Album du jour #8 - Stealers of arctic-circle candy

Fragmentorchestra - Fragmentorchestra (2002)


Prior Relationship to Album: So after watching and falling in love with Linklater's philosophy-major-ego-stroking movie Waking Life, I wanted to find more stuff like its soundtrack. The Waking life sountrack was played by the Tosca Tango Orchestra, and is a jazzy, trippy tango shuffle that is really amazing. But knowing nothing about any form of classical music - let alone unique ensembles that played avant-garde piano/viola numbers - my only lead was to go looking for other bands that had the word "orchestra" paired with something that sounded weird. Lo and behold, I stumbled across something that was in fact nothing like what I was searching for, but was still pretty good. Fragmentorchestra, a little known group that does acid jazz (and when I talk about "acid jazz" here, I don't mean real acid jazz, where a jazz band just does weird shit...I mean a combination of acid jazz, house, and prog house. A more accurate title is "European nu-jazz", but "acid jazz" is commonly used for this kinda stuff because people get the genre lines fairly blurry).

High Point: "De Muse" and "Sambita" both take the cake. The band really lives up to its name; intricate elements, traces of things. Lots going on for anyone whose listening ear doesn't automatically turn off when it comes to electronic "chill out" type music. (and most people do shut off their attentiveness when there aren't vocals, punchy rock hooks, etc...which is unfortunate).

Low Point: "Spirits Voice" is just so-so.

What I Learned/Realized: Earlier attempts to find out info on this band have been in vain because they're Italian, and not many people state side are aware of them. Also because the internet is divided over how to spell their name.

Also, from the myspace page of one of the guys in the band, they have a really weird fascination with some ghetto Italian version of Alice in Wonderland....




Future Relationship to Album: Probably the same. But I'll be more wary of Italians. It is pretty good, the openminded amongst you ought to check it out.