Review - The Voodoo Trombone Quartet LP (or Big Beat Revivalism Starts Here)

Let's get one thing straight before we go on. Dumb is not always a dig. Okay? 'Kay. The Voodoo Trombone Quartet have made one seriously dumb album. It's so dumb that it's still sat over there, tittering at the way bananas look a bit like cocks. Now VTQ (to save me typing it out every time) are the heirs to the Bentley Rhythm Ace estate. What that entails is wearing the occasional fez, bouncy basslines, jump up and down riddims and a fondness for haywire sixties yeh-yeh.

Put it all in the cookin' pot and you get a village idiot with a heart of gold...

So what makes up this album? Well, aside from the debt to Big Beat, it leans on, and all over, loads of old ska records, French jurk and anything a go-go dancer might shake it to in a swinginglondonsploitation flick. This basically means stabs of Stax guitar or Ska strikes. Of course, there's another clue in the band's name as to what this LP has loads of - Horns.

Remember that track that was massive a few years back? Big Train. It was used on the BBC show of the same name I think. Well, if you remember it, this LP shares a lot with that. It's all vintage noises stuck through the digital mangler and left hopping around and mental. Each flickered twitch of a spasmed arm and slight balckout signals a new gonzoid French sample or brass rub.

As it's such a silly and fun album, it's hard to pick any particular track out. One that will grab the attention is a fuggin' ace cover of 'Overload' by The Sugababes. Yup. Even though it was a brilliant tune in the first place, these dumbasses have taken it into a shady corner to watch a spy flick. Serious. It was already kinda spooky in the first place... but VTQ have turned up the noir a little.

Another thing that this LP shares with Big Beat is the use of loads of sixties samples... and they haven't bothered clearing them. For me to tell you what they are would be like pointing the authorities in their direction and thus, being a huge grass. Forget that. These guys are having too much fun to be gettin' 'emselves arrested.

Anyway... should you buy this album? Well, that's a good question. If you want something really hip and serious, then no. You should probably go and buy some obscure funk singles or something. If you want a dimwitted and jolly pop LP, then you might be in luck. This LP will never, in a million years, change your life... however, there's a good chance you'll have a laugh listening to it. Best thing to do is to go to their Myspace page and have a listen. Make your own mind up... because I sure as hell can't make up mine.

[Mof]