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CD Review
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Sing Out!, CD Review >>
Drummer and bandleader Matt Moran said of the Balkan brass aesthetic: "powerful acoustic music can be inherently subversibe." Seeing Slavic Soul Party! live is proof in action; there need be no amplification for the sonic assault launched by the stomping carnival of trombones, tubas and trubas. Throw in a sax, accordion and percussion and the ban's namesake is solidified. There's little wonder that the band's latest-- and by far, their most superior in terms of production and groove-- is on a recent start-up label formed out of Brooklyn's most innovative club, Barbes. It's a tiny, friendly venue that bands like SSP! (and exceptional labelmates Hazmat Modine) have used as a foundation , and now, with Teknoicheck Collision the, they collide into your ears with excellent takes on traditrional material, as well as Moran's own compositions. This heart personally belongs to the blaring title track, a dancefloor dazzler with a remarkable tuba line. (As dance music relies heavily on bass, the tuba can-- and in the case of SSP!, does-- to make formidable replacement.) There is no escaping the upbeat flairs of the tanchez, however, and their version of "Rumenka Takes a Drive" features rapid flourishes of horns interspersed with speed accordion stabs. ("9 at the River" matches, perhaps even surpasses, the speed.) Yet, there's also something enduringly endearing about the female voice and on two tracks-- the waltzing "Opa Cupa" and lament "Djelem, Djelem"-- Eva Salina Primack fills that role. There is much to move you on this record, but nothing greater than her gorgeous melodies on that sad song. Proof once again that the balm is in the wound, and as she stabs, she heals.
--DB 01/01/08 >> go there
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