Released
1998
Label
Iris Light
Reviewed by
Michael Lund
Contact
Iris Light
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Last Edit/Update
02 august, 1998
Szeki Kurva
THE SOUND OF DEAD GOATS (EP)
Track Listing
1. Beermonsters Are Go!
(FairgroundMusicFromHellMix)
2. Goat Dance
(SaDomSpremniMix)
3. Hunter Killer
(SpeedyGonzalesMix)
4. Did You Spill My Goulash?
(MiceFromBagpussMix)
5. Flying Manga Attack
(ClairolHairCurlerMix)
Have you ever been to a wild, drunken party with a bunch of fun-loving, machine gun
wielding Hungarian expatriates, who -- at the end of the night -- decided to whip out
their fiddles and samplers, and embark on an irreverent medley of electro-infused folk
songs from the old country? No? In that case you could do a lot worse than to pick up Széki
Kurva's The Sound Of Dead Goats.
The EP is the London-based
Hungarian band's second release on Iris Light, and the first of two Szeki
Kurva CDs scheduled for release this year. The material on The Sound Of Dead
Goats was originally recorded in 1994, and is a genre defying mixture of high-bpm
"techno" dance music, traditional Hungarian folk, and media sampled sound
collage. The vocals follow the break-neck pace of the music, and are mostly in Hungarian
with brief, hilariously profane stabs at England -- and the world in general -- delivered
in English.
After a brief series of fragmented
samples introducing Szeki Kurva, "Beermonsters Are Go!" leaps
right into a 200 bpm cartoony flight of galopping violin chords and stampeding beats.
Several of the band's members sing triumphantly, as they run towards the closest pub as
fast as their legs can carry them. The maniacal pace of the song is briefly broken for
some fairground atmospheres, then the chase continues, and only stops again when the
"guitar breaks" at the end of the song. The guitar has been repaired for the
next song, and the pace slackened somewhat. A "scratch" here and there, a
strolling beat imported from some American ghetto, and dynamic guitar riffs dominate
"Goat Dance." Hungarian choral arrangements and the perennial violin are
inserted before the end of the song, when a band member takes it upon himself to end
things with a bullet from his gun. For "Hunter Killer," Szeki Kurva
has put the driving guitars from Ministry's "Stigmata" to new
use, and included voices and explosions from Apocalypse Now. The song returns to
the harsh full-power techno-punk of the first track, with manic vocals and brief touches
of regional Hungarian color.
"Did You Spill My
Goulash?" is the longest and most acrobatic piece on the EP. The track begins on a
nostalgic note with a woman explaining: "I am gonna sing one of those beautiful
songs, which make me homesick because it speaks about someone who is far away from
home..." However, Szeki Kurva knows the art of laughter, and not
many tears are spilled in this seven minute extravaganza of swirling fiddles, uzi-beats
and gleefully manipulated vocals that at times sound like a visit to the village of the
Smurfs. There are numerous breaks in the song, and often one sound or sample will morph
into another without warning, making this track at once very fluid and unpredictable. On
"Flying Manga Attack" the equation is much the same, although it is the one
track on the EP, which does not feature vocals. A great sample from Aliens opens
the ball, with the violins in a particularly playful mood, and the accelerated percussions
having more of an industrial edge.
The CD comes with a copy of Szeki
Kurva's "Manifesto" which clearly states the band's views on the
present state of the music industry, and their intent to fight and sabotage the
establishment to the last drop of thin and unhealthy record-executive-blood. In their
"political" views, as in their music, Szeki Kurva are
relentlessly uncompromising, and comically indignant.
Profile
Széki Kurva
Feature Artist
Article Aug/1998