maandag 7 november 2022

Κάπου Αλλού (Somewhere Elsewhere). Bazooka

An album all in Greek, so I have no clue what Bazooka is singing about. What I do know is that the music taps into decades of alternative rock and even some acoustic singer-songwriter guitar work. The result is a ten song collection of some great work adding to the alternative rock songbook.

The album is the Athens' basement psych-rock band's best work to date, in the band's own words. I can only believe them here as Κάπου Αλλού is a great album, with very different songs and sounds.

It starts off with an acoustic guitar, that brings a memory of singer-songwriters from the 1970s. It is the attack with which the strings are plucked that gives the texture of the song a toughness that lets it end somewhere between say Cat Stevens and Alice In Chains. When Xanthos Papanikolaou starts singing it definitely becomes clear we're not attending a new 'Tea For The Tillerman' experience.

The difference between opening song 'Kata Vathos' (Deep Inside) and 'Krifto' (Hide and Seek) is rather big but also announces the listening experience the listener is about to undergo. Bazooka is on a musical trip, ending in far off places. German band Die Nerven style punk rock, indie and alternative rock and even a letting go off the tension here and there can be heard.

It makes Κάπου Αλλού not so much an album for everyone but an album for the many. The songwriter of the band, singer and lead guitarist Xanthos Papanikolaou knows how to write a good song but has a band that builds them out into anthems like e.g. 'Dikia Mou Alithia' (My Own Truth), the first single of the album. A lot comes by in the song that is fleshed out into huge proportions. Follow by a 'punkrocking song like 'Katarameni Anthropi' (Damned People) and you get, once again, how varied Bazooka's music is.

By then, I am totally convinced. Κάπου Αλλού is a great album. At this point in time I have no clue whether the band's claim is correct. All I want to say here is that this is a contender for the list of my favourite albums for 2022.

Wout de Natris


You can listen to and order Κάπου Αλλού here:

https://bazookabzk.bandcamp.com/album/kapou-allou


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