Maher Shalal Hash Baz - L'Autre Cap [K Records - 2007]Maher Shalal Hash Baz makes glorious wrong sound music, and with L'Autre Cap he presents 27 tracks of barely holding together music- that dips into ill sound pop music, wonky jazz and big band on a sinking ship music, rock & blues that nearly rocks it self off the page. It’s all toped with Maher Shalal Hash Baz wavering oriental voice singing in English and Japanese, at times sounding a weedy Lou Reed at others like worse for wear folk singer, or maybe a down on his luck pop crooner. I guess it’s all down to your tolerance to bad sounding music how much you’ll enjoy this, but I’ve found like all great bad sounding music after the initial few listen and wincing bad notes, it starts to make it’s own kind of demented sense. Then there’s some very humble melodies among the drunkenly parade instrumentation, glinting in all there rough diamond charm. As oboe stagers, guitar weaves here and there, big bass drum threatens to topple over, just born piano tries to walk- Really making all manner of splendid chaos. The tracks for the most part stay around for three minutes at most, just enough time to let there off melodies settle in your mind. It does take a really talent to play wrong music that sounds this good, this is granteed to paint some hope on the glummest of moods, with it’s sunshiny out of sink disposition So if like me you miss The Resident's playing badly, or mourn the loss of Fog’s more off-Keyness, or just enjoy the sound of beautiful wrongness. You’ll let Maher Shalal Hash Baz into your world, with his wonky smile and his shambolic musical companions Roger Batty
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