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According to Twisted Tongue's MySpace page they're a collective
from "The Motherspace". Which gives a good indication of what to
expect from this, their debut album, as there is certainly something a
bit "from-another-planet" about this bunch. It also gives a clue
towards the type of sounds you're going to get. Sonically they owe a
great deal to George Clinton and Parliament, who themselves spent some
time in their own P Funk Mothership.
Sticking with their inclination towards concept, the group members
have decided to take on their own pseudonyms. Among their ranks, we
have TT And The Funky Mindbeam, Father Gargantuan Trooper and Angelina
(RIP). Thus do they lend themselves to some sort of
characterisation and plot development throughout the album. In
fact, the band is the current project of Dave Jay and Mark Dalton, two
old hands in the music industry, who have previously worked as, among
other things, respectively a session musician and manager, and a
co-producer and engineer.
It all sounds dreadful so far, doesn't it? But while the
reasoning behind all of this concept stuff is unclear, the real
question is whether they've drowned themselves in it, or whether
there's something on offer that's genuinely worth heeding, despite all
this wackiness.
Putting reservations aside, the squelching bassline dominating
first track You Want That Soul? gets the listener on board straight
away. Super-infectious recent single Got A Really Good Thing carries
on the seriously funky vibe in a different, Gnarls Barkley kind
of direction as the driving groove gives the track an urgency that's
difficult to resist.
Mindbeam (Part 1) is a more straightforward piece of soul that finds itself sandwiched between a
couple of instrumental interludes in (I Need A) Freak for Armageddon
and Mindbeam (Part 2). Both are excellent trumpet-led pieces of
jazz/soul fusion, the latter of which brings in a mild electronic
backing.
The rest of the album sports vocals divided between a soulful
male with a tendency towards falsetto, and a helium-friendly female
vocalist. He's generally impressive, with an ability to mimic a
variety of other singers, from Lenny Kravitz to Prince.
But she, while involved in but not dominant on the earlier tracks,
tends to play a bigger part towards the later stages of the album. When
she takes a bit more prominence on her signature song Killing
Angelina, she's frankly a bit of an irritant.
The second half of the album is weaker as the strong melodies are
left out in favour of a deeper, heavier style. Oh Father! My Own Nunk
Band! is particularly indicative of this and feels pointless, unfunny
and without much merit. And the repeated references to nunk music
throughout the album don't explain what it actually is, if anything.
However, the laidback grooves of Love In The City and Niagra Song, with
its strings and falsetto vocals, end things off nicely and offer
confidence in the band's ability to write songs that can draw in listeners.
Released on the iconic Acid Jazz label in the year of their 21st
anniversary, Twisted Tongue embrace the dancetastic grooves that
embody everything that Acid Jazz has always stood for. Undoubtedly
flawed, there's still a huge amount on offer to be enjoyed. File under
seriously funky and have fun with it.
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