Rapid fire playing and a wicked humor fuels drummer Olie Steidle's album with guitarist Frank Mobus, keyboardists Kit Downes and Dan Nicholls, and bassist Phil Donkin, mashing together electro-jazz, art rock, hardcore and club music into upbeat and twisted music, building up to a narrative "Speed Junky on Funny Human Darts"; insanely embraceable and stunning.
Format: CD Condition: New Released: 2019 Country: Portugal Recorded by Benjamin Spitzmueller 18/22 September 2017 in Berlin. Produced and mixed by Dan Nicholls, additional mixing by Chris Hamilton.
"The fact that Frank Mobus (leader of the band Roter Bereich and part of Carlos Bica's Azul) is a member of The Killing Popes, and that this group founded by drummer Oli Steidle has Kalle Kalima, Petter Eldh and Andreas Schaerer, among others, as guests on Ego Pills is very enlightening about some of the musical choices they're doing in other projects.
Why? Well, because they seem to take inspiration from the wild mix of electro-jazz, art rock, hardcore and club music you'll find in these compositions. If you already suspected that they have a punk side (and a rave one, by the way), here is the definitive confirmation.
The punk and party factors here are electronic, with two keyboardists two, Dan Nicholls and Kit Downes, and the resulting music is so intelligently funny, bright and light that they put pop acts like Daft Punk to shame, going from beautiful moments to chaos and back. If you had any doubts about the capacity of the present-day jazz musicians to renew their imaginations and creativity, this record will change your mind. Oli Steidle, a box of surprises."-Shhhpuma