Veröffentlicht
Aug 9, 2017
- If you only know Dori Sadovnik and Niv Arzi's music from their singles, you'd be forgiven for thinking of Red Axes as a house act. The Tel Aviv duo make an eccentric version of that sound, prone to wiggly arrangements and kaleidoscopic colorings. But even on tracks where they hew closest to their guitar music roots—their edit of Siam's "Tel Aviv Downtown," for instance, or their cover of Bauhaus's "Bela Lugosi's Dead"—Sadovnik and Arzi had an eye on the dance floor. Their latest album, The Beach Goths, emphasises the anything-goes, free-form abandon of the late '70s and early '80s post-punk scenes from which Red Axes' sound derives.
The Beach Goths may not be club music, but it is party music. "Ride The Sus" is a ramshackle blend of snaky fuzzbox bass, blues guitar and what sounds like a vintage Farfisa organ. "Tarzan Blues" is meth-crazed psychobilly, its revved-up rat-a-tat drums propelling the bassline. Its close cousin, "Relaxation (For Your Mind And Body)," could pass for an extravagant cut by The Cramps. The lysergic jangle of "What Is In Your Head" recalls Echo & The Bunnymen.
The album's loose-limbed playfulness extends to its dance floor tracks. Simple hand percussion taps out the tempo on the Abrão-assisted "Piper Work" before a series of drum rolls cue the track's buildups and breakdowns. The triumphant chime of "Tantram Power" is anchored by a steady kicks, whose attempt to impose discipline is undermined by chaotic woodblocks. The album's purest club track, "Shir 1," overlays a chugging beat with a Moroder-style arpeggiated bassline—but even here, the ebb and flow of squiggles and effects keep things from feeling too structured. It's a fun song on an album full of fun songs. Though much of The Beach Goths leans heavily on a range of familiar '80s sounds, Sadovnik and Arzi add enough of their own twists to make the music their own.
Tracklist01. Ride The Sus
02. Tantram Power
03. What Is In Your Head
04. Piper Work feat. Abrão
05. Tarzan Blues feat. Eylonzo Crotch
06. Relaxation (For Your Mind And Body) feat. G. Broid
07. Cooked Banana feat. Thomass Jacksonn & Iñigo Vontie
08. Shlomit
09. Loosen
10. Shir 1
11. Talmood
12. Into Your Arms feat. Adi Bronicki