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BUGO / ONQ
The idea of two bands covering each other for a single release is neither
new nor very original, but Bugo and Onq are congenial partners, making the respective
songs their own as if they had written them themselves. They also add one of
their own as well, for good measure. Bugo and Onq are both somewhere in the “silent is the
new loud”-genre but much more lo-fi and homebrewed, though both try for a
bigger sound, incorporating various guest musicians or electronic noise to
distort and liven up the mix. Especially “Paranoia”, which is on here in
two versions, is an hypnotic song with trance-like repetitions of the same
incenting notes over and over again. There is a certain magic within
repetition, from the drumheavy beats of techno to the shoegazing layers of
guitars and traditional instruments, the later we can find a lot on these
four tracks. Even if Onq makes an almost bluesy and psychedelic solo-track
out of “Paranoia”. It is both the differences and the alikeness which
make Bugo and Onq such a great pairing
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VALERIO SARTORI
The nine short excursions into sounds by Valerio Sartori are from a
completely different beach. Trying to shed off the binding rules and
obligations of the song and its forms, Sartori sets out to experiment with
sounds, voices and chords. Still he gets drawn to short songs, that sounds
like Simon & Garfunkel in their melancholic best. But inbetween he
presents experimental compositions with voices that draw their roots back to
Gregorian chants and other spiritual music. Some of the background choirs on
the elegiac and beautifully sad “Alice” sound like recorded in a church
(big, dark echo) and sung by a church-choir. Or some of the chord
progressions in “Il mio Amico” are definitely taken out of the songbooks
you can find in any decent church, while other scome directly out of a
Seventies-Hits-collections or some deserted Trattoria in the Italian
mountains. Like various hidden souls in Sartoris mind, different personaes
will creep up from time to time to show their heads. An intriguing
experience to listen to.
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MOUSE & SEQUENCER – “the photographer”
More sound experiments and
postmodern structures of large bits and pieces. Mouse and sequencer start
off with children’s singing, fade into cheap organs (self-built? Or dug up
on a flea market?) and open a cheap drumbox-beat, strum the guitar and
arrange a compelling instrumental from there. The third song is aptly named
“New Toys” and features a lot of tinkering and clinkering with new
children’s toys that make music (which almost all children’s toys seem
to do nowadays.) set to beautiful chord changes that sound like a walk on
the beach in summer. Mouse And Sequencer will lead you through musical
excursion, during which you will never be sure, where exactly they might
end. You might start with peaceful noises of nightly insects and end in a
dingy storage room with eerie voices talking at you in strange languages. Oh
yeah, on song is called “lullaby for a pregnant robot” – I wanted to
mention that one because it might tell you more about the mindset of Mouse
& sequencer than my words ever could.
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DEREK DE PRATOR – “from the hit motion picture”
Derek DePrator is an American folk / country-singer with a weird twist.
For instance, he lets his dog speak on this record and one of his songs is
called “Me and my Killer Dog”. He covers a song called “Alcohol of
Fame” as a funny aside and then another cover, this time by “Thomas O.
Huber”, which brings me to the question: how the heck do these guys know
each other? DePrator will release a one-sided 12”album on Dhyana records
soon (or maybe that has already happened), the where’s and how’s of
which are enclouded in the same modern mystery as the whole man. He plays on
the acoustic guitar, records directly to tape, talks a little inbetween and
seems like an all-round good guy. Someone you’d like to have around during
a garden party. Mainly because he can grab a guitar and play a song or
three. Musically, I have heard better, but not everyone can be Howe Gelb.
Especially while Howe is still alive. Derek DePrator definitely has a story
worth telling and plays music worth listening to. Sometimes his stories are
weird and edgy and hard to follow, and sometimes his music seems all too
homemade and simple, but maybe that is the mystery of his art. Derek
DePrator might just be some guy playing guitar, who by coincidence happens
to have a weird sense of humour and a lot of talent. He might also be like
Townes Van Zandt, and unfortunately nobody has yet discovered him. A
country-story written by life.
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