Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Muškat Hamburg
Label: FV Music
Release: 2012
Length: 35:45
Rating: 4/5
They may not be a band with a long string of studio releases, but Muškat Hamburg are the kind of musical winemakers who made it through an era of defiance with plenty of beautiful, wild, hard and also cruel rock n’ roll wandering. This is a band with a special musical pedigree and a recognizable, one-of-a-kind artistry, a peculiar mix you can hardly call anything other than raw party punk n’ roll. Clinically dead (as far as studio releases go), they finally rose again with the album “Uživaj pokončno!”, which came out in 2007 on the long-lived, independent Slovenian label FV Music. That moment finally opened the door to a run of gigs that got them noticed well beyond their home turf.
The new album keeps up the musical direction of “Uživaj pokončno”, but it’s beefed up mainly where its musical vocabulary isn’t touched. On that front, the new record brings no departure whatsoever. The “secondary” stuff, like the packaging of the product itself, feels more committed, further underlining the hedonistic spirit of rock n’ roll debauchery the band cultivates and deepening the (obligatory) party vibe. You could say Muškat Hamburg have “modernized” a touch here, though the move definitely “goes hand in hand” with the message of most of the songs, which are about a mental and physical escape into a boozy, smoky party haze where every living thing instantly loses touch with the blackness of the present we’re trapped in, and in which none of us are free. Another sign of the band’s wish to aim at markets beyond Slovenia’s borders is the inclusion of four songs sung in English. The English is completely mangled and incomprehensible, but it’s worth seeing it as decent compensation for sacrificing a bit of the band’s recognizable identity. This “Arabic” English is actually fun and still lights things up effectively, in keeping with the band’s spirit, of course!
Like its predecessor, “Zbogom Madamfucker” is a tightly condensed record. No hiding, no prettying up, no cosmetic prosthetics where even a fart would smell of vanilla sugar . The boys have shoved their full balls out wide on the tray and that makes up for everything! The bare fact of the running time of the regular part of the album, barely 25 and a half minutes, says as much. With the four “extra” songs, the album adds up to just 35 minutes. And an album in such a direct whirlwind of stingingly acrid punk n’ roll savagery needs nothing longer.
Rock n’ roll packed into a mix of old-school, garage-creaky, droning three-chord rumble , whose seeds can be traced to the unhinged nihilism of bands like MC5, with occasional party detours that don’t hide the influence of The Ramones or the energetic pulse of The Stooges, and with the primitivism of the good old culture of punk filth à la Motorhead joining the riffs now and then! Welded together their own way. The main needle on the scale that sets Muškat Hamburg’s vocabulary apart from related bands on the Slovenian scene, roaming the alternative proving ground of the musical underground, is the voice of the singer “Madamfucker”. They don’t call him “the boar” for nothing, since he roars like he swallowed a steam boiler. A heartfelt, effective vocal, infused with a bestial release of energy, would fit right in with old-school hardcore punk craft. In one person he has a real mix of arrogance, urging toward hedonistic temptations, lucid sarcasm and “macho” swagger. Throw a wig and a bushy mustache on top of all that, and the final effect doesn’t escape comparisons even to the Norwegian modern-day degenerates Turbonegro.
The album has an excellent, devastatingly raw production that preserved every basic trait of music brewed from a drop of robust black muscat, and it sounds like you’re listening to the band live. Only it’s recorded in a studio. And that’s the point of really good production when we’re talking about an alt rock band à la Muškat Hamburg. With it, the band cements its recognizable rock stance and its position in the Slovenian alt rock community, backed by rich experience, know-how, defiance and a clear creative vision!
Lineup
Madamfucker – vocals
Sissy Pop(e) – bass, backing vocals
Otto Corporal Cutt Butt – guitar, backing vocals
Bizgo the Panzer – drums
Kuki Cold Eye – guitar on tracks 6, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14
Gangsta Rocker – guitar on tracks 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8 and 9
GUEST MUSICIANS:
Boštjan Senegačnik (Res Nulius)
Screamin’ Yeah Zhalac (Erotic Biljan & his Heretics, Sons of a Thousand Fathers)
Goran Koražija (Multiball, Tomi Lorber)
Martin Janežič – Buco
Viktoria Peršić
Production
Matej Gobec
Track list
1. Revolucije od nikoder
2. Sobota
3. Pobrala me bo smrt
4. Življenje ni potica
5. S.P. blues
6. To je to
7. Malo seksa & drog
8. Ne daj se motit
9. Plod riti
10. Vse sem si zaslužo
11. Jacuzzi Man*
12. Walkie – Talkie Woman*
13. The Fact*
14. Indestructible*
*…. bonus tracks
