Ten years that they’ve been around, and I’m sorry it took me until now to really appreciate. My mistake? Well, they live just around the corner, so how could I know?
Talking about the Langusta label from my home town, Biel Switzerland. I’ve started to notice they are still active when they released the original Calypso Now cassette Stude, Ds Läbe Vor Em Tod from 2011. So that is part one of the really good news: Stude’s tape is now available in digital format, the analogue being sold out anyway.
You remember Stude, do you? The man I so highly praised as the pop reincarnation of Jad Fair, I still can’t stop listening to his music, it’s two years now that the cassette has been released. No english, german and swiss german only. Which is very fine, he is some kind of a rural wordsmith (well, Switzerland being the country of milk and cheese, doesn’t this just come natural), he can go from the sad to the absurd to the What-the-fuck-does-he-say-here to the very funny, but always delivered with the same straight face, and kind of a dead pan voice. Plus he’s working with really good people, be it on the electro front, or the plain old guitar. He’s a surprisingly good bass player, too – man of the dub, he. Should compare him to Jonathan Richman rather than to the Fair one, revisiting my earlier link. With more music, less talk.
Now the Langusta people are holding court this weekend at AJZ Biel, Langustapalooza it’s called. I love this pop attitude. I’m concious of the fact that about 20 years have gone by since Lollapalooza was in all the media, so maybe today nobody understands the hint. But on the other hand, it might be me who is not in the know, because I just saw this festival still seems to exist. Ok, skip this. Back to the music.
Musicwise, I was in for a big surprise. Got the promo CD for the festival (november 30, 2013, biel, gaskessel). All unreleased tracks. All killers. All fillers. Fillers of boredom – I mean this music keeps it away, the boredom. Was not sure you got the meaning, could be understood diff. WTF have I been trying to say here? Forget it.
Now, I was playing the complete CD on my radio show, and this is definitely the best way to check out some new music. First I was thinking when listening to The Lovejoys Treasure Of San Miguel, well this is kinda shitty, they must be crazy to release such a boring track. Until it really got interesting; it got interesting because they kept insisting at this cheap melody played in unison by the brass, a steady rhythm guitar practically on top of the hook line. Then it clicked, and I was really hooked. And when Sound 8 Orchestra came up with the funniest synthesizer tune I’ve ever heard I was practically dancing up there on the ceiling, above my bed. And laughing my balls off, too. What’s so great about this track is that he obviously takes care to do just the unexpected at virtually every single turn, which of course is what you begin to expect after a very short time, but one is surprised nonetheless by the maybe ironic execution and how deep this thing is rocking. All analogue synthesizers? Could be, ask him yourself next saturday, Sound 8 Orchestra will be on stage at this Langustapalooza.
Most CD tracks have these great vintage electro sounds, but that is not all. I mean, I know a lot of vintage electro tracks from the 70s or 80s, I think – these people are mostly too much in love with their then brand new machine, sometimes downright 100% boring.
Not here – I tell you I was never bored, having listened to this CD now several times and it just makes me want more. Best description of all this comes from a lady on my radio show:
Well trained musicians playing shitty music
That’s maximum praise!
See you on Saturday! Oh, and I heard they give away the Langustapalooza compilation at the door! (all unreleased tracks).