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Artist: De Staat
Title: I_Con
Genre: Alternative Blues Electro Rock
Release Date: 20th September 2013
Label: Mascot Label Group


Album Review

Evolving from a solo project hatched by Torre Florim, DE STAAT have been a fully formed band now for some time, rising up the Dutch ranks and spreading their music into Europe and beyond. Festival appearances and headline shows plus well-received second album ‘Machinery’ all helped propel them along, and late 2013 saw the emergence of their third album, the enigmatically titled ‘I_Con’. And it’s a strange beast, to say the least. The surprising inclusion of keyboards and ‘Special FX’ on many of the songs, a cheeky playfulness and a plethora of quirky ideas and idiosyncrasies all help raise this above the murky mire of what so-called ‘alternative’ or ‘blues-rock’ often stands for. And indeed the band are not easy to pigeonhole. They may not own a genre all their own, but neither do they sit comfortably in any pre-existing one.

Take the lo-fi scuzzy sleaze of ‘All Is Dull’. It slinks about, shaking its hips and pouting like Jagger fronting THE FLAMING LIPS in a tatty old circus tent. Completely ridiculous, it’s also hugely infectious. THE HIVES-sounding ‘Build That, Buy That’ is no less melodic, skipping about and showing off, stamping its feet and daring you to look away. On ‘Witch Doctor’ with its headache inducing guitar assault you keep expecting BEASTIE BOYS to start rapping ‘Fight For Your Right To Party’ at any moment, and if that sounds mad, it’s because, well, it is mad. ‘Make Way For The Passenger’ is new-wave spoken word over skittering percussion, gothic-dramatics that NICK CAVE would nod approvingly at, a plucked mid-section and a feeling of complete abandonment throughout. It’s a thrilling ride.

So what else is there? Funky bass, MADNESS-style zaniness and shouty vocals on ‘Down Town’, some pop swagger and nifty guitar on ‘Devil’s Blood’ and on the wonderfully titled final track ‘The Inevitable End’ a sort of hybrid of all that’s gone before. A climatic whoosh of noise and voice, an electronic heavenly choir and then a bombastic bow-out as the circus curtains finally tumble down and seal off the show. And what a show. Inventive, confident and colourfully imaginative, DE STAAT have succeeded here in drawing you in, shaking you up a bit, and then leaving you back out in the grey and cold, yearning perhaps for another glimpse of their odd little world.


Tracklist

01. My Bad
02. All Is Dull
03. Build That, Buy That
04. Devil’s Blood
05. Witch Doctor
06. Get It Together
07. Refugee
08. Make Way For The Passenger
09. Input Source Select
10. I’ll Take You
11. Down Town
12. Wonderer
13. The Inevitable End


Line-up

Jop van Summeren - Bass, Vocals
Rocco Bell - Special FX, Keys, Percussion & Vocals
Vedran Mircetic - Guitar
Tim van Delft - Drums
Torre Florim - Vocals, Guitar


Website

https://www.facebook.com/destaat


Cover Picture

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Rating

Music: 8
Sound: 8
Total: 8 / 10





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