How should I begin this review?
The new album by TALCO has been on heavy rotation in my system for over a week now, and I am still speechless.
The fifth album from the band near Venice has become a mature piece of music. An album that showcases the band's strengths in a perfect production.
It is an album that will surely blow away many new fans, but the last two albums “Mazel Tov“ and “La Cretina Commedia“ have already done that. In particular, I consider the penultimate album “Mazel Tov“ to be the best album of the band. The record that came out in 2008 was overwhelming and fascinating for me, and it still is today.
The perfect mix of fast, danceable punk rock, combined with Eastern European folk, addictive melodies, and a healthy dose of ska. “La Cretina Commedia“ already moved a bit away from folk, and now with “Gran Gala“ there is a work on the shelves of retailers that is both opulent and enchanting with its 15 songs.
“Gran Gala“ is once again completely sung in Italian, with the English translations in the beautiful digipack. That's how TALCO is known. The translations are not just for the sake of the audience outside of Italy, but are also meant to bring the band's messages closer to those who are not proficient in Italian.
The fifteen songs refer more or less to beautiful Italy. What remains of this beautiful country after a Berlusconi government that has run the country into the ground and plunged it into corruption? What kind of country allows that in the beautiful, proud city of Venice, there are hardly more than 50,000 Venetians living there because it is hardly possible to live there (I highly recommend the film “Das Venedig Prinzip“, which is currently in theaters). Who can forget the waste problem in Naples? And who actually knows how the poor south is doing, since the rich north of Italy no longer wants to support it?
The band not only takes stock of Berlusconi but of the entire political class. With the whole political and social system. The band does this in lyrics that create images in the mind. Images that make one doubt, images that make one sad, images that make one angry, and rarely give hope.
TALCO wants to shake things up with “Gran Gala“. It goes without saying that they succeed!
The lyrics are packed into the well-known, inimitable mix of ska punk, punk rock, and folk from Southern Europe. The voice of singer Dema brings exactly the depth that the lyrics need. Songs like “Dai Nomadi“ are sung by Dema almost in the direction of Fado. Fado is a style from Portugal that is often presented sadly and often minimally instrumented. And this style also has influences from Arabic music. The same goes for the music of Talco. They have their own style that features a variety of influences and is interestingly always perfectly blended. Typical Talco songs on the album are certainly songs like “La Veglia del re nudo“ or “Danza dell´autunno Rosa“ (there is an extremely watchable video for this song, which can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=3SgcaZCLJFk).
On this, perhaps their rockiest album, the band has taken stock of their homeland, and it has turned out to be very bleak. Hope is there, but it is still unclear whether it is justified, after all, Silvio Berlusconi wants to run for election again to save his Italy from the technocrats.
Even though the folk influence makes way for a slightly larger rock influence, which may not appeal to everyone immediately, this album easily ranks among the best albums of this year.
Danceable, political, rocky, captivating, fascinating… it is… Wow!
The band is on an extensive European tour until spring and should not just be visited, but must be visited, because where TALCO plays live, there is no party, there is a collective frenzy, and the winter blues are forgotten!
For collectors, it should be noted that the LP will be released in its first edition on red clear vinyl and is limited to only 500 copies.
