Ecce Hobo
Where The Devil Dances
Ambiguous Music
This record is almost cool enough to put up with the business of covering the digital tracks with Sharpie so you can play it on a computer. Ecce Hobo takes its influences from every genre I can imagine, from country to electronica to big band, and swirls it around to produce a sound that lies somewhere between the two obscure poles of Robert Crumb and The Residents. The disc comes with a video for “The Moon,” an urgent and mysterious song that could creep you out in the right circumstance. It also makes the disc very hard to play on a computer. Unlike some mixed discs, this one doesn’t even come with a proprietary player. It’s black magic marker or an analog car stereo if you get this for Christmas.
Ecce Hobo is a collaboration of Seattle’s John Feodorov and Paul Amiel. The press release shows them as a set of serious musicians, willing to travel around the world to study and use instruments you’ve never heard of like the Gu Qin and the Ney Flute. No word if there’s a Gass involved, but I’d expect nothing less from this pair. Where The Devil Dances is a pleasant experience involving serious musicianship, interesting lyrics, and a crisp, well-thought-out mix resulting in an intriguing and accessible disc. It’s not pop silliness or longhaired intellectualism, but like stumbling onto a really cool indie movie before anyone in the press catches on. Behold; a great record!
Ecce Hobo: http://www.eccehobo.com
