FUGU & THE COSMIC MUMU – s/t

(CD, no label)

Manfred Engelmayr (or Raumschiff Engelmayr as he calls himself lately) once told me that his record collection is really small, but I am beginning to doubt it. Judging from the four songs presented on this new EP by Fugu & The Cosmic Mumu, he owns some classic rock, some balkan folk, some Italo-rock records and then some more classic rock. And some old blues and folk records and I guess some contemporary electronica as well. Or maybe that is all attributable to what the other people in the band brought in. All of them big Beefheart-fans, I guess. There is Heimo Wallner, who played trumpet with Bulbul as well, and Martin Zrost on bass and saxophon, and Bernhard Breuer on the drums. It would be unfair to judge this band against Bulbul, but of course Bulbul, lead by Engelmayr, is looming tall over anything he does. (Especially when Bulbul holds the status of most often reviewed band on this website.) In contrast Fugu and the Cosmic Mumu is a lot more song oriented enterprise, and I mean songs with a narrative structure as well.

Don’t worry, there is enough weird stuff going on as well, at least enough to keep the noise rock fans interested (that lazy, conservative bunch of individualists…) Some noises and rattles mixed in the back remind me of times when Bulbul was still a solo performance and Engelmayr used to jump into a box filled with small metal bitparts to score percussive counterpoints. But that is long gone and interests and visions have spread out in all directions.

Two songs on this EP are relatively straightforward. Mind you, I said “relatively” because nothing is ever as easy as it seems at first sight. The other two boast eastern European folkloristic elements, which is great to hear in this special mix. One is “Milano” (here – the Italo rock) with its swaggering three quarters timing and starting with a simple guitar line and basic Italian words (Ti amo … Milano) and ending in a clatter and clanging of rusty implements.

The other is called “Lamento”, the last song on the record, stands up easily with each of the traditional spirituals so long passed over from generation to generation. Just take a line like “And if my loving had any value / I would say I love you so / but my heart is so vain and shallow / I can’t pay ou what I owe.” Willy DeVille is lining up to buy that song, I guess. The song has the same sombre waltz rhythm that Tom Waits likes to use and you’d expect the weird but great Uptown Horns (that graced Rain Dogs so elegantly and distortedly at the same time) to start up at any time. But when the trumpet sets in it is underscored by a triggered heavy guitar and some electronic whizzes instead of the expected mandolin or accordion. By the way this is the only instance on these four songs that noise-rock guitar of Engelmayr really shines through and that only for a short time as well. As I said, this is a strictly song oriented collection of songs.

The other two songs on here are the more uplifting but somehow Seventies bombast oriented (though definitely not arranged that way) “Idol” and the soft, subtle late night blues crooning of “Willow Pillow”. Hints of Hugo Race “Earl’s world” are blown away as softly as possible by a saxophone played as inaudible as possible. A mere hush of it, but elegently draping itself over the basic chord changes. As far as guitar playing is concerned, Engelmayr is as far away from Eric Clapton as is humanly possibly, that is he choses his licks and notes with a lot of care and, even if you wouldn’t believe it live due to the fervor, energy and craziness on stage, precision.

Once again preconceived expectations have been proven wrong, but with best results. Shaping and shifting your own expectations around is always a good thing. Lately I have been doing that a lot to myself, partly on my own free will and partly forced to do so, but dig this: as I am finishing this review I am listening to a recording of the Gary Burton Quintet with Eberhard Weber from 1974 on ECM, music that is unobtrusive, features a vibraphone in the dominant role and is exciting nonetheless, even though it is almost as old as me. (Yes, I am that old.) There is Pat Metheny on there as well, the jazz guitarist only overpaid CEO’s of immoral mega-companies seem to be getting “into” in the last years and for good reason. There are a lot more examples like these but I don’t want to bore you with the revelations about myself.

Somebody should give Fugu and the Cosmic Mumu a national grant so they can go on and produce a few double albums of music and set off on some bigger stages. Then maybe a lot of people want to learn about changing or at least challenging themselves.