Out via heaven hotel presents shortly and distributed by Jezus Factory is – I think I’m right in saying – the debut full length from Angels Die Hard who feature among their core three piece line up – a trio of souls from Strumpets, so basically Strumpets with a different name and a different sound aided and abetted by a gathering of friends among whom includes Rudy Trouve. Recorded in 4 days in Antwerp, this self titled gem named after an obscure biker movie from the early 70’s features eight instrumentals whose collective mission is it seems to take you on a journey across the globe and beyond. Superbly crafted and delicately balanced between the murmured and the monolithic ‘blue mamba’ opens proceedings. Hypnotic ethnic earth beat motifs. snake charming Arabesque mantras, there’s something post rockian Quickspace about its wares that’s weaved around a subtle spectral spy themed coda that could have easily been prized by a long forgotten and lost John Barry score for a would be aborted late 60’s TV show. ‘unga dunga’ is a pure balalaikian bitches brew, unwieldy, frenetic and frantic, its shape shifts with acutely cute angular poise dashed upon skin prickling art pop posies. Freefalling into Tape Cuts Tape territories there’s something darkly seductive about ’a walk in the black forest’ with its locked groove whiter funk fractures and woozy Theremins erupting into howling cyclonic masses of wiring kraut-ian jazz goo as though carved from the remnants of an echo boy / add N to X face off. Side b opens with some seriously old school cosmic prog in the guise of ’fruhstuckstelle’ – a hulking interstellar odyssey where the legendary sounds capes of Neu, Amon and tangerine all converge, crystallise and collapse into a glorious sun bursting star symphony. And do we detect the subtle tonalities of ‘I wanna be your man’ loosely threaded between the grooves of ‘tropical hibernation’ I should say – a riff rumbling Dale-esque twang twister much adoring we suspect of the shadowy men on a shadowy planet. And then its earthbound for the alluring far eastern framed ‘angels across the pacific’ which after some gorgeously ornate and serenely spliced bowed instrumentations goes all heads down for a spot of fuzz buzzed beatnik groove. Best of the set comes with the parting ‘the lonely angel’ – forlorn, beautiful and bruised, this sighing lovely is possessed of the sensitivity of John Williams and the opining majesty of the Grails.
Video for ‘unga dunga’…..
the sunday experience 