Who would have thought that this odd Balkan-sailor-folk band utilizing electronic beats and sailor attitudes would draw such a crowd?
Few years back, a hip-hop producers urge to give up on stereotype beats and traditionalism resulted in Analogik. Captain Asger started putting Serbian folk songs on his turntable, which ended up as folk-hop with absurd clicks and bleeps. This night however, Asger was backed by both bass, saxophone, guitar, violin and percussion.
The set was ingenious as Gyro Gearloose, sly as a rat on the deck and springy as a newly washed sailor’s beard. The band played supremely well and obviously enjoyed splashing around in their pool of songs all beautifully, almost brilliantly written; music can be truly magnificent when performed by people who know the rules and are able to break them while staying on top. The details were inexhaustible; headshaking breaks, sublime scratching, all perfectly balanced in the mix.
Analogik are true innovators journeying towards new continents on a musical ship guided by none but themselves. Well, they sail the same sea as Gotan Project and Kaizer’s Orchestra, have probably both heard Tom Waits and seen Kustorica films, but unlike the many others that surf the world-meets-electronica wave Analogik has a sound all their own.
The logic of Analogik is that everything is do-able, but only what works is done. How about a mash-up of Balkan and Reggae, lead by German Captain Bim singing just like Bob Marley only in German? How about Bossa Nova flanked by Serbian harmonies? Tango and a ho-ho-ho sailor’s choir? Optimistic impossibilities bound together by musicality and an unrivalled sense of composition.
Reviewed by: Peter Bøggild, MyMusic.dk Translated by: Mads Just-Olesen, MyMusic.dk
