Long Island Ice Tea? One knows. But have you heard of the “Long Ayran Ice Tea”? This could be the far less well-known Turkish version of it. In any case, it is served as one of several “cold delicacies” on the second dish of the same name Grotto Terrazza solo album alias Thomas Schaman. He is best known as the drummer for the darkwave band based in Munich and Berlin, which is very popular in the scene stay modern. Otherwise, the man is also a DJ, barman, author, booker and organizer. And as you can hear on “Cold Delights”, he has a recognizable penchant for the offbeat. Or shall we say: for unusual cocktails and combinations.
With Darkwave, EBM and NDW, Italo disco and the eighties soundtracks of a Harold Faltermeyer, there are quite a few (possible) ingredients. But not separately, but poured into each other, shaken and stirred. The result is one of the most unusual Munich albums this summer. And since people in the Bavarian capital prefer Aperol Spritz, the “cold delicacies” are from the Viennese indie label Cut Surface appeared. At least that could be the reason. There has been a connection to the Munich music world for a long time. The beautiful debut of river came out there, and last year also the unfortunately lost album “Take Care Of Me”. Murena Murena. Daniel Murena, who is behind it and mainly works as a theater musician, likes it dark and twisted.
Some sounds summery and others slightly drunk
“Cold Delights” begins with a “Preludio”. A man and a woman say things like “outdoor swimming pool”, “cinema”, “prison without trial”, “state security” and “a colorful umbrella on the beach”. In addition, you can hear a keyboard, noise, a dreamy saxophone. Already here a wide cosmos is spanned between summer feeling and anticipated abysses. The following “Inspector Ginko” is instrumental. A slow e-beat tumbles along with bass and bell-like percussions through the evening sun. In the end, the whole thing expands into an eighties soundtrack in Cinemascope.
This is followed by three more instrumental numbers. The “Long Ayran Ice Tea” sounds quite summery at first and then slightly drunk. “Senza Piombo 95” also moves in the direction of the film soundtrack with a brawny keyboard. It is similar with “Zitronenmelodie”, in which a saxophone sounds after a soft chirping and typing noise. In “The Magician” (there is also a video) sings to disco beats as he watches his master through a hole behind a painting. A weird mix of gothic and Goethe, disco and calypso, which, like the EBM reprise “Krank in der City”, has the potential to become an indie hit.
“Tropical Diseases” has something by Harold Faltermeyer again, “Short Arms” takes you to the wave disco and in the concluding “Tomahak” the drum machine dances the rumba. A computer voice speaks a poem, gets muddled and a male voice makes a wish. Sleep? Well, maybe quite useful for rewiring the synapses.
Grotto Terrazza: cold delicacies (Cut Surface), cutsurface.bandcamp.com