The large band, which was playing just before Shadow Shadow Shade at the Echo on Monday night, could barely fit with all their instruments on the small stage, since they have so many percussion, drums, congas, maracas, saxophone…
Their fusion music is really more concerned by the authentic African, North African, or even Arabic rhythms, which they transform in world-pop songs with very long jams and more hooks than you would expect from ethnic music, just listen to the songs ‘Surprise hotel’ or ‘Nadine’.
Around the two frontmen, Luke Top on guitar and vocals (in English and Hebrew), and Lewis Pesacov on guitar, the line-up of the band varies (musicians from We Are Scientists, Glasser, the Fall, and Foreign Born have joined), and yeah these bright ringing African guitars will remind you about Paul Simon’s Graceland one more time,… I know this comparison is getting old, but at the same time, it is unavoidable.
But you may think why another African-music-inspired band? The core of the songs of Fool’s Gold is really African music, and they rather incorporate slight elements of electronic noises into ethnic music to build their songs, whereas Vampire Weekend incorporates African elements in its pop-rock songs.
So it’s closer to the original, but at the same time, less original? Don’t get me wrong I enjoy this kind of music, and they are fantastic musicians. Also, it all depends on how you see it, but the result is joyous and bouncing into long jams, guitars dueling with drums, flutes and saxophone.
After just a few songs, the Echo had become a very sweaty place with all that jumping around, as their first songs were really upbeat and bouncing, but when the set settled into more monotonous drumbeats, people sank into a state closer to a drug infused torpor.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CON6IjNid8&fs=1&hl=en_US]