Messer für Frau Müller
Allo, Superman!

THE REVIEW

In 1998, "You've Come a Long Way, Baby" was released. Fat Boy Slim topped the global charts, and easy listening would never be as popular again.
Messer für Frau Müller, a duo formed in 1991 in St. Petersburg, rode the high tide of success from those sounds and released their sixth album, "Allo, Superman!" in '99. The album marks a significant artistic growth that would later culminate in their masterpiece "Second Hand Dreams" the following year.
The album is, as usual, a psychedelic fruit salad, this time with an acidic drum'n bass base present in various tracks, like the first two that kick off the dance: pupazzo di neve sotto ipnosi (a cheerful boogie) and Allo, Superman! more somber with its syncopated rhythm. With Koshmar, still along the lines of acidic drum'n bass with dub elements, the duo writes one of their most disturbing pieces.

The absolute best episodes are Aufiderzen, John! with surf guitars, vaudeville piano, and a clarinet that enjoys playing scales; vitamine a bordo (Vitaminy na Bartu) and l’insegnante di danza (Ucytel Tanzev) that resemble Fat Boy Slim in sophistication; Salut, Adieu! which ends up hypnotizing with its spiral bass.

This album also features perhaps the most hilarious episodes of the Russians' career: yris kiss kiss, a kind of lively ballroom piece punctuated by the singing of several kittens: a must for all cat lovers. And la prima dose del gatto felix, another dragging ballad where a mischievous xylophone and angelic choirs tease us.
In a Russia in the midst of an economic crisis, there were those who managed to bring a smile in their small way by creating excellent entertainments and mocking their Soviet past, as in the brilliant arrivederci, mare. Overall, an excellent work in its genre.

PS: I have the original and I cherish it like a relic.