Witchiepoo (Billie Hayes), Martha Raye and Mama Cass. Glad to see groovy back in and done well.

Death By Chocolate. 60's kisch meets poetry.......2004-06-13

Swinging pop with a surreal '60s edge.......2002-10-31

1960s London swings again on the playground of British vocalist/pop-culturist Angie Tillett and her production team at Terminal Electric Works. This sophomore swirl of pop-art builds sandcastles on obscure '60s covers, fragmentary cultural references and instrumentals that are equal parts neo-psychedelia, spy jazz, and the sort of sunshine instrumental pop resurfaced by the easy listening underground. Think of Kim Fowley, Lalo Schifrin, and Burt Bacharach bumping into Patrick McGoohan, Andy Warhol and Sid & Marty Krofft on Carnaby Street or along the Sunset Strip.

The album opens with a cover of a 1967 Electric Prunes' ad for the Vox wah-wah pedal ("you can even make your guitar sound like a sitar!"), cannily inserting "Death by Chocolate" into the product's list of endorsers. The line between collage and collagist is similarly blurred by Tillett's recitation of her swinging-single shopping list to a groovy discothèque backing. Other '60s touchstones include a beat stopping refrain drawn from Dudley Moore's "Bedazzled" dialogue ("'ere, my ice lolly just melted"), an H.R. Pufnstuf song (Witchiepoo's "Zap the World") recast as a capella harmony and jazz odyssey, and a pair of titles from the British film "Smashing Time."

Tillett runs through a Seussian alphabet to Ray Manzarek-like accompaniment, and pays tribute to her favorite car (Bentley Corniche), shirt (lime green fitted blouse), art (the Op art works of Bridget Riley), and cereal (Cinnamon Grahams) with short spoken pieces. The words are fanciful, the melodies effervescent, and the result is as seductive as candy.

Nostalgia gets a noogie........2002-07-11

Angie Tillet knows her way around the 60's. As her picture in the liner notes proves, even her slightly bad skin is chic in a Swinging London way, the kind of oatmeally complexion you can only get from a lifetime of bangers-and-sausage for breakfast -- she could be the young Malcolm McDowell's spunky little sister. Her debut album as Death by Chocolate was a cataloguing and recataloguing of her obsessions with the pop detritus of a decade that she and most of her listeners never saw. For me it was an all-too-precious jaunt down memory lane, like St. Etienne with irritating Cockney vocalise instead of tunes.

Zap the World is something else entirely. Not that there are more and better songs here -- only the sarcastic and anthemic "While I'm Still Young," ( "I would cry / If I died" ) which is worth the price of the album alone, qualifies as a song at all. The rest are driblets of spoken-word, unsatisfying fragments and paisley instrumentals that repeat themselves far past the point where the joke is funny. But Tillett, who is reading a tea-stained book called "Pop Art" in one of her pictures, has really expanded the possibilities for what a pop album can be. This is a full-on deconstruction of pop: its short-lived fashionability, cheap immediate gratification, and essential interchangeability even as each trendy new group pretends to be the culmination of all music -- all of these nasty truths about this scourge and godsend that has replaced Beethoven, POP, are brilliantly and subtly rendered by our precocious guide. Can you imagine a 22-year old mocking our fixation with youth instead of selling herself on it? That is the true meaning of "precocious."

The very first track, a fake ad for a "Vox Wah Wah Pedal," cruelly strips down the cliches of the Beatles and their peers ( "You can even make your guitar sound like a sitar!" ) until there is nothing left but a hank of hair and teeth. And all in about thirty seconds. Later she describes a hideous "lime-green blouse with fitted collar and puce cuffs," at which point we hear a record being lifted off the needle and her chirpy voice admonishing, "You don't have to WEAR all this -- all you have to do is listen!" Then we get the musical equivalent of that shirt, a foul lounge-y nightmare that sounds like your grandma's wallpaper looks. Tillett's affection for the 60's has entirely evaporated -- this entire album is a morbid joke at the expense of a generation who thought they would never get old and then did. The only way it could be any meaner is if she included a song about Paul McCartney's jowls.

Yet there is a moral aspect here as well. This album will be forever linked in my mind with Roman Coppola's film CQ, another superficially superficial examination of our inability to ever be happy where we are, in the present moment. Coppola shows the 60's as a decade where everyone dreamt of the glorious and utopian future, whereas those long-dead dreams now seem to us, stuck in the REAL future, this simulcra-plagued and pornographic age, as our last respite. If this album is not as fully-realized as the movie -- Tillett has yet to make her defining album -- they both remind us that there is no going back, that nostalgia is only a mass delusion that will weaken us and lead to disaster.