ELECTRIC MULLAHS - Kattuwattmittanfaan'n???

4 songs
11:05 minutes
***** *****
(DIY)

Email

Deceptively simple! That's the characteristic the renowned beat doctor's latest low-key limited edition release crystallises into after the scandalously short (4 tracks in 11 earth minutes) recording has been revolving round itself on my CD-player on repeat for about an hour. Far more minimal than previous releases and at first sounds somewhat tame in comparison to earlier tours de force.

Opens with an initially very organic-sounding 50-second ricky-ticky-bang-dong accompanied by low-fi punk-folk compatible acoustic guitars. The drums are seemingly messy yet well sequenced and so staccato they're like a rhythmic aural strobe... as the bang-dong mechanical travail à la chaîne takes over and merges into the next song, it all gets very, very minimal and very computer. Here is again the self-evidence of another classic Mullah spoken-word sample that cuts up the beats, rhythmically cheering folks on to join in the lunatic dream of the dance. As the beats tag along and the voice vanishes, the beats change shape again, go more screechy-metallic hi-hat and get as groovy as minimal gets (like a robot handclap... think Brinkmann!). And then there's this funky bassline straight out of DJ Shadow meets Run DMC meets the Kruder/Dorfmeister team. Hard to describe – turn up the volume, turn up the bass, flick that loudness switch ON, feel the vibration. Crazy like James Brown gone into a compulsive bassline cos he's simply forgotten what to play next as what he's playing right now is just so good. The groove keeps going as the final track, an 80s hommage par excellence, introduces the fat wobbly kick (or is that the snare? you never know with that 80s disco-rock!) of Addicted to Love, the glamorous hedonist compulsive ode to pleasure by the late Robert Palmer... it's a rough ride there as the capricious beat carousel and the synthetic 80s wind section make an entry and keep looping that entry...re-entry... yet never conclude – I want it, I want it, you bastards, where is it? You already once pulled that teasing stunt on me on Kids in America. -- Ah, here goes: the chorus starts, and starts again... ah, it never flares up fully. Oh, but I can accept that as I laugh at myself and have it confirmed to me by the unforgettable Musical Youth statement: "PEACE GENERATION RULES DEE NATION" -- And indeed, in 25 years' music history nothing has changed – essentially 'tis all of the same substance when you feel the vibe. Of course, the new mullahic brew adds a powerful reflexive post-edge of playfully evil and knowing subversiveness: the style of the combined delivery has special beats, minimal rickety-tappity-clackity beats indeed, double-layered to very alien yet strangely familiar (is this my brain?) and thus very comic effect. Then, as now, I am reminded of the truth of such wise advice as the following: "Pass dee dutchy on yer left-hand side!" Thanks for keeping it real! Respect! Hope to see the man perform live again soon!

(author: Tomix)