Search - Messer Fur Frau Muller :: Second Hand Dreams

Some reviews from official site of home Label

SOLNZE Records | www.solnzerecords.com | 10/12/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Like the missing link between cocktail music and drum 'n' bass, or between Carl Stalling and Manu Chao, Saint Petersburg duo Messer fur Frau Muller (Knife for Frau Muller) makes madcap cartoon music, the kind that might be played on a merry-go-round on Mars. It has a strong beat (even if it does sound suspiciously like electronic flatulence), horns straight out of Raymond Scott, and loads of space-age sound effects. It's music for surfing spies, for bugs banging bongos on the beach, for cartoon coyotes constructing the trap that will get rid of the roadrunner for good - this time for sure. Highly recommended.Embracing elements of decadent capitalism that even most Westerners would shy away from, zany Russian lounge mutants Oleg Kostrow and Oleg Gitarkin (who in one form or another are responsible for all of these aliases) play
twangy sci-fi music for people who know that the future actually happened over 40 years ago,was scripted by Ed Wood and illustrated by Eric Stanton while Criswell and the faltering ghost of Bela Lugosi looked on.
Rediscover the Power of the Omni analogue synth,The Man from Planet X and peppy little pop numbers with titles like "The second Advent of Elvis", "The Pornoman","Cannibal Twist" and "Go,Satan,Go!".Above all, marvel at what sounds like Sampled dialogue taken from, say it ain't so, actual Soviet B movies. This is the start of the Leatherette Revolution.The WIRE (march 2002) Direct from the Russian Federation (via Japan) comes this sample-delic festival of cartoonish delights. Take a few scoops of Raymond Scott (figuratively and realistically, through samples,) add a cup of Jean-Jacques Perrey-inspired analog synth twirls and tweaks, throw in some transmissions from Russian film and TV, then add some hyped-up surf and spy samples and you've got the basic ingredients for this record. The opening track, "The Best Girl In USSR" sets the tone for the rest of the disc. It sounds very much like the score to a modern day "Looney Tunes" short - if they were still being produced. "Sexual Inspector" is a twisted spy number, and
"Hello Out of Cosmetic Bay" sounds like the B-52's on Ritalin, with its twitching, speeded-up surf guitar lick.
While the majority of the tracks sound like outtakes from cartoon soundtracks, there are a few dreamier numbers. "The Moments Has Been Stopped" is my fave, with its cool vibraphone lines floating over the mellow grooves. Producers Oleg Kostrow and Oleg Gitarkin are interviewed in the enclosed booklet, but it is in Japanese only. For more info check out http://www.fraumuller.spb.ru.Br. Cleve
Combustible Edison"