Rediscover: Omega (Redstar): - "Trombitás Frédi És A Rettenetes Emberek"

When you think about Communist Hungary – assuming you think about it at all – the first thing to spring to mind probably isn’t Eastern-tinged soundscapes and mind-fuck guitar licks. It’s time to rethink why the West won the Cold War.

Released in 1968, Omega’s Trombitás Frédi És A Rettenetes Emberek(loosely translated to Trumpeter Fred and the Terrible People) was Omega’s first offering in a career spanning more than 40 years. Though the band was always Omega, they were rechristened as Omega Redstar for their debut, though went by Omega on all future releases. Looking at the band’s record covers over the years is something of an abbreviated study in rock n’ roll album design and hairstyles over several decades, as they go from the Rubber Soul-esque 10,000 Lépés to 1975’s English-language The Hall of Floaters In The Sky, with its giant eagle clutching a sword; there’s the Bowie-fueled Omega X: Az Arc and 1978’s prog-inspired Skyrover, one of the many platters the Budapest-based quintet released in both English and Hungarian (a few English-only albums are also out there).

The band formed in 1962 but didn’t release its debut until six years later, and while six years isn’t all that long, it’s an eternity as far as the evolution of ‘60s rock. So, not surprisingly, Trombitás Frédi is a mish-mash of sounds from the era, though the Beatles seem to always be the chief musical reference point.

A track like “Vasárnap” could’ve been a {Revolver} cut solely on the strength of its McCartney-esque melody, which bears a striking resemblance to that record’s “For No One,” whereas “Rettenetes Emberek” feels like an early-‘60s dance hall track that transforms into a more psych-oriented mid-‘60s garage jam that wouldn’t have been out of place in a Nuggets collection. “Holnap” alternates between tiptoeing guitar and bass lines, offset by schizophrenic guitars and keyboards and “Ha Én Szél Lehetnék” is whistle-laden ditty that moves back and forth between a bouncy and childlike vibe before turning 90 degrees to add a Far East flavor, then turning back to the whimsical.

The brief instrumental “Kállai Kettős” opens with reverb guitars and a flute solo before the ominous bass and drums come in, building toward a guitar workout influenced by Hungarian folk melodies. (Psych revivalists, take note: when attempting to recreate this stuff, it’s best to include the bits that nobody likes, such as flute solos).

Sadly, Omega were left off of last year’s Psychedelic Super Piotr, a compilation of psych cuts from behind the Iron Curtain, including Illes, another Hungarian act, whose “Ne Gondold” comes across like The Beatles’ “Get Back” on steroids. Admittedly, there’s not a huge market for Eastern European psychedelia, but Omega at least deserved to be included in that sort of broad survey of the genre.

In an age when seemingly everything ever recorded is available with a mouse click or two, there’s a reason this sort of thing hasn’t been completely resurrected. For one thing, Hungarian psychedelic rock is an admittedly small niche market. Secondly, however, is availability: select bits of Omega’s catalog have been reissued via the Hungarian label Hungaraton, but even on the Web it’s not always the easiest thing to track down. (After a lot of searching I stumbled upon a copy at Philly’s AKA Records, home to one of the country’s the best selections of obscure foreign psych reissues).

Trombitás Frédi’s 2003 reissue contains seven bonus tracks – including the bluesy “Nem Szeretlek” and the Zombies-inspired “Rószafák” – and while the material doesn’t always gel together as a cohesive whole on account of coming from a number of different stylistic periods, it’s a fascinating time capsule from behind the Iron Curtain – and a peak into a regional genre that’s not often discussed.

(Originally posted 6/15/10 at SpectrumCulture.com)

Reviewapalooza!

Here's links to a bunch of stuff I've reviewed over the past several months but was too lazy to post individually each time it actually went up online. I'll try to be better about that.

"Red Riding Trilogy"

Freelance Whales - "Weathervanes"

David Hajdu - "Heroes & Villains"

Rediscover: The Rentals - "Seven More Minutes"

The Art Museums - "Rough Frame"

Miles Kurosky - "The Desert of Shallow Effects"

Free Energy - "Stuck On Nothing"

Woods - "At Echo Lake"

Standard Fare - "The Noyelle Beat"

Wednesday Comics anthology

I didn't see "War Games" until I was 29.

The Apples In Stereo - The Future Is Now

My piece on The Apples In Stereo, for Blurt Online

(Orig. published 5/14/10 at Blurt Online)

HAPPY ACCIDENTS: Fyfe Dangerfield

My piece on Fyfe Dangerfield, up at Blurt Online.

Dr. Dog - Trying A Detour

My piece on Dr. Dog, an Under the Radar Web exclusive (3/5/10)

The greatest love song of the last 10 years

If you just read selected lyrics, it comes across like your typical ode to lost love ("I don't even know where she lives/ I've not seen her in 10 years..." or the impassioned chorus of "Other girls went and other girls came/ I can't get over my old flame/ I'm still in love with Emily Kane.") But what makes "Emily Kane" arguably the greatest indie rock love song of the last decade is Art Brut frontman Eddie Argos' delivery and attitude. Sure there's some humor there, but it's only to mask the fact that he's 100% sincere.

From the way the opening eight chords slide down the scale to the fevered repetition of the final choruses, "Emily Kane" sticks with you not just because it's a great pop song, but because it so vividly pines for a certain feeling at a certain time of life. Not to mention that it's relatable; nearly everyone had some sort of infatuation at age 15 - unrequited or otherwise - and the thrill of that early romance is the newness of it. And that's half of what Argos is longing for: "Even though we didn't understand/ How to do much more than just hold hands/ There's so much about you I miss/ The clumsy way we used to kiss," he reminisces in his mostly-spoken style. Sure, it's a tribute to a real person, but more than that, it's a longing for something intangible - a little bit of nostalgia for a feeling that you basically only get once.

(Note: The video sucks, so press play and then ignore the visuals. Or just go find your copy of the album and turn it up fucking loud.)



(Originally posted 2/12/10 at SpectrumCulture.com)

Review: Aziz Ansari - "Intimate Moments for a Sensual Evening"

Arguably the three biggest stand-up comedy stories of the last decade were the massive popularity of “blue collar” comedians; the continued prominence of macho frat-boy jack-ass comedy (lookin’ at you, Dane Cook); and so-called indie comedy, the likes of David Cross, Patton Oswalt, Flight of the Conchords and more. Aziz Ansari (best known from his work on Parks and Recreation, Human Giant and Funny People) fits easily in that last category, but Intimate Moments for a Sensual Evening demonstrates that he’s still got a long climb before he reaches those comics’ level.

Intimate Moments, Ansari’s first stand-up special, premiered on Comedy Central, followed by release a few days later on both CD and DVD. The DVD’s only benefit over the CD (aside from the visual component, and save for one joke, Ansari’s not a visual comedian) is the bonus 30 minutes of material not included in the special itself. Why Comedy Central chose to release this in two separate formats rather than just packaging them together is beyond me, though my educated guess is that it has more to do with commerce and less to do with common sense or what the consumer might want.

As for the work itself, Ansari’s an insanely clever jokester, but he suffers from multiple faults which cheapen the material. Comedy has its own verbal tics and cues, and jokes need the proper tone for set up, development and punchline, but Ansari too often takes the same tone on each joke, wearing it out before its time. Thus material which should seem spontaneous comes across as scripted, punctuated only by Ansari’s frequent yelling to emphasize a punchline, for example.

There’s way too much repetition here, too. One joke (or series of jokes) about meeting celebrities is fine – indeed the Kanye West bit is among the best moments here – but there’s not just one bit about meeting celebrities: there’s three. In addition to West, Ansari also riffs on run-ins with M.I.A. and R. Kelly. If that’s your shtick and your name is Kathy Griffin, I suppose that’s okay; but since that’s already been taken, Aziz better come up with something else.

But the celebrity issue exemplifies one of Intimate Moments’ main problems. Far too frequently Ansari repeats himself and/or drags things out vastly longer than necessary, such as on the aforementioned R. Kelly bit or in a segment about commenting on Facebook. What starts out as funny simply becomes dull and irritating as the listener has wait for him to exhaust the topic at hand before he moves on to something else.

The set concludes with an 8-minute encore of “RAAAAAAAANDY,” Ansari’s take on macho comedian buffoonery (and his character from Funny People). Ansari’s clearly thought this through and done the research to come up with a composite sketch of that kind of comic, but it quickly moves from funny to obnoxious. That’s obviously the point, but Ansari seems to think enough of it to drag it on for longer than necessary. Like much of the rest of Intimate Moments, it’s a clever idea taken too far for too long.

(Originally posted 2/5/10 @ SpectrumCulture.com)