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Chapulin
El Feo
or download ENSAMBLE KAFKA @ Bandcamp

ENSAMBLE KAFKA Ensamble Kafka

CD album | gg421
Tuxedomoon is an experimental, post-punk, new wave band from San Francisco, California. The band formed in the late 1970s at the beginning of the punk rock movement. Pulling influence from punk and electronic music, the group, originally consisting of Steven Brown and Blaine L. Reininger, used electronic violins, guitars, screaming vocals and synthesizers to develop a unique "cabaret no-wave" sound. Bassist Peter Principle joined the band and in 1979 they released the single "No Tears", which remains a post-punk cult classic. That year they signed to Ralph Records and released their first album, Half-Mute. All members of the band had solo careers next to the output of Tuxedomoon, with Steven Brown releasing a new album in 2021, and touring Europe in 2022. After composing and recording the sountrack for the film "El Informe Toledo" Steven was asked by the director Albino Alvarez to perform the music live at the film’s premiere in the Cineteca Nacional in Mexico City. Having employed session musicians for the recording, Brown found it necessary to form a band in order to accomplish the task. Although the original idea was to only participate in the premier of the film, the audience response was so overwhelming that Brown and partner Julio Garcia decided to continue the project and Ensamble Kafka was born This group combines contemporary music techniques with traditional Mexican music thereby humbly attempting to create new traditional music. The self titled album was released in Mexico only in 2013 and has now been extended to 14 tracks for this first worldwide release. Full tracklist: 1. Chapulin 2. Alumbre 3. La Bateleur 4. Equis 2 5. La Palmera Encendida 6. Luces 7. Luna Una 8. Mediu Xiga 9. Pajar 2.2 10. Kafrika 11. Cancion Mixteca 12. Tram 13. El Feo 14. Viene La Tormenta. Price: € 18,-/copy incl. worldwide shipping.

Steven Brown, Gründer der bekannten Postpunk-Combo Tuxedomoon, bringt in wenigen Wochen ein Album seines Ensemble Kafka heraus, dessen Besetzung ursprünglich nur für den Soundtrack eines Films – El Informe Toledo von Albino Alvarez – zusammenkam und schnell zu einer Art Band zusammengewachsen ist. Das selbstbetitelte Debüt, das wie eine cinematische, von zeitgenössischer Musik beeinflusste Version traditioneller mexikanischer Musik mit opulenten Bläsern und stimmungsvollen Gitarren klingt, enthält in der Mehrheit Stücke dieses Soundtracks.
(African Paper, November 2022)

I enjoyed this a lot. It sounds like a soundtrack, indeed, its jazzy and contemporary, but, perhaps, so I believe, not always too serious. There is undoubtedly an element of joy in many of these pieces. The only thing I recognized from Mexican music are those shrill, spike trumpets, but sounding not too much like a mariachi band. It all eludes me, so I cant say anything sensible about it. But the music is great, that much I know.
(Vital Weekly, December 2022)

Il regista ha commissionato a Steven Brown la colonna sonora, e il sassofonista dei Tuxedomoon mette in campo una serie di elegantissime composizioni nelle quali cerca di sintonizzare i suoni della tradizione latinoamericana con la sobrietà sperimentatrice che sempre ha contraddistinto le sue musiche come quelle del suo gruppo.(...) Bene fa quindi la Klanggalerie a ripubblicarlo con l’aggiunta di tre brani, poiché la qualità delle musiche e delle esecuzioni è di prima scelta, andando ben oltre il compito originario di commento alle immagini di una pur pregevole pellicola. I tuxedomoonisti ne saranno deliziati.
(Blow Up, January 2023)