The Bongolian
Moog Maximus

Every new album by Bongolian should be accompanied by a sort of presentation made of kaleidoscopic lights accompanied by the blare of trumpets over a groove-sound in a Latin prog-psychedelic sauce and on a dance floor where Indian girls dressed in all colors dance the bharatanatyam thus expressing their kindness and all their spirituality, their joy of living and the sense of communion with the earth and space, while gigantic bubblegum bounce up and down around us who stand in the middle and at the center of this microcosm apparent universe with incense burning all around the aromas of the temples of Jerusalem.

And yet... And yet this new album (the fifth) by the multi-instrumentalist and front-man of Big Boss Man, Nasser Bouzida (aka The Bongolian), at least as far as Italy is concerned, has been released practically on tiptoe and more or less ignored by all parties, to the point that I want to consider this small and modest review as a sort of mission to spread the music of this latest work of the genius Nasser's solo project.

A project that Nasser started in 2001 (with the release of the first self-titled LP) and with which he has so far released four studio albums (the last in 2011, 'Bongos For Beatniks', one of the albums of the decade as far as I'm concerned) and with which, putting together a band of great caliber, he has toured over time in the United States, UK, and throughout Europe. Without stopping, in the meantime, working with Big Boss Man or neglecting various collaborations, including the one as Bongolian with Fay Hallam for the album, 'Lost In Sound'.

And now here he is, 'Moog Maximus' (Blow Up Records), which is in a certain sense the ideal continuation of 'Bongo For Beatniks' and the entire discography of Bongolian, if we want to consider this as a continuous musical journey inspired by that time traveler H.G. Wells and that on the occasion of this fifth album, sees Nasser landing in ancient Rome (do take a look at the album cover) armed with Moog synthesizers on a plane of powerful grooves and a wild electric fusion of the funky soul sound of the Hammond piano, of beat, jazz, and sci-fi boogaloo sounds.

Undoubtedly one of the best records of this year, 'Moog Maximus' opens up immediately with the already mentioned blaring of trumpets ('Octavius') sounding over an acid jazz base that turns into a rhythmic dub with the massive use of Moog synthesizers inviting us to enter this sci-fi Coliseum adapted for the occasion to host a magnificent and hallucinogenic dance-floor. 'Googa Mama' is the most radio-friendly track on the album, it could refer to some episodes of Fatboy Slim's discography, had it been released twenty years ago, a track like this would have been a bloody hit and climbed the charts. 'Vacation In Westworld' unexpectedly pays homage to Ennio Morricone mixing a theme in perfect spaghetti western style with elements of dub music and a sci-fi funk in the style of George Clinton with the usual imperious use of the Moog before an interlude with Hammond organ creating an atmosphere that can only be described as magical.

By now you will have realized that the album has a lot of content. 'Jan Hammer of the Gods' is a sort of electronic storm descending from the sky at the speed of light, a track that sounds hallucinogenic and lysergic at the same time; 'Moog Maximus' resumes the 'electrified soundtracks' theme of 'Vacation In Westworld', configuring itself as a real melodrama played on the electric piano and with the synth: imagine for a moment the remake of a dramatic scene from Ridley Scott's 'Gladiator', set it in the world of 'Blade Runner' and there you have it. 'B-Boy Toga Party' is an explosion of funky music, 'Boudica Rides Again' again references some Morricone-style themes with the Moog bouncing up and down before the grand finale in a triumph of space bongos. 'Londinium Calling' has that 'squelchy sound' of the synths typical in some episodes of the seventies (I think again of the Funkadelic) which then veers into typical eighties sounds (John Foxx and the Nation 12) that seem to come directly out of the world of video games. 'Mr Woo', sung by a female voice, is a good pop music track with Hawaiian-style atmospheres and an imaginary landscape made of sea, sun, blue sky, palm trees, deck chairs, and coconuts. Sunglasses. 'Ritmo do Rio' is a Brazilian vibraphone party with the sound of bongos accompanied by the groove of the bass and the Hammond organ. 'Kid Love Moog?' Mmm... Let's do it this way. Do you remember the Teletubbies? There, you've understood what I'm talking about. 'Aries and Scorpio', the last track on the album, projects us directly into a seventies disco-music atmosphere with some Arabic sounds and an explosion of synthesizers announcing that our journey for now has come to an end, while we can't stop hearing the bongos still resonating in our heads.

Is it an electronic music album? Is it an acid-jazz, beat, boogaloo, salsa album? Dub music, sci-fi impressionism, funky? Lysergic psychedelia? All these things together. I don't know. I'm not good with definitions and in any case, it's impossible to define with words alone what is a real sensory experience on all levels. Dynamic and vibrant, Copernican. There you go, 'Copernican' might work as a definition. In any case, this space and musical journey through time, although it takes pauses every now and then, seems destined to soon resume and last a long time. After all, in the current state, if we look around and at our current society, at the state of Europe and particularly that of the United Kingdom, this seems to be the only safe way to travel freely beyond any possible border. Brexit? No thanks. Not this time.