Anti

Once upon a time, we found an envelope in our mailbox. One with no information about the sender on the outside. Or the inside. It contained just a tape. No letter was enclosed. Just a word scribbled down on the tape box: ANTI.

We fell in love with the songs instantly. It was a sort of electronic stuff, catchy and strange at the same time; after one subtle, soft instrumental, came an ear-piercing pop mutation full of rough noise and weird breakbeats. Every song was different to the previous one, as if it were a compilation album, though there was a strong connection among them all, maybe because of the vocals, always smooth and peaceful. Besides, the sound had a special timeless quality, as if the songs had been written in 1979, 1988 or the previous month -most likely. Truly wonderful stuff.

The only problem was: “Who is ANTI? And how on earth are we supposed to contact him?“ After several weeks of nail-biting and brain-racking, the problem was solved with a phonecall; some husky, low-pitched voice presented himself as ANTI “in the flesh”. He wanted to make some inquiries about the tape he had sent to Elefant.

Thanks to this call - the only contact we´ve had with the artist in all this time- we were able to learn some few things about him: universal heir of one of the wealthiest European families, ANTI lives alone in a medieval castle of his own (!!!) located somewhere in the Madrid countryside; he´s devoted exclusively to writing songs, and feeding his dogs, cats and bats (!!!), the only living company ANTI has had in all these years. He´s completely disconnected of anything happening outside his little world.

Among the walls of his tower ANTI wrote such songs as “Chiller”, an electronic tidal wave that grows and grows... till you get drowned on it. Or “Kinky Beat”, which sounds as if the B-52´s had coloured with crayons some obscure SUICIDE stuff... Not to mention “Ride The Tiger”, and its unstoppable, enjoyable disco beat.

Just six songs - though the total time is over 30 minutes. Maybe a bit too short... but more complete, magic and special than most “long-play” albums. ANTI rules.

Discography:
ER-1059 “Anti” Mini-LP/Mini-CD 1998

Songs in compilations:
- “Ride The Tiger” in VERANO DEL 99.-(CD, ER-1062, 1999)
- “Kinky Beat” in ELEFANTDIEZ.- (CD, ERDL-001, 1999)
- “Chiller” in THE SATELLITE #2 CD (uk fanzine+cd, 2000)