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Who, or what is a Gecko Turner? Is it a long forgotten 16th century
painter? Is it a bygone profession involving spinning reptiles for
public amusement?
Not quite. Gecko Turner is a Madrid based singer-songwriter who has been labelled "an
inspiration" by Quantic's Will Holland. He's one of Spain's musical stars but
unheard of outside.
Chandalismo Ilustrado is his second album and a gorgeous stew of
musical meat. It's an eccentric, eclectic mix of soul, R&B, afro funk,
reggae, blues, latin and jazz (sometimes all at the same time!). His
first LP featured a bewildering, but no less fascinating, cover of
Subterranean Homesick Blues that even Bob Dylan wouldn't
recognise and the offerings here are equally never dull.
A list of obvious influences could take up an entire site alone: Try
to imagine Beck, Dylan, D'Angelo, Jose
Feliciano, Seu Jorge and Buena Vista Social Club all
jumbled up in a cheeky mix and you're still not close. Despite all these
influences he still manages to sound like nothing on earth. To use the
title of one of his songs, he is best encapsulated by the term Afrobeatnik.
He sings in a mixture of Spanish, English and Portuguese, and
combined together it sounds like he's singing in another language from
another planet. The albums opener En La Calle, On The Street is a
bluesy track that replaces Dr John's creole influences with a
hefty dose of Latin spirit.
As soon as that track is over we are confounded with the great Monosabio Blues- a track that wouldn't seem
out of place in the likes of Amp Fiddler's repertoire.
The album's stand-out tracks are the cheekily laid back
Daughterbitchin' And Motherfuckin' Style and the album's closer Sycamore
Blues, which achieves the major feat of topping everything the album has
done before with some low-fi bluegrass excellence. If you hang around for long enough after it finishes you can even hear the strains of The
Lion Sleeps Tonight fading away into the distance.
This is a cool collection of 15 playful songs that each seem to
transport you away from dreary autumn drudge to an exotic lounge bar
where the cocktails and latte never end. So who is Gecko Turner then? Downright Daughterbitchin - that's what!
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