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DAAU : Tub Gurnard Goodness (B,2004)**°°
The style of DAAU (=Die Anarchistische Abundunterhaltung!) which attracted my attention with their first album, and now when checking out again, with this 6th release is chamber music with some Balkan-folk and Klezmer-like influences, especially in use of clarinet. At the same time we also notice considerable minimalist-and tango-like arrangements, at an early stage it is almost psychedelic, or with ethno-folk-like repetitious layers and patterns in waves of increasing energy. Here this is embedded in, and has perhaps even matured and has adapted more details with the musical evolutions. It is especially the Cello, violin and accordion which are building this aspect of energy up. Melodically there are many moments of classical and contemporary classical music style composition. Mostly, this release holds the middle between all those styles. It is arranged nicely, and in an intelligent way, perhaps slightly improvised. Strange to have a reggae-like track in between the other compositions too, called “A little Funny Feeling”, with vocals by Angélique Wilkie, with simple but perfectly fitting arrangements, including some dub percussion !? But hearing a clarinet with such styled music still is at least unusual. There’s also another song near the end with the same singer, entitled “In My Midnight skies”, also with percussion by Roel Poriau. This one is arranged with a bit lmore complexity. All compositions are by DAAU, except one very good Radiohead interpretation, “2+2=5”. The album sounds really fine.
A shame I lost sight of this group for a while , since they at first seemed to me to moving away in different directions. But this release still proves the original aspects recognised in the first release still are there. The new elements in the instrumental compositions, have made the sound I think more mature, complex and interesting, and even more worthy of repeated listens.
PS. The name of the band refers to a quote from Herman Hesses’ book “Steppenwolf” saying “Anarchistic evening entertainment! Magical theatre. Entrance not for everybody. Only for the insane. Entrance costs sanity.”
The debut “Drieslagstelsels" is a very improvised kind of contemporary classical music with a fire of psychedelica or a certain rock drive. Last track was folk inspired. That album was first privately released (the first print of the cover was different as the final result), and re-released by Sony.
The second album went into more mainstream territory, featuring An Pierlé (piano/vocals) and electronics, shortening their name into DAAU. With this album I lost track for a while, but afterwards I read that since the third album they went back to the old sound. I checked out the 2006 album. See review below.
Radical Duke Ent.DAAU : Domestic Wildlife (B,2006)***°
This new album sounds a compromise between a mostly calm (rock) improvisation, with jazz touches (especially bass player shows some jazz references just now and then) and ‘classical composition’. While especially lower notes of strings (most often cello) seem to lead more often, this is done in combination with the accordeon, which gives a Piazolla chamber orchestra tango effect here and there. Different from the previously mentioned albums, there is also some drumming, which is kept often rather modest or simple, in a rock way, but it is able to give extra drive touches as well (in combination with bass). Just here and there a few electronic touches are added in the effects, or as incoming loops, showing the free anarchic position of the group. Last few tracks confirm also their ability to express in a more free (jazz) way. Violin and clarinet follow most often the composed core, always with a classical hint. For this album, the quartet had evolved to a sextet, but bass player Fré Madou, bass, left the band shortly after the recording.
Line-up is Buni Lenski : violin ; Simon Lenski : cello, electronica ; Han Stubbe : clarinet ; Roel Van Camp : accordion ; Geert “Boots” Budts : drums, electronica ; Fré Madou : upright bass.
