Voilá, he’s back. With his jerky, irregular and impulsive rhythms (seen both in his music and his films) Quentin Dupieux aka Mr Oizo presents ‘VOILÁ’, released via Ed Banger Records/Because Music.
We last saw him in 2020, in front of Belgian rapper Romeo Elvis’ pharmacy on the single “Pharmacist”, and he now returns – this time joined by hip-hop from Milan courtesy of Italian artist Phra.
‘VOILÁ’ is a logical continuation of collaborations between Mr Oizo and Phra. Their partnership began on the track No Tony, taken from the album ‘All Wet’ in 2016, then on ‘Ed Rec 100’ in 2017 and latterly ‘Dolce Vita’ on his EP ‘Rythme Plat’ in 2019. This new ‘VOILÁ’ EP (dubbed a “generous EP” by label boss Pedro Winter due to its length) is composed of 9 tracks, which are to be savoured like a course of antipasti.
Jetting off in search of transalpine hip-hop, Oizo enliara Phra as interpreter. Phra is also a member of Crookers, the Italian leaders of the Blog House movement. With their respective backgrounds, he and Oizo exchange common memories in French-Italian (on
“Foie Gras” and “Sylvie”). They recruit local rapper Frah Quintale on “Serenata Barbecue” and even reinvent Nelly’s hit “Hot in Here”, flipping it to become “Hot in Her” – in a pure example of the “italoizo” style.
Inspired by another collaboration – MF Doom & Madlib’s ‘Madvillainy’ – VOILÁ is a carefully prepared cocktail – nuanced and varied, yet immediate in it’s impact.
For the final touch, Pedro Winter asked graphic designer Eric Haze (the designer behind the legendary typeface for the Beastie Boys’ ‘Check Your Head’ album) to create the minimalist graphic design of the cover for ‘VOILÁ’, in line with Mr Oizo’s wishes.
Voilá.
