Been Laden You Too Long Darbuki Kings
Records, 2009
As Reviewed by Johonna
It is always a happy experience
for me to get mail from Zaina…..mostly because it’s not a bill (hehe).
But more importantly, it is usually something a bit out of the ordinary that
she wants me to write about. Been Laden You Too Long is
just such a CD. Just the title made me laugh. Even more surprising,
was the note from Zaina telling me they wanted me to review it….Wow! I am
honored to be asked.
Now, last year I reviewed The
Darbuki Kings’ previous two albums, Doumtekastan
and Lawrence of Suburbia both of which I listen to pretty regularly on the shuffle mode for my
computer. And have nicknamed them the blue and tan album respectively,
since it seems these guys really like the same picture of the two of them and
used it for both their albums. So this third installment I have
affectionately nicknamed the black album, because they really like that picture
and give it to us again with some slight variations (martian bubble helmets
with radial antennae, the background changed to a lunar scene and earth hangs
in the background). And since they reduce their costs on album cover
design and photographers, they end up putting it where it really matters to
these guys….the music.
Right out the gate their blend
of atypical music and instruments works up a sound storm reminding me of old
movies like Barbarella. That Tube Screamer Guitar and Stratocaster both
give several tracks a very heavy metal/rock band sound that are not usually put
together with the tabla. Put in some South American beats for a tango and
entertaining monkeys, as well as a jazzy number for Corinthian Slap with some
funky bass and you have another delightful non-bellydance CD made with
instruments we often associate with the middle and far east. I like that
they left off the dueling drums track that they had included in the previous
album.
As I mentioned before, The
Darbuki Kings spend most of their money for their albums on studio time.
I found it entertaining after reading the cover that the studio is a “solar/wind
powered retreat”. Since there are only three credited members on this
album, they don’t have to worry about the electric bill being too high for all
the hours that they spent cultivating their full, deep sound. And it is
obvious that they did. Clear crisp sound levels for all the instruments.
Nice entrances and exits when changing instruments, synthesized or not, during
songs. The range of rhythms run from funky rock to jazz and back around
to traditional middle eastern and South American. Crediting the track
title eight to Otis Reading makes me think that these guys are more into music
than the repetitious album picture suggests. This is another wonderful
installment in the musical adventures of Antone and Adnan.
