The Balek Band is made up of four members who dispatch their music from Nantes in the west of France to the cultural science student flat shares of this world, and they are likely to be performing it on various alternative music festival stages soon. The slap bass which sets the tone on the sedentary »Charbon Alcool« already suggests this. The music that the four produce follows the approach taken by the German trio Wareika – anyone remember them? – but with a stronger emphasis on organic instruments. That doesn’t mean that electronic music is excluded from the programme though. The number mentioned above, with its steady, chugging beat, could easily find a spot in a Red Axes set. Otherwise, the Balek Band draws together a host of influences. No two tracks are alike. »Balek Zouk« already features the adapted genre in its name and works quite well due to the upbeat guitar and the variable percussion that kicks in around the middle. People who harbour a legitimate aversion to this musical stylistic device will have to live with the slap bass as a constant companion. All the tracks are world music in the truest sense of the word because they borrow from the entire globe. Yet, they have one thing in common: a high recognition value, which is a remarkable achievement considering the bandwidth, and an uncompromising tendency towards the psychedelic. This is also expressed on the cover, which looks as if it was designed by a Dalí in the throes of consuming something illicit.
Médecines
