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: /____\ : >>> The Strange: Nights Of Forgotten Films <<<
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:..:... Supplier : SER 2006 Release Date : 08/21/2006 ...:..:
: : Ripper : SER 2006 Street Date : 00/00/2005 :..:...
...:..: Genre : Indie Source : CD : :
: : Label : Warner Music Tracks : 11 Tracks ...:..:
: : Quality : VBR/APS/44.1kHz Channels : Joint Stereo : :
:..:... Language : English Size : 62,9 MB :..:...
: : Software : EAC v0.95 Beta 3 Encoder : LAME v3.90.3 : :
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In an era of mashups and rampant genre cross-fertilization, I suppose
a collaboration between the founder of The Walkabouts-- one of the
greatest and most prolific American Gothic bands of the past two
decades-- and a Croatian surf-rock band with the nerve to call
themselves The Bambi Molesters should come as no surprise. What is
perhaps more unexpected, is that this collaboration is a resounding
success. Then again, The Walkabouts' Chris Eckman's whispery rasp
(which is similar to The Auteurs' Luke Haines) and the copious echo
and tremolo of prime surf aren't that far removed from each other-
- Johnny Cash and old trucker songs are good precedents. When The
Molesters lower the lights and inject a hint of blues and jazz noir
into their sound, it's a perfect match. The Croatian band's music is
already spectacularly stormy and dramatic, and Eckman had previously
delivered an arresting spoken performance on "Ice & Pinewood Trees",
from The Molesters' excellent second album Sonic Bullets, so there was
some collaborative comfort between the two parties.
Anyone who thinks of surf as expressly sunny music will have their
mind changed by this record. The dual guitars of Dalibor Pavicic and
Dinko Tomljanovic are dripping in cavernous spring reverb, but Hrvoje
Zaborac's roomy, understated drums and Lada Furlan Zaborac's slinking
bass keep them rooted on dry land, free to roam every deep old-growth
forest and poorly lit alleyway they can find. Occasional piano, organ,
and trumpet darken the edges, and Eckman is the deadpan centerpiece,
breathily narrating the blackness of the night with a delivery perched
in the gray area between spoken storytelling and melody. He goes the
furthest in the latter direction on "These Lies", a beautiful, mostly
acoustic piece of jazz-inflected folk that somehow combines the feel
of a campfire in the woods and the pools of light on an empty city
street.
Elsewhere, guitars swirl in stately rings around Eckman, and it's
quite clear that this is an equal partnership. The Molesters are never
relegated to backing band status-- Pavicic dances with Eckman in a
melodic call-and-response on "Tonight, I Will Say Anything" and then
trades off with Tomljanovic's Spaghetti Western rattle in the spaces
between verses. "Tonight, I will say anything/ Any stupid, fucked-up
thing/ Anything that helps," sings Eckman in a moment of desperation,
a slight sneer rising at the corner of his lips. At his most intense,
he whispers his lines with utter malevolence, like Jarvis Cocker on "I
Spy", and his frantic take on Echo & the Bunnymen's "Villier's
Terrace" is thrilling. "See It In the Dark" is the kind of frightening
waltz a SoCal Tindersticks might dream up, with lyrics about intra
-marital homicide and a two-pronged guitar attack that hits with
tangled leads in the high end and grinding, swaying chords in the low.
Nights of Forgotten Films doesn't even feel like a collaboration-- the
dynamic interactions between the players seems natural and
consistently bracing. I already thought The Bambi Molesters were the
best surf band in the world today, but it turns out that they're far,
far more than just that, able to sublimate their thrashier tendencies
in the service of a vocalist. Perhaps where this album succeeds is
that there's nothing forced-- each party involved gets to play to its
strengths and they effortlessly complement each other. So give credit
to Eckman and his Croatian crew: Nights of Forgotten Films is
everything a collaboration should be.
http://www.thebambimolesters.com/thestrange/
Scans: Front/Back/CD
Tracks:
01. Nights Of Forgotten Films (3:55)
02. Tonight, I Will Say Anything (4:19)
03. River Of Twilight (4:05)
04. See It In The Dark (3:30)
05. Long Shadows (5:59)
06. Comin' Undone (4:24)
07. These Lies (4:25)
08. Gone Missing (2:53)
09. Run With The Hunted (3:33)
10. Willers Terrace (3:33)
11. The Girl On Death Row (3:38)
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1way - AMOK - BOS - cnmc - FuFFENS - FWYH - HiT2000 - iPC - JUST
MGC - pyt - radial - RNS - RTB - ss - UBE - UKi - ViC
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