Eclectic to say the least. Progressive Rock, Synth Jazz, Experimental instruments and World Music

13 MP3 Songs
ROCK: Progressive Rock, JAZZ: Weird Jazz



Details:
âThe most ambitious South African rock record youâll hear all yearâ â Miles Keylock, GQ Magazine, December 2006

In a scene where bands who ape a perpetually recycled punk past from the comfort of their 3-car suburban garage and a confessional roll-call of singer songwriters who earnestly tug away at teenage girlsâ heartstrings are hailed as âcutting edgeâ itâs tempting to read alternative music itâs death rites. Until you hear Nikhil Singhâs debut solo album, Pressed Up Black.

Itâs liberating listening for anyone disaffected by a scene perilously close to flat-lining on its obsession with new wave nostalgia and singer songwriter schmaltz. Released on hip Mother City indie imprint One Minute Trolley Dash, Pressed Up Black splinters the signature obsessions Singh showcased in his art rock combo, The Wild Eyes â the sex, the drugs, the rock and roll â into a brave noir world of avant-rock excess.

From the tarnished glam and free jazz filtered garage rock gambol of opener âNagasaki Nikitaâ to the mutant murder ballad choking alternative countryâs corpse on haunting album finale âOne Hundred Dead Horsesâ, Pressed Up Black injects an unapologetic avant-garde fire back into alternative rockâs insipid recipe book. So whatâs Singhâs elixir? Simple: start by inviting a cast of marginal music mavericks including Ntshuks Bonga (saxophone), Brydon Bolton (upright bass), Heinrich Goosen (drums) and Jeanette Klaasens (violin and viola) onboard and feed.

Feed your vocal, guitar and synth strategies into an audio abyss that an outrageously eclectic ensemble including Wild Eyes cohort Gareth Dawson (noise bass), Freshylgroundâs Kyla-Rose Smith (violin, baking vocals), Frank Mallows (vibraphone), Niklas Wittenberg (piano), Morten Minothi Christiansen (guitar), Lee Thompson (trumpet, flugelhorn), Righard Kapp (feedback), Dan Manojlovic (e-bow guitar, cigarette and plucked piano wires), Ramon Da Silva (kalimba, spectrum computer), Dirk Hugo (guitar scratches, overdrive guitar), Paul Opie (bass) and Simon Potrlock (drums) dance a dervish around with their uncanny improvisations.

Wait up, spectrum computers, plucked piano wires and cigarettes? Well, call it thinking out of the box, if it makes you feel safer. But be warned Singhâs mission is more than a mere âmarketing 101â motto. Remember, Pressed Up Black isnât neo-this or retro-that. Rather than clone any seasonally chic retro-rock clichés or succumb to an underground stereotyping emasculated by it own self-indulgence, Pressed Up Black invites the listener to decode a flotation tank of mind-altering echoes that - depending on what frequencies fry your synapses - are reminiscent of everyone from early Lou Reed and Eno-era Roxy Music to Devendra Banhart, Bonnie Prince Billy and beyond. And hereâs the rub: none of this stuff strays far from the dance floor either.

Produced, engineered and recorded By Dirk Hugo at Sui Studios, Cape Town 2006
Mastered By Tim Lengfeld

'Ego fui sola in sylva, Et dilexi loca secreta'

Artist Website: www.nikhilsingh.com
Label Website: www.omtd.co.za