Staff Reviews

Munk - The Bird and the Beat

Review by Chris Trout

Overall, there’s not an awful lot of individuality on display here.»

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close'the beat and the bird' is the new album of dj, keyboarder, producer and gomma records co- founder mathias 'munk' modica. 14 electronic funk, futuristic house and indie pop songs that modica recorded with twelve female vocalists from all around the world. the new album is the logic next step after the previous munk collaboration on the past two albums with dj chloe, asia argento, micky moonlight (ed banger) or james murphy of lcd soundsystem (on 'kick out the chairs!' - the only vocal cooperation murphy ever did). the album was mixed by etienne de crecy, alex gopher and jan driver (boys noize). the album starts off like a classic 90s house record, but quickly develops into a colorful trip into unexpected shades of music. very sunny and perfect for the summer. sometimes deep and krauty, then again influenced by 90s italo pop and eurodance. there is 70s street funk, sweet frenchy chanson and brasilian punkhouse. english is mixed with six other languages. electronics meets the funk of sly stone, the humor of frank zappa, the pop of trevor horn and the romanticism of italians such as goblin or morricone. the album is a modern variation of the 'girl vs producer' thing, like serge gainsburg and burt bacharach did some years ago ;). all music - piano, synthies, xylophones, bass, guitars, drum machines, and asian percussions - played by modica.
description from www.roughtrade.com