Konkord 130
Hope Less
Bad Ida
What exactly is Soul Music? Is it elegant dance moves to glistening grooves? Red-hot bodies on the vibrating floorboards of an all-nighter? Dusty, incredibly rare 7” records that shout decades-old love messages straight into today´s broken hearts?
Or is it an unrestrained, ecstatic beast of a beat that asks one crucial question to all the lost and lonesome couch potatoes as well as the savage beauties of the night: are you still alive, or are you already on your way to the pearly gates of sweet delirium?
The answer is, Yes and Yes. All that is Soul Music. But first and foremost, Soul is an emotional roller coaster ride. With an 8-mile drop from sky high into the depths of hell. And a resurrection on the flaming wings of a golden bird.
The music of Viennese newcomer Bad Ida is Soul to the core. And the explosive brew they unleashed from a vintage bottle of firewater contains all the sweet spices that make the genre such a fascinating field of expertise. The laid back coolness of the Motown sound. The straight forward basslines of RnB.
Dirty thrusts of Funk and Blues Rock. Now let´s escalate all this and turn it into a powerful new subgenre: Garage Soul!
Ines Dallaji, Marc Bruckner and Alexander Lausch are the three soulmates who delivered this gripping debut album: A singer with an incredibly captivating voice. A multi-instrumentalist who knows all the dodges. A few perfectly placed guests. Plus a producer who carves the resulting momentum with all its facets à point onto vinyl. And - by the way - contributes an exceptionally catchy guitar sound.
And the promised roller coaster ride through the emotional world? Well, everything´s here: anger, passion, melancholy and great stories delivered straight from the heart.
Twanging guitars, minimalist organ, a rumbling drum kit and a voice that forcefully blasts this wicked new Garage Soul into your auditory cortex: from the first play of Bad Ida's debut single "You Gotta Change" you could tell that this band has come to make its audience prisoners of passion.
"Where Have You Been" celebrates painful memories of a toxic relationship - and transforms them into a monument of inner strength that reminds you of PJ Harvey or the great female singers of the Blues. "Every time you're gone I grow in strength. I am not as weak as you may think". The sound is straightforward, the message crystal clear.
On the other hand the slackly performed song "Kind People" with its melancholic trombone solo would certainly be enjoyed by Tom Waits ... while one could imagine the country ballad "I Hide" sung by Johnny Cash on a final volume of his American Recordings.
And then: songs that immediately get you dancing ("I'll Never Be With You", "Don't Tell Anyone"), simply great pop music ("Stop It Now", "It Is You") and a grand finale that once again pulls out all the stops ("Please Let Me Cry"). Beautiful and vile. Full of emotion and energy. It's all soul ... Garage Soul. That's Bad Ida.
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