Reviews - Plim Plum Plam

This certainly is no ordinary record. The cover alone draws attention. Colorful, happy-go-lucky and simply pretty. Just like Oszibarack’s music on "Plim plum plam".

One who would think the title stands for meaningless noodling is in for a big surprise. Oszibarack have prepared a set of distinctive songs. The band admit having been inspired by the works of Glenn Miller. Indeed – there is the brass section, jazz and swing licks and certain not too overwhelming splendour. This connected with the electronics and complex rhythms reminds of Matthew Herbert’s madness. Som may take the similarity as a flaw, but let’s face it – few theings inthis world soun as good as Herbert’s music.

But there’s much more going on the album. We hear breakneck associations of jazz, techno and electro. There are dancing trumpets, some scratches, some scraping, some buzzing and DJ Patrisia typically twitters, screams and sings. Despite the apparent accumulation of arrangements, ideas and layers the compositions seem to have lots of space and sound light and joyful. However the most important is the fact that the debiut album "Moshi Moshi" has been enriched with melodies. That way "Plim Plum Plam" became the most tasteful kind of pop with such great compositions as "Toss Your Lasso", "Anchor Up" or "Point Blank". Original, tenderly demanding, but also airy and charming.

The album has one more advantage: the whole thing is sung in english which makes it marketable abroad.

Anna Szymla
muzyka.wp.pl

Öszibarack should mean "a wizzard". Music so magical has not Been seen on the polish market for a long time.

Know of any promissing bands on the market? Most of them are probably rock bands. But it’s not boys with guitars that are most likely to shine abroad. It’s the authors of new dance sounds. Such as Oszibarack. Apart from Miloopa, Oszibarack, the band of Agim, Patricia, Zmazik and Dogiel is very succesful in making modern electronic music. The debiut album “Moshi Moshi” put them among the “high hopes” of polish music, but "Plim Plum Plam" is a clear statement that Oszibarack is the most notable band in polish ambitious pop.

Their new longplay album is filled to the brim with attractive half electronic-half-natural sounds. Strongly supported by the brass section the band managed to successfully blend the retro with future. Eclectic sounds on their album have the 70’s vibe to them - a period of time when big bands have dominated the scene, bu on the other hand echoes of modern dance music can be heard here as well. Maybe the comparisons to Royksopp, Moloko or LCD Sounsystem are not quite accurate but the record is still so attractive that it could easily be served abroad. With the new album the band deserves to really hit it off big time.

Bartek Kot
onet.pl

When someone says to me "hey, I’ve Got an awesome album for you" my reaction is usually repungnance. My inborn distrust makes me first smell the record, check if it bites, gives mi an electric shock. Only after that am I ready to put it into my CD player and… disappear. Disappear for a long time in the case of Oszibarack’s second album. Deep down, all the way down to the bottom. I’ve been listening to this record several times in a row and can’t let it go. It gives me enormous joy. Loose mood which comes form Oszibarack’s love for free fun, mixing seemingly contradictory music structures – we can hear live 30-ties Glenn Miller-like brass section and live strings (Motocross). In "Play it again" there are echoes of german and japaneese electronic music: Roberta Lippoka z To Rococo Rot, Tarwatera, Chica & The Folder, Mico. The song "Surfin’ Safari" titled so after the surf-rocking Beach Boys’ first album brings back strong memories of it. The counterweight to The Beach Boys is the tribute paid to the Beatles in "Twitter". There’s lots of stuff here. Lots of it! You can hear this wealth of sounds all over "Plim Plum Plam". However in the case of Oszibarack the wealth is served unasumingly, with no pomposity. Agim Dzeljilji (programming, producer of NOT, Nina Stiller among others), Patrycja Hefczyńska (vocalist, Husky), Zmazik (drummer, Hurt) i Tomek Dogiel (basist, Őszibarack) create this wealth not by stuffing every possible idea that comes into mind on the record (the ideas are quite abundant) but by sonic nuances carefully selected and polished. For example inviting the brass section and DigitallLove’s violinist Bartek Bober to the recording sessions was fully premeditated. As well as was with Loco Star’s Tomek Zientek on trumpet. On the other hand many of the nuances mentioned before came to being unwittingly, by playing with beats and melodies.

Music on this album has earned itself the "club music" label. I personally disagree. Of course – the arrangements and overall vibe lean towards pop ("Point Blank" with Pati’s Ibiza-like groove), a damn danceful pop, especially on tunes like "Surfin’ Safari" or even electro on "Stop callin’ me skinny". Let’s go back to "Point Blank" for a moment. It had me hooked onto it by the theremin sound (also present in "Molly" and "Play it again") which gave it sort of a film-like vibe. Interstingly it’s specific, violin-like sound was used by 60-ties and 70-ties rock musicians. Theremin (used also onstage in sco called german soft-electronic music, it’s undisputed master is Doris Chrysler from New York) is a living proof od Oszibaracks inspiration by The Beach Boys – supposedly the device was used by the band while recording the song "Good Vibrations". Actually a cheap theremin substitute was used. It was called electro-theremin. ;-)

My personal opinion is that the new album by Oszibarack spans beyond the frames of ordinary club music, and beyond the skills of an average club dancer not used to computer loops, buzzing electronics and the unmerciful rush and dynamics of the drums that can be found on "Plim Plum Plam". It doesn’t quite suit the dancefloor. Well, the vibe suits the dancefloor, as well as ulimited fun, the emotions generated by Patricia’s vocals and the bubble gum. By the way! When going to an Oszibarack concert take lots of bubble gum with you – it can be used for making balloons and slingshots. It suits the vibe of balancing between british elegancy and carelessness.

This time my distrust proved to be useless. The record and its packaging are A-MA-ZING. Wrocław rules again. [8/10]

Ewa Kuba
alternativepop.pl

Their newest album was announced in a very spectacular way. The band was being compared to the likes of Moloko, Royksopp, LCD Soundsystem or Mouse on Mars and at the same time it was stated that the new record called “Plim Plum Plam” will be something to be proud of for the polish music industry. Terms like “most anticipated album of the year” were used often. Today, after the release we can finally check out Oszibarack’s latest creation and see if all the pompous announcements were true.

Before listening to the new material I had songs like “So Close, So Far Away”, “Skirts up” (also known from a cell phone operator ad) o “Moshi moshi” on my mind. These songs are to me the most characteristic for Oszibarack’s debut album “Moshi Moshi” (2004). Although I knew well how much stir the band has made with their first album it just did not have the power to stop me for long. That’s why ma attention was caught when I heard about Oszibarack changing their style quite a bit turning more towards pop and aiming not only at polish but also outside fans’ tastes. That’s why it’s all sung in English. Finally the single “Toss your lasso” arrived and proved all the promises to be true.

The piece was originally meant for Novika (ed. note: polish DJ and singer) confirmed the band’s pop aspirations. It’s much faster, makes you want to dance, and mope joyful. Warm electronics blending with live and inspiring brass section and Patricia’s club vocals to boot really make you sway. Minimalistic “Anchor Up” – the first track on the record has similar effect but being soft and quiet is considered to be a bridge between the previous and the new album. There are a few more light and peaceful tracks on the record, for example “Play I t Again” but it’s the rocking sounds that dominate this record.

I’ve listened to the whole album with true joy – there are no boring moments and the perception is not too demanding. Influences from previous years are clearly audible (mainly in the brass section in “Point Blank” for example) as well as elements of electro, techno or minimal. Also styles, conventions and moods are varying here. The material seems to be well polished – the band must have spent fair amount of time in the studio, but on the other hand it does not lack creativity, distance and even cool silyness (“Surfin’ Safari). What we get is a solid dose of good high-grade electric electro-pop.

I am indeed convinced that it’s definitely this year’s best club album in Poland. What’s next? I can’t tell. But I’m sure Oszibarack is ready to compete with Smolik and Pati Yang who are the best on polish alternative scene. Let there be more and more of such bands.

Michał Perzyna
www.80bpm.net