The Mauskovic Dance Band belongs to a clique of groups, which mainly gather around the label Les Disques Bongo Joe: Founder Nicola Mauskovic already played at Altın Gün, like her colleagues from YĪN YĪN the band balances on the very thin line between appropriation and appreciation. But the new Mauskovic release does not feature electrified Anatolian rock or Thai and Viet sounds, but once again cumbia rhythms or Afro influences here and no-wave understatement, disco ecstasy or dub padding there. And this comes from Amsterdam, of all places, for the first time on the label Dekmantel, which is known above all for house. Yes, pretty much everything is crooked and crude at the Mauskovic Dance Band. And »Shadance Hall«? Wallows in it for a full 35 minutes. The peculiar psychedelic of the piled up Mauskovic trademark takes as much pleasure in taking along as world music clichés, as it lovingly overrides them. All the more so on the B-side of »Shadance Hall«, which juxtaposes the four new tunes with decidedly lo-fi dub versions. One could almost think that the Mauskovic Dance Band are the talking heads of our days – if Nicola Mauskovic and his group wouldn’t iron out their sources of inspiration with punk snot. Here they still think with their hips first. The end result sounds correspondingly unheaded.
Sho-Nuff
Body Pressure
WeWantSounds