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REVIEWS
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Jack's Parade
Hidden and Sick
10 Years
Percy Has Returned (The Story of Percy, Third and Last Part)
Nothing but His
At the Sunlight Sanatorium
The Real Gentleman or the Mad Lover
Once Eliot Turned Ugly in His Lover's Bed
Wondered Colonel Killed Couple
Collage
Romance
45
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REVIEWS
Katzenjammer Kabarett
Grand Guignol & Variétés
Projekt Records
Posted: Monday, June 22, 2009
By: Trubie Turner
By: Trubie Turner
A manic and dramatic collection of styles and influences that is anything but boring.
The second album from French four-piece outfit, Katzenjammer Kabarett, Grand Guignol & Variétés presents a refined mix of styles and themes. Drawing from electronica, goth, punk, and dark cabaret with a distinctly experimental and artsy twist, this avant-garde act employs wonderfully atypical song structures, melodies, and instrumental combinations to produce a sound that may occasionally remind the listener of other acts, but easily retains a very distinctive and fresh edge.
With the deep sultry voice of Mary Komplikated coupled with the prominent bass lines, one of the first comparisons likely to be drawn is with the early, more punk influenced work of Siouxsie & the Banshees. In tracks like "Jack's parade," "10 Years," and "Romance," the similarities are downright uncanny, but a subtle splash of electronics gives the tracks their own unique flavor. Meanwhile, the pacing and structure of tracks like "Nothing but His" and "45" are very much going to remind listeners of The Dresden Dolls, but since Katzenjammer Kabarett is a quartet as opposed to a duo the sound is more complex and deeply layered. One of the few faults of Katzenjammer Kabarett is their more artsy moments can occasionally come off a bit on the cheesy side, such as the odd voices of "At the Sunlight Sanatorium" or the opening story of "Collage," but these moments are very brief and hardly detract from the overall quality of the album.
While there has been of an influx of dark cabaret acts and artists like the Dresden Dolls and Emilie Autumn have found a fair amount of success, Katzenjammer Kabarett proves to be an act just as worthy of the same praise and notoriety those previous acts have found. Grand Guignol & Variétés may be a little bit of an acquired taste for some with its frenzied stylistic changes and boundary pushing song structures, but given an opportunity the richness of the composition and Komplikated's voice are sure to hook you.
With the deep sultry voice of Mary Komplikated coupled with the prominent bass lines, one of the first comparisons likely to be drawn is with the early, more punk influenced work of Siouxsie & the Banshees. In tracks like "Jack's parade," "10 Years," and "Romance," the similarities are downright uncanny, but a subtle splash of electronics gives the tracks their own unique flavor. Meanwhile, the pacing and structure of tracks like "Nothing but His" and "45" are very much going to remind listeners of The Dresden Dolls, but since Katzenjammer Kabarett is a quartet as opposed to a duo the sound is more complex and deeply layered. One of the few faults of Katzenjammer Kabarett is their more artsy moments can occasionally come off a bit on the cheesy side, such as the odd voices of "At the Sunlight Sanatorium" or the opening story of "Collage," but these moments are very brief and hardly detract from the overall quality of the album.
While there has been of an influx of dark cabaret acts and artists like the Dresden Dolls and Emilie Autumn have found a fair amount of success, Katzenjammer Kabarett proves to be an act just as worthy of the same praise and notoriety those previous acts have found. Grand Guignol & Variétés may be a little bit of an acquired taste for some with its frenzied stylistic changes and boundary pushing song structures, but given an opportunity the richness of the composition and Komplikated's voice are sure to hook you.
