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The Playground Slap — Disco Nausea (June 14, 2013)

The Playground Slap — Disco Nausea (June 14, 2013)

  The Playground Slap — Disco Nausea (June 14, 2013) The Playground Slap — Disco Nausea (June 14, 2013)♦♣   The Playground Slap byla jednou z nejbetálnějších kapel, které vyšly z ožívající hudební scény San Diega v roce 1980. Vše, co kdy dělali, včetně současnosti, bylo mimo žánry, vzali to od tehdejšího ‘au Courant’ novovlnného punku, přes jazz, electroniku, mod k neo–psychedelii. Jejich osobitý podpis na tvarech písní byl nekonečný. Současné album je Zappaesque hard–rocková ‘novinka’ [zremixovaná kompilace] plná dvojsmyslů. Občas brilantní marmeláda, založena na premise, že někdo rád stiskne tlačítko ve svém autorádiu každou minutu [nebo tak] a nachází nové a nové stanice. Album původně vyšlo v rozsahu pěti písňového EP (1985). Po reinkarnaci kapely má podobu 17–ti skvostů v délce robustních 98 minut. Disco Nausea je koncepční album, zdánlivě postavené na tématu “Co by se stalo, kdyby Frank Zappa a California State Assembly (kalifornský Parlament) skončili ve stejném studiu?”
♦♣   Po rozdělení bandu v roce 1988 jeho členové začali upravovat drobné věci, získali stálý pracovní poměr a zakládali rodiny. Kapela přeskupila své řady před šesti lety. Zakládající členové Marcelo Radulovich a David Ybarra uvedli kurs do nového letového plánu, na palubě také s Rayem DeZonia a Mike Kenneallym. S původním bubeníkem [Michael Addis, 4 skladby bicí a 4 zpěv], nyní úspěšným nezávislým filmařem v Los Angeles, a místním Billem Rayem: ten se podílí na 11 skladbách v rytmických, jak oni říkají ‘duties’. Cítím letecký benzín?  Ne: spíše opar zvláštního funku. Je to ve skutečnosti výživný rock s mnoha uzly do psychedelie, rapu a jazzu, ‘latin sway’ a prog~prvky. Písně s chytlavými zvuky, kde často dominuje atonální nepořádek, introspekce a parodie. Tyto Sartrovské děti si hrají na hřišti bytí a zároveň nicoty, imaginace, tak blízko cesty ke svobodě a  lehce absurdní rozhlasové komedie. Damas y caballeros, les presentamos DISCO NAUSEA! Location: San Diego, California
Album release: June 14, 2013
Record Label: Titicacaman Records
Format: Explicit Lyrics
Genre: Funk Rock, Prog, Rap
Duration:     97:12
Tracks:
01 Slapper’s Rap     5:01
02 Kevin Klub Swing     3:14
03 Blue Funk     5:31
04 From His Bottle (Redux)     4:07
05 Song #1     5:33
06 Here for You     5:11
07 My Friend     5:15
08 Master Dong     4:34
09 In Spite of All     2:30
10 The Ocean     5:58
11 Automatico     3:57
12 Song #2 / Pictures of Age (Acoustic)     7:39
13 Pictures of Age     4:08
14 A Better Place     4:25
15 Blue Funk (Disco Mix)     6:07
16 From His Bottle     6:17
17 Disco Nausea     17:45
℗ 2013 Marcelo Radulovich
Credits:
♦♣   All songs by Marcelo Radulovich except tracks 1 & 17, Radulovich/DeZonia/Ybarra/Addis, and track 8, Radulovich/Ybarra.
♦♣   Michael Addis: drums on tracks 1, 4, 13 & 17; vocals on tracks 1, 8, 9 & 17
♦♣   Ray DeZonia: keyboards on tracks 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 16 & 17; vocals on tracks 1, 2, 3, 7, 8, 9, 10, 13, 14, 16 & 17
♦♣   Mike Keneally: guitar on tracks 1, 3, 7, 10, 11, 16; piano on track 4; clavs on track 6
♦♣   Marcelo Radulovich: vocals, guitar, percussion on all tracks; melodica on track 1; keyboards on tracks 5, 6, 12, 15 & 17; drums on track 8
♦♣   Bill Ray: drums on tracks 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14 & 16
♦♣   David Ybarra: bass; vocals on tracks 1, 2, 3, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 15, 16 & 17; lapsteel on track 4; samples on track 8
♦♣   Disco Nausea cover designed/illustrated by Marcelo Radulovich
♦♣   The Playground Slap logo designed by Michael Addis
♦♣♦»   In its 6 year span The Playground Slap concocted a strange groove, a Jamulian brew of peculiar funk. Rock with many nods to psychedelia, rap and jazz, with sprinkles of country and latin sway, brooding songs with catchy sounds aloft a swingingly stiff, often atonal mess of introspection and parody. The Sartre–riddled kids played some arty shit, and possessed an uncanny ability to drop their pants in unison at the flick of a light switch.
♦♣♦»   Forged and sloppily polished in a secretive compound in Jamul (the DeZonia bunker, a.k.a. Jamul A–Go–Go), these intrepid self–taught new funking wave brothers, delivered a unique version of romanticismic bounce to eager, strained ears in the San Diego area. During their tenure, 1982 to 1988, they shared the stage with bands like Midnight Oil, Fishbone, Ministry, Camper Van Beethoven, Adrian Belew’s The Bears and many others. Feeling the need to pursue other interests the Slap boys parted ways in 1988.
♦♣♦»   Moving on to 2005 — 2007, Marcelo contacted David and the old mates set to record a bunch of the old Slap tunes at Titicacaman Studio. Original members Ray and Spike were invited to join the fray, and new blood came into play with the talents of Bill Ray on drums and old Slap friend Mike Keneally on guitar and keyboards.
♦♣♦»   Disco Nausea is compiled from a series of recording sessions at Titicacaman Studio 2006 — 2007 as well as numerous cassette recordings from the 1980’s. Recorded/produced by Marcelo Radulovich and David Ybarra in 2006, remixed by Marcelo in 2013.
Review
By Jim Trageser, March 2014
♦»   The Playground Slap was one of the most delightful bands to come out of San Diego’s resurgent music scene in the 1980s: Immensely talented, they were also not only impossible to pigeonhole but nearly as difficult to even describe.
♦»   Beyond genre, they took in everything from the then au courant new wave to punk, jazz to electronica, mod to neo–psychedelia. Their signature song was an endlessly re–invented bit of gorgeous melody titled “Blue Funk,” and they released a self–titled EP in 1985.
♦»   After splitting up in 1988 as the members began doing odd things like finding steady employ and starting families, the band regrouped a few years ago. Founding members Marcelo Radulovich and David Ybarra are still heading things up, with Ray DeZonia and Mike Kenneally also on board. With original drummer Michael Addis now a successful indie filmmaker in LA, local stalwart Bill Ray has been asked to take on rhythmic duties (although Addis does contribute drums and vocals on some of the tracks on the new release).
♦»   While their first run gave us only a five–song EP, the new CD clocks in at a robust 98 minutes, spanning 17 tracks. And Disco Nausea is a concept album, seemingly built around the theme of “What would have happened if Frank Zappa and Parliament ended up in the same studio?”
♦»   As that comparison implies, the music is as difficult to pin down as during their initial run 30 years ago — with huge swaths of hip hop and rap thrown into their existing mix.
♦»   “Blue Funk,” of course, is re–invented again — twice, actually. (Somewhere there exists perhaps the perfect version, a downtempo mix that SDSU radio station KCR had on tape cartridge in the mid–1980s. I WILL keep after them to find that mix and share it with the world.)
♦»   In its first reincarnation, “Blue Funk” opens as a kind of dervish before sliding into a rap vocal, then back into a Middle Eastern groove punctuated by a hard rock guitar solo and harmonica vamp. And in the hands of the Slap, all of that devolves seamlessly into yet another classic re-invention. The second version is subtitled “Disco Mix” — which, of course, it is not. It’s more of an extended jam, a riff on the theme that carries it even further out than the first.
♦»   The rest of the album is equally adventurous, from funked–up prog rock noodling above synthesized strings (“The Ocean”) to Zappaesque hard–rock novelties full of double entendres (“Master Dong”).
♦»   And the 18–minute title track ends things with a rambling, sometimes lost but occasionally brilliant jam that is based on the premise of hitting the button on your car radio every minute or so and finding a new station. If there exists no market in the world with this many uber–cool outlets, listening to the Slap run through everything from oldies to country to jazz in short snippets is a reminder of just how brilliant these guys are. ♦»   http://sandiegotroubadour.com/
Bandcamp: https://theplaygroundslap.bandcamp.com/album/disco-nausea
CD Baby: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/theplaygroundslap
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The Playground Slap — Disco Nausea (June 14, 2013)

ALBUM COVERS XI.