BULGARIAN INFLUENCES: Rock on the accordion. |
As traditional instruments continue to find their way into indie rock (enough with the banjo, already — we know you listened to Jerry Garcia in college), it was only a matter of time before we found ourselves bobbing heads to an all-acoustic, solo accordion disc. Thanks to Matt Rock, we need wait no longer. A 20-minute/eight-song tasty treat, Tchaklitz is everything you could want from such an effort and more.
One half of the team who’ve brought us the Soundpost in the old Stillhouse Studio location on High Street, Rock is a pretty talented player, though that doesn’t quite hit you in the face until “Gödel Sea,” a swirling pop national anthem for some random Eastern European country full of hipsters. He flies around the fingerboard, sounding more like a guitar player than a keyboard player. At 2:48, it’s even pop-song length. Most tracks here clock in under two minutes and only one is more than three.
Some sound fairly traditional, like the Bulgarian stuff featured on the Borat soundtrack. Others, like “Jutro,” are downright familiar; in this case the exploration of the lower register is a dead ringer for Depeche Mode’s “Little 15,” off the much-underrated Music for the Masses. This can get fairly surreal, as you try to peg modern influences in a carnival atmosphere, but I’m pretty sure that’s what Rock’s going for.
For best listen, I’d take the last two tracks. “Armhair” is fairly Celtic, biting the “Wayfaring Stranger” in the ass with plenty of A-minor vibe, but not quite “Greensleeves.” Rock goes with quickly bounced chords for the melody in this case, rather than the single notes that prevail for most of the album. Also, I’m reminded of “Eye of the Tiger,” but that might just be me.
The disc’s finisher pairs a buoyantly melancholy chord progression with a punchy rhythm hand, like a Sondre Lerche tune, chords rising and falling like waves over oil tankers in the middle of the Atlantic.
Tchaklitz | released by Matt Rock | at Bull Moose and the Soundpost
On the Web
Matt Rock: www.myspace.com/slimstif
