Sunday, June 14, 2009
A+E, Music, Reviews

Noot d' Noot

“CASH FOR GOLD”  (SELF RELEASED)

This vinyl-only (for now) “mini-LP” does an admirable job of translating the Atlanta collective’s wildly eclectic hodgepodge of styles onto wax. While there have been other acts to distill this frenzied combination of Afro beat, funk, jazz, disco, soul, techno and hip-hop into singalong jams (think Tom Tom Club meets Pigbag, for those who reference the ’80s), Noot d’Noot’s multiple musicians find the groove and knock it out with a frisky sense of experimentalism, energy and fun on this 30-minute slab.
 
  Unlike the band’s lively performances, which can seem like one long song melting into various sections, these nine tracks attempt to confine their rhythms into bite-size pieces. Horns, percolating percussion, Kraut-rock synthesizer and bass join to grease the wheels on this monster truck as it darts with remarkable grace through Osibisa-styled world beat (“Redshifted”), lava-lamp space rock (“Light of Day”) and James-Brown-goes-disco dance-floor bumping (“Cold Duck”). 

  Lyrics are an afterthought, as is often the case when the beat is this propulsive. But the hypnotic singing, by vocalists Circuit Diva and Electro Siren, becomes an instrument, weaving some soulful strutting into the busy tapestry.

  Most impressive is the ability to keep the members—anywhere from 8-12—from stepping on each others’ toes. Each seems to innately understand their place in the larger whole, as proven by “Fingers Like Steeples,” the disc’s natural single, with its interwoven hip-hop vocals leading the charge of synth hooks and African horn lines.

  Now how about a cover of “Papa’s Got a Brand New Pigbag”? 3 STARS—Hal Horowitz