Wednesday, November 02, 2005

Cabin In The Sky


The first incarnation of Tuxedomoon occurred in 1977 in San Francisco. Self described as an "eclectic international post punk new wave music group", the band created a unique interpretation of those styles by adding in art rock (emphasis on art), jazz and classical influences. In the early '80s the band relocated to Europe, where the music they created felt more at home. The four principles still live all over the map - Mexico, the US, Greece and Belgium - and this brings a very distinctive international flavor to their recently released album, Cabin In The Sky. The album features input from a bunch of current scenesters - DJ Hell, John McEntire, Tarwater and Marc Collin (Nouvelle Vague, Ollano, Volga Select) all help out in various ways. The resulting record is a slick mish mash of post-punk and jazz and Italian film noir and dance beats. Luther Blisset - (interesting Wikipedia listing for Luther Blisset) - rides minimal house-y beats, adds layers of buzzing guitars, piano vamping, sawing synths, incredibly crazed horn skronk and a bunch of other cool shit, then tops it of with Steve Brown's Bowie-esque vocals. It's a fascinating brew from a record that's caught me by surprise.

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