Releases

Alpha Saloon - Hello Weltgeist! (2006) Best-Nr. 2006-1

Tracklist: Sun bears gold listen, you fool! The great song of inconfidence listen, you fool! Drinking in stereo listen, you fool! Contro Venezia passatista listen, you fool! Mama Alemania listen, you fool! Lonesome skymarshals in the sky listen, you fool! Pretty dancing person listen, you fool! Modern times, modern people, modern talking listen, you fool! To avoid the apparently stupid listen, you fool! Uber German listen, you fool! order here oder da!

Liner notes:

Alpha Saloon: >>Hello Weltgeist!<< (Elder Sound Records)

Can you imagine Robert Johnson, Dale Cooper, Debbie Harry and Karl or Groucho Marx gathered around a tropical style rattan table (bending under loads of empty and half empty cocktail glasses), on a casino terrace in a blade runner version of Las Vegas, avidly discussing urbanism, vernacular music, party sociology and substance abuse anecdotes - while popular songs from aeon old 78’s are jangling through some distorted P.A.? And intermingling with that the frantic record-scratching carried over from a nearby 80’s New York block party and the muffled noise from a crowded Mexican speakeasy next door (operated by a former ship’s cook from the Bucovina)?
If that sounds like a gathering you’d like to join, then “Hello Weltgeist!” might be just down your alley. A jet propelled rollercoaster ride through Indie-Rock, weird old America, Disco, future-electro, New Wave, Turntablism, 70’s Punk, Country/Western, Glam, Grunge and Mariachi. Well, it’s all Pop after all, isn’t it?
Fortunately, Alpha Saloon have based this eclecticism extravaganza on a groundwork of solid songwriting skills, mostly evading mere novelty. Yes, terribly talented tunesmiths they are: “Hello Weltgeist!” offers a shitload of catchy melodies, lucsious chord changes and elegant, witty lyrics, that go far beyond your usual “songs about love and the weather” fare. And the band seems to be very serious about what they have to say: every song on the recording is performed like they were navigating burning ships or something...

(Erich Zann, 09/2006)