Tuesday, October 15, 2019

The Legendary Flower Punk- "Wabi Wu (Tonzonen Records)


This is the 8th release by the band and the first since 2016.  Kamille, the main guy in the band has been very busy with the Grand Astoria, one of the most active bands from Russia.  The core is the 3 members: Kamille Sharapodinov - guitars, percussion, Mike Lopakov – bass and Nick Kunavin on the drums. As you can see below a lot of guests play on this record; Danila Danilov - electronics (2,3,5,6) , Gleb Kolyadin - synths (1,3,4), grand piano (5,6), Zhenya Strigalev - saxophone (1,2), Ed Wynne - guitar solo (2), Denis Kirillov - flute (4,7), Nick Antonenko - percussion (2, 4), and Guvi B - additional electronic noises (5).  This band is very inspired by the US Jam band scene. 
Side A starts off with Wabi Wu, an uptempo almost funky and very groovy track. I really dig the guitar playing on this track a lot. There are some nice synths and saxophone as well.  Hexagram takes things downt the intensity at least to start but the drums are very punchy on this and it slowly gets going after a minute or so. It features a guitar solo by Ed Wynne (Ozric Tentacles, Nodens Ictus).  It gets quite psychedelic when the sax comes in and then just really takes off with some really intense synths and later guitar. There are a lot of guitar solos but you can figure out when Ed kicks in with his! There is a really trippy synth towards the end and another sax solo. Strange and fun and another great track. Prince Mojito brings things down to a more relaxed feel and features some very nice melodic guitar as the pace slowly grows into a groove with an Ozrics like synth.  IT goes up and down in it’s mood. Azulejo is a mid-paced track with a potent guitar line that really pierces the sound. The flute is a lovely accompaniment to the track and shortly changes the mood. Aki Kaurismäki starts with some harmonics and spoken words and percussion. It slowly grows with some strange samples and synths to change the vibe a lot. Later a very cool effected guitar riff and groove kicks in. Love that keyboard line as it gets a nice groove going. Trance Fusion På Ryska (you can stream this song on bandcamp below) is a very happy dance track of sorts. Nice melodies from the 60s movies!! It also features a long piano solo. Zen Again, finishes off the record in fine style with a nice short track featuring the flute.


If you are fans of the Ozrics, Quantum Fantay, The Grand Astoria, for sure check out this brilliant new album. 




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