Ho! – Roady music from vietnam

This is „Roady“ music all right, sounds of all kinds field-recorded in the steamy, bustling streets, houses, and studios of Saigon. The music on this compilation sounds not like it was recorded in a different country, but in a different galaxy. Apparently, a couple of cats were commissioned by the official Vietnamese government to record music and video for nationalistic purposes and export to Austria of all places. These cats had their own ideas and went to visit the everyday Vietnam, the everyday Saigon, which apparently is more like New Orleans than Boston or San Francisco or New York. On this collection, there is music of every stripe and color and shape, from traditional funeral marches (replete with 20-piece bands) to covers of „Ghost Riders in the Sky“ (two versions) on traditional instruments electrified into overdrive to a truly surreal take on the Bee Gees‘ „I Started A Joke,“ and all manner of Vietnamese pop music from rock to electro to funky soul that’s so weird it can’t be explained. There are love songs and death sambas (literally), far-Eastern blues, and even hip-hop. But it doesn’t even resemble the styles they emulate; everything is filtered through a relaxed, „don’t worry about it if it doesn’t sound right“ vibe. The coolest stuff is when Western guitars and drums are used alongside traditional instruments like the dan bo (one tunable string over a sound box that is bowed). The liner notes go into great detail about the performers and how instruments get used, but since this is in translation from German it reads like a drunken oratory. And speaking of drunken, the way these guys recorded this sounds like they were overtaken by every sight and sound on the trip. From one tune in its groove that begins to fade is a sharp cut and the next tune begins and so on. „Quick, turn it off, don’t waste tape/ohh, wow, hear that? Gotta get that, turn it on, turn it on….“ It’s as if nothing really ends! Admittedly, this may not be for everybody, but I would bet my bottom dollar that it’s for way more listeners than would ever give it a chance. This isn’t a cheesy NPR freak of the week pick, it’s got all the integrity of a field recording and the surreal humor and hypersensitivity of someone wanting to capture how great their vacation was on audio tape. Solid. ~ Thom Jurek