"progress cannot be oppression..."
There is something journey-esque and otherworldly about 'Crisis' by the Dutch alt rock outfit Combo Qazam. The urgent cadence pushed by percussive clicks and drums, the horn resembling synths, the droning sounds, wonky sliding guitar lines pushing in dissonant places and the stoic, aloof vox have science fiction edges. I feel Gothic and dark atmospheres, an apt soundtrack for the the zombie-fied masses in Fritz Lang's 1927 silent masterpiece Metropolis.
Interestingly with 'Crisis', "Combo Qazam explores a new human force that can live and love alongside the unstoppable development of technology. A power that forms a meaningful social structure, supported by AI in its most vulnerable strength". Maybe the more things change, the more they stay the same when it comes to themes of power structures manipulating the masses and those masses gobbling up the opiates offered to us.
'Crisis' is from the Combo Qazam's 2022 sophomore album 'Ghost Interior' where the band explores the suffering of being human.
-Robb Donker Curtius
https://www.instagram.com/combo_qazam/
https://www.facebook.com/comboqazam
https://soundcloud.com/user-276114777/crisis
Combo Qazam consists of four early Millennials who grew up in an analog world, where they first learned about creative freedom. Now, as adults in an algorithmic era, they feel ambiguous. People often feel detached and controlled, but it is precisely the digital, global society that offer opportunities to break existing structures and celebrate life together. Combo Qazam is operating on these crossroads of analog and digital, old and new, hope and fear.
You hear this dichotomy throughout the music of Combo Qazam. The band can sound mechanical yet humane at the same time. Prog-like perfection goes hand in hand with Pavementesque dissonance. Aloof lyrics are being sung with heavenly harmonies. Scraping guitars and goofy samples are being recorded on 4-track cassette and in Logic Pro. The beat is leading you through eerie melodies, with hints at postpunk, mathrock, kraut and noise.
Together, the four men of Combo Qazam (Ab Al-Tamimi, Gino Miniutti, Arno Breuer, Stefan Breuer) have 80 years of experience in 40 bands. Debut album ‘Flight Music’ dropped in 2020.
THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM - PRESS NOTES:
https://www.instagram.com/combo_qazam/
https://www.facebook.com/comboqazam
https://soundcloud.com/user-276114777/crisis
Combo Qazam consists of four early Millennials who grew up in an analog world, where they first learned about creative freedom. Now, as adults in an algorithmic era, they feel ambiguous. People often feel detached and controlled, but it is precisely the digital, global society that offer opportunities to break existing structures and celebrate life together. Combo Qazam is operating on these crossroads of analog and digital, old and new, hope and fear.
You hear this dichotomy throughout the music of Combo Qazam. The band can sound mechanical yet humane at the same time. Prog-like perfection goes hand in hand with Pavementesque dissonance. Aloof lyrics are being sung with heavenly harmonies. Scraping guitars and goofy samples are being recorded on 4-track cassette and in Logic Pro. The beat is leading you through eerie melodies, with hints at postpunk, mathrock, kraut and noise.
Together, the four men of Combo Qazam (Ab Al-Tamimi, Gino Miniutti, Arno Breuer, Stefan Breuer) have 80 years of experience in 40 bands. Debut album ‘Flight Music’ dropped in 2020.
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