Monday, November 30, 2009

Arrington de Dionyso


Arrington de Dionyso's Malaikat dan Singa is full of weird noises that evoke a scary grindhouse flick set in Southeast Asia. The fake-tribal soundtrack to this film feels like it was written by a funky Bizarro-World version of Captain Beefheart. [In Bizarro World, Captain Beefheart is fun music that a person might listen to for pleasure as opposed to (1.) finding out what Captain Beefheart sounds like or (2.) being a guy in a record store who says he likes Captain Beefheart.] The entire album is sung/screeched/muttered in Indonesian.

The wacky, faux-Eastern jazz sax and pie tin banging is carried out with such conviction and attention to the groove that you don't even mind that much when it's time for the didgeridoo solo, or whatever that is. In fact, the whole reason I'll bet you might not immediately put something else on is the hypnotic, post-punk bass and beats. They do a nice job of anchoring all that exotica. Take them away, and this album would be the kind of nightmare that makes me giggle. With them, I'm kind of into it.

Mr. de Dionyso's press materials suggest that Malaikat dan Singa was recorded to impress a girl. I would like to meet this girl. And ask her if she is impressed. But take that bit about a girl under advisement, because the press materials also claim that this is an album you can dance to, and to that I say: maybe at Burning Man. But not in my house. You fucking hippie.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Haha! Great review= there's definitely no didg though- that's all amplified bass clarinet! It says so in the liner notes!

You should track down that girl and see what she thinks. You can find anybody on the internet these days.

Unknown said...

Dear Anonymous, The big bummer about review copies these days is that they come with press releases but no liner notes, that is, when they aren't download links.

Anonymous said...

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