BOUTROS BUBBA – hearing voicst in a beer commercial always makes me want to get drunk

(free download, Narrowminded)

Lots of thanks and respects to Narrowminded for bringing a lot of fine music to the people for free by offering proper releases as free downloads on their website (see below, though there are some payable and only CD releases as well). Unlike a lot of netlabels they don’t just put anything onto servers that comes around, but they seem to be still linked to the idea of releases and a label being an organisation to organize and realite the release of releases. And except for a focus on their Dutch home, they don’t set themselves any rules or regulations. Even though all kinds of rules, exceptions, principles and prejudices that limit the amount of music being released these days should be welcome, I still find myself unable to really follow the unbeatable logic that comes from the simple realization that there is just too much music around. So it is still a good sign that there are some signposts in the wilderness of the internet and music to be found therein that stand for a certain style, quality or at least an attitude. In the case of Narrowminded this seems to be a punk attitude refined by the knowledge that technical finesse can make music better and that there is a lot of great music aside the 3-chord basic punk figure. Now to Boutros Bubba.

The duo consists of practically the spine of the defunct rockband Quarles van Ufford, which is Spoelstra on guitar and singing and Vreselijk Ongeluk on drums. On the first of their four songs on this oddly named EP they build up an image of their music that they work profoundly on destroying throughout the other three. “a year in gong therapy” is a juvenile outburst of uncontrolled punknoise straight from the garage, without any kind of ado and the feeling that you are listening to a take where the musicians played in sync by accident. But then they show that they are actually able to pull a song, introduce ides and technique and play quite a lot of technically difficult structures to top it off. They dwindle somewhere between the might of Mission of Burma, the raffinesse of Shellac and the emo-dynamics of Junique Fois Pi or Makazoruki (which you will meet on the narrominded website as well).

The four songs are well worked out, even inspite of all the ruckus and chaos of the introductory opening. At times the single parts are a little disconnected to each other, e.g. loud comes up without warning or a lot of reason here and there or the emotional culminations aren’t really as obvious as they could be. Sometimes a riff goes on for some time and then stops to break into another part for probably no other reason than the riff having gone on for some time. Sometimes this disturbs the mind set on rocking, other times it is perfect. The best bands in the universe, ie. The Melvins and Shellac, always hit the right spot. Or seem to. Or at least they hit my spot.

On the other hand, if you are looking for perfection in the execution of sounds parading as emotionally extreme situations, then you have come to the wrong place anyway. Meaning, Cracked website. Not that this record doesn’t show any emotions – there is plenty of all kinds of emotions, from juvenile anger and screaming despair to chaotic noisemongering and some shitkicking for the heck of it – but they aren’t always played out and polished to the extreme. But that isn’t always necessary as well. After all the duo plays over and above the limitations of their two people with instruments approach with bravado, self esteem and the basic rock music carelessness. The guitar sounds is scratchy at times and the drums are too far in the front, for my taste anyway. But I still like that (unbelievably, I sometimes like things that have some things in them that I don’t like also for the reason that they have those things – the mind is a wonderful thing.) because it means that Boutros Bubba are searching for their own voice, and they are not doing it in the mainstream or on the pathway to big labels and stardom, but in the ever loved underground. For whatever that word “underground” means today still, I can find it here.
www.narrominded.com
11/2006