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Exotic Klautrophobia | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Dutch label Narrominded ‘broaden their musical landscape' to bring the ‘emotional noise-rock, new wave and free jazz' of Razorblade Jr., Stanley Disko and Bubba Le Vries, who are and have not all, Gone Bald, on their new 5 track CD release Exotic Klautrofobia. First listen reveals distorted guitar and some bloke screaming something possibly misogynic in a thick european accent. There was a Polish band, Apteka, who ploughed a similar acid rock furrow in the early 1990s, somehow using their failure to grasp the Queen's English to their advantage. They too hung around bars in Amsterdam, like the sociable and prolific Razorblade Jr. (guitar,vocals) who originates from Zagreb, Croatia and his friends Disko and LeVries, who provide more than a solid back up pulling things together on bass and drums. Narrominded have indeed broadened their musical landscape and instead of the expected crisp electronica have released experimental alco-rock, which probably works better live than on CD and at first knocks me off balance. Razorblade Jr.'s fondness for guitar fx and inaccuracies irritate at first and he sounds better singing in his mother tongue, as on the third track, ‘serum istine'. Research also reveals the rhythm section's predilection for the excellent Jesus Lizard, whose crisp urgency is evident here. It's all well recorded and produced, testament to the experience and network behind it, but the first thing to stand out is a watery sound effect at the end of track 4. By track 5 I'm resigned to the frequencies and enjoy an urgent, bass guitar driven instrumental, perhaps because my ears don't have to deal with Razorblade Jr.'s voice. Toward what I thought at first was the end, an incongruent trumpet and out of tune Les Dawson piano spoil it a bit. In fact, I was only about half way and after another twelve minutes of mayhem, together with the crew of the Starship Enterprise with a theremin, aka Wiechert Warntjes and ‘Pink Noise Quartet', they scramble up a cliff face to exit into a silent void around the 16 minutes mark. After 5 tracks and 36 minutes I'm left wanting more, as I would be at a live gig and for an encore, judging by this release, I imagine Gone Bald would do pretty much anything you asked them to. Review by Roland from Poland
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