Author: Sandi Sadar Šoba
Artist: Intimn Frizurn
Label: 57 Records
Released: 2006
Are you ready for completely controlled psychosis and the orderliness of chaos in ways we’ve never heard around here before? Intimn Frizurn hand you an almost too-large dose of all of that with their very first release, and Kokos Kokos Presenta radiates everything that every piece of quality music should contain: pioneering spirit, musical daring, and a boundless urge to experiment and throw every musical influence the creators fancy into the goulash of their own sound, uncompromisingly, but in a layered way rather than through plain imitation and musical theft. I’d actually already seen them play live twice and had a rough idea of what to expect on record, but the very first listen to the debut from this Ljubljana musical phenomenon let me know that they keep finding ways to outdo themselves in the extreme, and to outdo the expectations of the average listener, more or less trained and used to everything. The kind of listener who can float between dub, reggae, rock, sonic experimentation, and something you could call IF sound, the Intimn Frizurn sound that’s theirs and theirs alone.
The training starts with an opening trip through a universe of special dimensions, one we can only sail into by breaking away from the conventional, everyday, bland state of mind. ‘Coitus Interruptus’ announces itself the Mr. Bungle way, with an almost carnival vibe, hard erotica of sound, conceptual scatterbrained chaos, and provocation. ‘Chobanska’ proves the guys mean business. Speeded-up reggae, which with its ska-style syncopation soon pairs floating with a guitar soaked in effects, is just the right counterweight to the unfolding melody of Jerkot’s vocals, delivered in the English of some Algerian-Jamaican psycho with a mic in his hand. Drums and bass keep the rush of a wild beast in sync, then the rhythm develops and a screaming guitar breaks the mood with an almost surfy solo. And just like that we’re in the almost funky ambient of ‘Augh (Higway Songa)’, which swells into melodic fullness with pop keyboards. The vocal is a weapon and a tool. The lyrics sit well in the background, but the throat is a brush that fills in the gaps. The throat is a rhythm machine grinding at full tilt. Drums, bass, and guitar are the filler. The guys don’t run out of dynamics or intensity, and by the first third of the CD they’ve built a recognizable trademark and an identity of their own on a foundation that isn’t timid. We drop into the syncopated, danceable bouncer ‘Snow’, which repeats the pattern of the record’s opening address. The reggae is unstoppable and, despite the repetitiveness, pretty fresh, and atypical thanks to the keyboards. There’s enough pop and oriental touches for those who look for the exotic in every kind of music. And once again we’re funked up and have no clue which end is our head and which is our ass. That’s also thanks to the gentle transitions into mellifluous ambient pieces like ‘Monday Morning’, which arrives completely unannounced, organically natural and whole. The weariness of dragging yourself out of bed on Monday after a wild weekend has never sounded so metaphorically full, and Intimn Frizurn don’t use a single coherent phrase to get there. A lovely cohesive weave of instrumentals and ideas keeps unfolding into an electrified version of Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in ‘Track 6’, and that slides into a call to those who haven’t yet grasped that after listening they won’t tolerate indifference. ‘Hide Baby!’ is an urban ambient piece of gentle keyboards and rippling melody that, with a bit more distortion and volume, System Of A Down would be proud of, along with plenty of the gentler ambient crowd. Expecting a kick into the dark? This CD doesn’t forgive you one for a second. ‘Shupak’ and ‘The Fall’ move the songs onto the familiar tracks of playing around with what can still surprise at all. The orchestrations are balanced and full of erotic charge. I think that’s exactly what draws us to music. No pretending, no playing to commercial, universally accepted sentiments. ‘Track 10’ is just an intermezzo. A slight hint of samba or salsa and off we race again. One of the record’s highlights is the song ‘Maria’. I’d describe it most easily with just one word, beauty, and with the sensuality of gentle lovemaking, as the music caresses us, unfolding jazzily into a cluster of sound, with transcendence brushing against strings, keys, and drumheads. The vocal layering is like a weave of Idrija lace and artfully written arabesques. ‘Kataifikataifi’ carries the record to the end with confidence and determination, so ‘Tease Me (Summer Dub Rmx)’ comes around undoubtedly too soon. The almost 14-minute dub remix is the epilogue to a debut that, without overdoing the praise, I’d call the sweetest, hottest bun of the past year.
Intimn Frizurn are without a doubt a new name on the Slovenian scene, one that already deserves a label of maturity, quality, and musical innovation, which our music scene is always short on. They’re not your typical Slovenian product. They’d undoubtedly make it faster somewhere on the other side of our neck of the woods, where mental borders and narrow-mindedness often prevail. Not that I’m denying Slovenia its quality bands! The Intimn boys are without a doubt visionaries and hard-working musicians who could justifiably make it. The debut is only the beginning of a road they can walk with their heads held completely high. Even though self-released music is often pretty obscure and unlistenable, here we have something of surplus value that can serve as good capital for the work ahead. If you’re not musically dead and have even a speck of an ear for good music, I definitely recommend this record. Even if you only put it on when you roll a joint at home and just want to rest your mind, this is without a doubt a release that, with every bar, makes up for every euro you’ve invested in it without knowing anything about Intimn Frizurn beforehand.
Lineup
Milan Jerkić – vocals, backing vocals, kazoo, darbuka
Igor Iskra – drums, percussion
Žiga Kranjc – bass guitar, additional keyboards
Žiga Rangus – guitars, additional keyboards
Production
Kokos Kokos, Intimn Frizurn & Boštjan Pirnar
Tracklist
1. Coitus Interruptus
2. Chobanska
3. Augh (Highway Song)
4. Snow
5. Monday Morning
6. Track 6
7. Hide, Baby!
8. Shupak
9. The Fall
10. Track 10
11. Maria
12. Kataifikataifi
13. Tease Me (Summer Dub Mix)
ALBUM LENGTH: 62.26
