Už Jsme Doma - Rybí Tuk

Alright, continuing in my “Bands related to Sleepytime Gorilla Museum” vein, I bring you Už Jsme Doma. This is a Czech band formed in 1985, and in case you're wondering what the connection here to SGM is, Dan Rathbun (the bassist) produced this album, Rybí Tuk (or in English, "Cod liver Oil")

I'm going to go ahead and call this album... avant-post-punk. Feel free to call bullshit on that, it doesn't matter, those labels are practically meaningless anyway. That said, I still think I'm essentially right on that. These songs are, generally, very energetic and upbeat while still managing to sound dark and angry in places. The drums sound very punk-ish to me, but they do play around a lot with odd off beat stuff that I think adds some pretty cool layers to the music; often kind of pulling you a weird direction you didn't realize the song was going in.

As a quick disclaimer to Tastiestofsatans, who I'm sure has started loosing interest after the mention of punk: get ready to loose more interest. UJD has a fairly prominent saxophone player, and his high-energy playing style combined with the guitar style on a number of tracks sometimes makes me want to make up more categories to append to the original three, something like... avant-post-ska-tinged-punk. That said, Matt might actually be able to listen to this one.

I think the energy of this band is highly infectious and I've more than once found myself “rocking out” to it and awkwardly singing along to the Czech lyrics (Note: I don't speak Czech). Also, speaking of the lyrics, the vocalist, Miroslav Wanek, is apparently a very well respected Czech poet. The lyrics are supposed to be amazing, though they seem to loose something in the translation:

My face flows down from my facial features
To the pillow
A slop of uncertainty
Salty human ink-pot

The face discharged into palms
Is sticking on pads of fingers
It fears
That being exposed to light
It will completely flake off

Ok, I actually think they're pretty cool in English too, but the internet assures me that they're much more impressive in the original Czech. Indeed, they certainly sound much better when sung than I can imagine those English lyrics being.

Highlights:

3.)Tíha - this one starts out with that ska-style that I'm pretty sure Keith won't enjoy, but I think the song is awesome. Wanek's vocals are pretty stellar, and there is some pretty neat prog-noodling-ish guitar in places, coupled with subtle choir parts in the background and some really mournful violin bits, ending with some major epic-victory-climax.Love this shit.

2.)Mlha - this was actually the first song by UJD that caught me ear. I think the vocals shine probably the best on this track. The almost toy piano along with the virtually spoken-word beginning both don't prepare you for, and perfectly lead up to the energetic and forceful finish. The same piano is carried through the song in the background making it really feel like one cohesive whole, while the vocals go from sort of melancholy to angry and powerful. The finish is splendid.

3.)Hodiny - I love the use of the violin in this song. It has an almost...I want to say Celtic meets Southern-fiddling, but I'm really at a loss as to how to describe it (I know it reminds me of something though). The vocals for this are interesting, I think they're both the most traditionally punky in places, and the most potent, almost operatic in others. The violin balances the crazy avant-punk seemingly directionless bursts of crazy and keep it all from being totally disjointed from the vocals. A supremely well balanced song.

Anyway, following the trend of the last two posts: honestly, I think you'll hate this (Keith). However, I think this is probably my single favorite album discovery of the past 2 months, and I've been listening the shit out of it.

Enjoy! (Click here)