Kletka Red
Hybrid

That crazy ex-drummer of mine came down from Berlin with this CD. So, while we were driving the one thousand five hundred kilometers to Sicily for our vacation, between a Tiziano Ferro and a Yo Yo Ma, an Enrico Rava and a Pixies, he managed to slip Kletka Red into the player, a group totally unknown to me. After just a few seconds, I already felt uneasy. But I couldn't start arguing at the beginning of the holidays. So I let the CD play. In the end, I was captivated by it.

Kletka Red is a quartet consisting of Leonid Soybelman (Estonian, of Jewish descent, already the leader of the Russian band Ne Zhdali, on vocals and guitar), Andy Moor (English, member of the Dutch band Ex), Joe Williamson (Canadian, on bass), Tony Buck (Australian, on drums).

The origin of the individual members of the group is quite significant, as Kletka Red plays music that is a truly diverse fusion of cultures and styles. It's no coincidence that the album is called "Hybrid." Klezmer (and indeed the first album, "Hijacking," this being the second, was released on John Zorn's Tzadik). Rembetika (a form of Greek folk song, with themes related to drugs as well as love or prison). Balkan folk. All seasoned with the explosiveness and vigor of a certain New York-style free jazz. Eastern tradition meets Western avant-garde.

Music that is difficult to define. Try to imagine some members of Sonic Youth and the early Lounge Lizards engaged in a jam session in Tallinn after living for a few months in a Hasidic community and being forbidden to listen to rock. There are more relaxed moments, as in the opening "Kosiak Lubvie," and others of uncontainable fury, like in the following track "Wire." The vocals, often better described as recited, are in Russian. The guitars are distorted (think Arto Lindsay or Blixa Bargeld, to get the idea). It's disturbing music, even if challenging. Noises and distortions contaminate gentle melodies. Sounds that recall the earth to prevent flying towards the sky.

The album, originally released by Red Note, a subsidiary of Konkurrent, in 2000, was reissued in 2006 by the Dutch label Explain, and thus can be found without much difficulty. However, I would recommend it only to those who are somewhat familiar with experimentation or eager to try something new and different: I fear that someone might want to throw it in the trash after half a listen and then come looking for me with a stick. However, you can easily find some tracks online: there's no point in letting you hear just a few seconds of samples, as, in my humble opinion, Kletka Red deserves attentive and engaged listening.