Magnifico – Export Import
Reviewed by Sadie O., 7/25/09
Slovenian Balkan brass meets Rock ‘n’ Roll for the international market. Magnifico is Robert Pesut, and he’s clearly got a VERY well developed sense of fun. Part of the play is in combining Balkan brass sounds with all sorts of (often retro) Western musical styles, and part of the play is totally goofy English lyrics (e.g., Giv Mi Mani). Much like Shantel, a bit like Balkan Beat Box.
No FCCs detected, just a lot of oil. I like 1, 7, 12, 14 best
1. 3:48 ****starts out with fast belly-dance doumbek, gradually turns into Gypsy brass, then surf music with a bit of hip hop… winds up swingy dance groove with accented English vocals.
2. 3:05 ***midtempo swingy syncopated groove, English love song in a minor key.
3. 3:56 ***uptempo accordion bounce, then gorgeous Spanish guitar and disco, a bit smarmy, but that’s ok. Sung in some sort of pidgin Spanish/English/Slovenian.
4. 5:23 **uh oh, I think this could be qualified as Reggae… But it’s also downtempo electronics, and brass, and pedal steel… Instrumental. Nice, really.
5. 2:41 **downtempo lounge shuffle, a bit Caribbean feeling, several languages.
6. 3:19 ***syncopated uptempo with accordion and electronics, boppy and groovy. Apparently in straight-up Slovenian.
7. 4:08 ****mad! Uptempo drums and electronics, kinda disco, definitely funky, in English.
8. 3:07 ***electronic squeebles, then goofy spoken word, then mysterious sounding midtempo slinky groove.
9. 4:54 ***electronics, pedal steel and reverby guitars, slow funky island/Balkan groove. Cynical yet smarmy.
10. 8:44 ***sinister electronics, thunder and lightning, heavily accented speaking in English, like a cheesy action movie. (actually real history, just presented… cheesily…) Midtempo slinky electronics, drums, flutes, sound effects, etc. Actually very cool instrumental…
11. 1:28 **pure sleaze! Downtempo slow dance on the beach.
12. 3:52 ****female beatboxing, electronics, brass, uptempo funky bounce, utterly unctuous lyrics in English. Scratching and sound snippets. Nuts!
13. 3:10 ***The music video version of track 12, just uptempo bounce and brass and smarminess. Bongos! The anthem of the very self-aware cheep Eastern European gigolo.
14. 3:29 ****brilliant! “House of the Rising Sun” becomes “Yugoslavia” in a spaghetti western. Mad! (FWI, track is from a different album, “Grand Finale”)