The vintage sound of Organ Explosion
“Digital is perfect but analog is better“. In two words, keyboard magician Hansi Enzensberger from the German trio Organ Explosion describes the band's music and motto. He and his colleagues Ludwig Kloeckner on bass and Manfred Mildenberger on drums form the band whose music we listen to today and take us back to the sunny days - as if erasing the grey outside.
The jazz trio Organ Explosion grabbed us instantly with their latest album LaBomba (Enja 2019). As the name of the band suggests, the good old analog electric organ is at the center of the ideas. The one with the vacuum tubes and dozens of cables.
There are rarely albums that one does not want to skip even one track, but this is one of them. From beginning to end, LaBomba is composed of focused, finished and well-played pieces. During some, you will dance, during others you will smile, and sometimes you will sing or you will just be charged with positive emotions.
It all started in 2011, when three friends and fellow students from the Munich Conservatory gathered for home sessions to play their vintage instruments, as if dug out from grandma's garage, as they joked. The result after years of playing inevitably leads to the only solution - the formation of the band and the release of their debut album Organ Explosion in 2014. Since then, the characteristically old-fashioned quality sound became a trademark of the trio and to their third album LaBomba, which we listen to today.
The music of the trio somehow organically ranks with that of Medeski, Martin and Wood, the organ projects of Jamie Saft and Brian Marcella, as well as all the musicians who respect the quality of analog sound with respect and a smile. The difference here is in the color of the songs and the themes - cheerful, positive, with a lot of funk and blues in them. At the same time, they played completely in the style of the times when the original sound prevailed.
We couldn't pick one or two songs from the LaBomba album, so we're listening to it all today. Of course, you will find it on digital platforms.
November 2021
Image: pixabay
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