Search - Attwenger :: Sun

Original and engaging

Lynn Hoffman, author:The Short Cour | Philadelphia | 10/13/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Everything I've ever read about Attwenger grapples with the question of their categories and influences. Who are these guys anyway? Is this an Austrian folk band? Punksters? Hippity-hopheads? What's the stuff with all the accordians? Did that guy actually yodel?



Well, it's time to get over it. Attwenger is unique and refreshing. The synthesized sounds and sensuous melodies are put to work in service of some provocative half-statements and partially done poems. You fill in the rest with pleasure and become totally engaged with this band in the process.



No shouting, no punkish posing or hip-hop testosterone poisoning. These guys are inheritors of Austria's melodic tradition. More like Mozart than the Mysterians. You can pick up punk influences easily enough. Pogues and The Clash come to mind.

But the most obvious characteristic of Atttwenger is their infectious melodic lines. They create melodies with high brain-virus potential. Fragments of `Maumen' or `Rehn1' will pop up unbidden in your brain for days. The whispering seductiveness of Gedscho will completely convince you of . . . something. You won't be sure what that something is, but you're convinced. There are a few self-indulgent cuts-Islamabad Airport stands out, but they don't have to make the transition to your iPod.



Attwenger is completely original and totally delightful.



Lynn Hoffman, author of The New Short Course in Wine and of the forthcoming novel bang-BANG from kunati press."