Calle Debauche - Potemkin Carnival (2007)

Rating: 7.1

Mohadev, guitarist and keyboardist for Calle Debauche contacted me about reviewing this album, noting that I enjoy the music of the bands that most influenced Calle Debauche (among them Sleepytime Gorilla Museum). Naturally, I couldn't say no, and, as a result, I now have the pleasure of reviewing one of the better CDs of 2007, a real gem of an album.

Right from the start, this album is a success. The cover art is abstract, beautiful, and engaging, three qualities I greatly enjoy in music, and thus, naturally, my interest was immediately piqued. Putting the CD in the player, I was overjoyed to learn that the album lives up to the impression created by the cover art. In short, this is an engaging, beautiful, and somewhat abstract album. It jumps all over the place stylistically, but unlike so many other genre-hopping bands, it really manages to tie everything together, and thus it is also cohesive, perhaps the most important quality a CD can have (and certainly one of the most important). On top of all that, with a running time of only 33:00, there is no room for unnecessary notes, and none are present. Rather than filling a CD for the sake of... filling a CD, Calle Debauche limit Potemkin Carnival to the ideas they have with no excess, and what wonderful ideas they have.

As I said, this album jumps all over the place stylistically, keeping me on my toes throughout. Even within one song, this is true. Take, for example, the track "Adults." It starts out beautiful and relatively soft, then explodes into a hard rocking fun before ending with a short, beautiful outro. All around, it is a well-constructed song. On the next track, however, we're in completely different territory, with a wildly avant-garde burst of instruments that leaves having developed itself fully and just in time so as to not become annoying, once again showing the band's well-developed sense of restraint. On "Hey Hotdogs!" we are once again off in new direction, this time looking towards upbeat, fast-paced jazz-fusion that is sure to delight (it's my favorite on the album). Adorned with silly vocals, this is the type of song that's sure to bring a smile to your face. And so on. Every track on the album is both similar in strengths and different in style, making for a wonderfully varied yet consistent ride.

I'd highly recommend this band to anybody looking for good modern music that holds the prog torch high without any of the stereotypical flaws associated with the 70s giants. By combining just the right amount of everything, Calle Debauche have proven themselves wonderful bakers in cooking up this CD. A highlight of 2007 by all criteria.