Sleepytime Gorilla Museum
Grand Opening and Closing

THE REVIEW

How many times have we heard the term avant-garde music used incorrectly?

How many bands have claimed to be the standard-bearers of a new genre (since today such definitions are thrown around and it seems that no band that cares for itself can resist inserting its proposal in a mix of at least 3-4 musical currents) only to then limit themselves to blending a couple of genres at best?

Well, for once, get ready to hear something truly innovative, as never before is it so difficult to give a name to the musical proposal of the group. The band claims to compose dadaist music (their very name would derive from a sort of museum run by a group of futurist and dadaist artists called Sleepytime Gorilla Press) and indeed you can see how in the CD the various genres are dismantled and remixed with each other, apparently at random, in a shapeless and chaotic mass but also damnably engaging and alive, it is not an artificial and soulless construction; even in the lyrics, nonsense seems to prevail, at least at first listen, and they blend well with the feeling of the tracks, thanks also to the excellent performances of the two singers (male and female voices).

A surreal and dreamlike atmosphere prevails throughout the work, touching a wide range of sensations: it goes from more violent and frantic episodes ("Sleep is wrong", "1997"), to calmer ones with melancholic and twilight features ("Ablutions", "The Stain"). In total nine tracks, all of extremely high quality (it is almost embarrassing the ease with which the artists juggle the various sounds, both in terms of single compositions and in the album as a whole, without affecting its organicity or accessibility; faced with such skill, one can only take off one's hat); nine tracks for a long dark trip that will make us witness the destruction of genres (we can understand here how they are mostly completely arbitrary mental schemes) and the rebirth of Music.