:: reviews

red-garlic

nop

diledadafish historical flush - reviews

This CD is a culmination of over ten years of music by Diledadafish. The Swiss group combines electronics, voices, samples, and percussion to create an eccentric, often wacky world of sound. They will, no doubt, remind listeners of the Residents, with their odd vocal warblings, demented marching music, and tribal electronic beats. There are also collages of electronic sounds and odd samples here to keep things from getting predictable. Included with the packaging is a little booklet that includes artwork for each of the 19 pieces on the CD. Nice. (MH)

This retrospective by the mighty collective known as Diledadafish, imported from Switzerland, is an amazing collection of ambient noises, beeps, blurps and other strange musical assortments and arrangements that could easily be used to accompany a space-alien religious ritual on Planet Xenon (Hear "Resinous Dentist" for details!). Practically uncategorizable, the Dadafish wrap Coil, Nurse with Wound and The Residents into a unique musical pate and stuff it into the blender. Hit mix and serve chilled, as you won't experience this type of "music" again any time in the near future! (Andrew Magilow)

Historical Flush is Diledadafish's second CD release (the also reviewed Mothball was their first). This one, released 5 years later, but featuring material recorded between 1984 and 1995, is yet another surreal electronic romp through Dadaland. It all begins with, appropriately, "First Lady II", one minute of silly synth noises. The eleven plus minute "Westen & Osten (excerpt)" is remnicent of stuff from the late 70's industrial movement, but without the expected darkness and "shockingness" associated with artists like Throbbing Gristle. Pulsing, buzzing synth sounds lead directly into lo-fi drum machine beats and weird processed vocals, almost similar to something like Front 242. Simply brilliant. "One Minute of Shimmel" continues the industrial act with it's gruff European vocals, teutonic drums, and all sorts of weird stuff in the mix. "Factory, The" lives up to its name, with it's calm ambient synths punctuated with drum machines and what may well be human voices processed into machinery type sequences. Quite original. Bits of "All We Need Is Love" actually remind me of something like Atrax Morgue, with the addition of orchestral synths and a sense of humor so lacking in many forms of music. "Udder" is totally absurd silliness, sounding like a more advanced version of those built in demo songs on toy keyboards, with the addition of weird mechanized vocals in the background. "Resinous Dentist" is in the vein of many of the tracks on Mothball, with its nearly dark ambient synth work, similar to Coil's Hellraiser themes. "Max & Hector" is also one of the ones with a darker musical structure, but with computer generated vocals throughout the track. And it all ends with a cover of the Residents' "Walter Westinghouse", nearly 6 minutes of fractured electro-pop music and processed vocals that take on a totally alien quality of their own. Once again, Diledadafish manage to produce more deranged Dadaist electronic "pop" for lack of a better word. Historical Flush is a bit "harsher" compared to Mothball, but still much more listener friendly then experimental Dadaist countrymates Runzelstirn And Gurglestock. Imagine 70's Cabaret Voltaire and Throbbing Gristle, with a better sense of humor and less "extreme-ism", and you've got Diledadafish. Which should be something you'd want to hear. Great booklet too, featuring artwork for each of the tracks, and a great little piece on "How to Sell Diledadafish By The Power of Display" that should entertain you. (Creaig Dunton)