Monday 24 April 2017

VON DETTA ~ EXIT GRAND PIANO ....review


With the sometimes overwhelming amount of music being released these days it is not uncommon to miss a few gems every now and then, as was the case with "Exit Grand Piano" a five track masterclass in fuzz drenched stoner/desert dynamics from a Belgian quintet flying under the banner of Von Detta. released in October last year (2016).


Von Detta, Tom Claus (vocals), Jeroen Vandamme (bass), lef De Deurwaerder (guitar), Jonas Verheist (guitar) and Koen De Borle (drums), are in their own words a band  who "don't fool around", a band whose incendiary riff driven grooves are fronted by a man even his own band members call a "nut house maniac", a band that are fast gaining a reputation as must see live entity.
Blending elements of punky aggression with gritty stoner/desert attitude Von Detta's "Exit Grand Piano" is an EP that will wholeheartedly appeal to those brought up on the Palm Desert grooves of bands like  Kyuss and Unida but also to those who dig the harsher more psych orientated grooves of todays underground rock scene. Songs like "Get Better (At Lying) ", "City Of Glass" and "Wrong Headed" jam riff heavy grooves salted with quirky QOTSA-like funkiness underpinned by solid, tight rhythmic bluster over which Claus croons, roars, rants and spits lyrics dripping with angst and attitude, his vocals a gentle caress one minute, a slap in the face the next. Combine these vocals with the sand blasted refrains and rhythms provided by the rest of the band and you arrive at a sound that is not only startlingly effective but one that is as exciting as it is addictive.
 
"Exit Grand Piano" is a  joyous EP that recalls, in places, that transitional period when American punk loving youths, strung out on peyote and LSD, loaded their vehicles with instruments and amps and headed into the desert and in doing so started a whole new musical scene.
Check it out .....

© 2017 Frazer Jones

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