Deliberately breaking all the rules Mr. Hornby once famously outlined regarding the creation of homemade (tape) compilations, Saroos’ members indeed had the term “mixtape” on their minds while working on their latest full-length – albeit in the hip-hop sense: a sonic snack box, interconnected shots from the hip, something that just came together and immediately felt right. “OLU” drops March 6, 2020 via Alien Transistor.
Whereas hip-hop folks nowadays often use the vacuous term “project” in order to steer clear of the ontological debate caused by the almost synonymous use of album/mixtape, Florian Zimmer, Christoph Brandner, and Max Punktezahl, otherwise busy with The Notwist, Driftmachine & Lali Puna, stick to the classics: their new 16-track project “OLU” (Off Label Use) is, officially, still an album. But it’s wild and vibrant like a mixtape, interwoven like its cover: a seamless burst of ideas, impulsively combined to form a split-screen snapshot of recent moments and momentums.
Re-appropriating the term “Off Label Use” – which actually means: using prescription drugs in ways that aren’t mentioned on the instruction leaflet – in their own “off-label” way, Saroos never sounded more loose-limbed and elastic. Whereas the trio’s earlier releases were rather conceptual and homogenous, “OLU” indeed has a more loose, spur-of-the-moment feel, a spontaneous force at its core. Checking the weighty sci-fi inspirations at the door, they use that Bomb Shelter-type of freedom to reinvent themselves at every turn, chasing sounds that happened to emerge in the group’s triangular energy field
Eilis Frawley combines direct and unforgiving spoken word amidst kraut-like rhythms. With a focus on social structures, feminism, and mental health, she speaks truth to creative insecurities, personal tragedies, and the impacts of living abroad. In 2019 Frawley’s solo project debuted with multiple tours in Germany, the UK and Australia. Her first two EP’s, “Never Too Emotional”, and “Adult Life’ were released via Reckless Yes records in 2020. Eilis Frawley is a classically trained percussionist from the Elder Conservatorium of Music in Adelaide, Australia. She spent a number of years in Seoul, South Korea, where she played in various bands before relocating to Berlin in 2016.
Saroos and Eilis Frawley
Thursday, 19th January 2023 | 20:00 CET
Marie Antoinette | Holzmarktstraße 15 | 10179 Berlin
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