This is a tremendous bucket of fresh water from Berlin, it really woke me up and made me happy. I have it on heavy rotation in the car, all the time. Not because I’ve never come across anything similar but because so much joy in making music doesn’t appear very often. Those who love music from Ennio Morricone, Piero Piccioni, Piero Umiliani or Berto Pissano will know what I’m talking about. It’s something like being forced to watch someone’s head being shot off and believing it’s the funniest thing you have ever seen at the same time. But there are also moments for more lyrical reflections as well as some sentimental notes. And they are not humorous in any way.
If you like The Cinematic Orchestra and John Zorn’s Naked City this will float your boat. It has a bit of everything in it, it’s The Sex Mob meets Genesis, but also Kurt Weil dancing with Tom Waits. There’s a cabaret decadence to it but it’s not obvious, it doesn’t slap you in the face. It appears in Italian movies like cadenzas but turns into crushing sax crescendos in a second. It jumps on your head from the rap like rubato* samples mixed with insane dialogue and giggles, which then turns into some crazy spiing patterns that do your head in. There is some loneliness as well, similar to that found in the early Jarmusch movies and illustrated so aptly by John Lurie’s tenor sax.
But there is also some madness, expressed a bit like Psychic TV or Blurt (you remember Blurt! Ed). It’s a kind of schizophrenic feeling but one that’s lined with nostalgia. Some listeners may find the mood similar to The Dark Side of The Moon, but whatever you recognise you can’t help tapping your feet and wanting to dance. Even if the melody is sick and fainting and the orchestra is drunk, as long as they still can deliver you don’t want to switch it off. What more could I say?
Greg Drygala
*randomly changing tempo