Year: 2007
Style: quite bizarre and absolutely fantastic
Country: Germany
Quality: 192 kbps
Size: 58 MB
"17 Hippies sounds like someone used a warped blender to mix an accordion, ukulele, banjo, saw, clarinet, violin, trumpet, trombone, flute, a Jew's harp, an Indian tampura, an Irish bouzouki, an assortment of other string and wind instruments, a Zydeco band, Luminescent Orchestrii, and a circus sideshow from somewhere in Eastern Europe. In other words, their sound is quite bizarre and absolutely fantastic."
Tracklist:
01-Schattenmann [03:38]
02-Son Mystère [03:50]
03-Wann War Das? [04:09]
04-Deine Traenen [03:07]
05-Teschko [03:26]
06-Tick Tack [03:43]
07-The Moving Song [03:51]
08-Apache [03:05]
09-Heimlich [03:38]
10-Just Like You [03:46]
11-Madame [03:37]
12-Rustemul [04:24]
13-Barcalypso [01:55]
14-Le Son Mystère [02:38]
15-Papadam [02:14]
16-Jacques Balzac [01:44]
17-Wann Denn Dann Wann Dann [02:08]
They do everything so well, these 17 Hippies, writing songs with memorable melodies that they sing effortlessly in German, French or English. And yet they remain unnoticed. How could that be?
Perhaps they should have chosen a better name, one that didn't conjure the image of a guitar jam band formed by a squad of ex-Grateful Dead roadies. So let's get things straight. They don't play electric guitars and there aren't exactly 17 of them — there could be more, but usually fewer than 10 members go on tour. They're not hippies, either, although they are based in Berlin, perhaps the last European city where musicians can find apartments with rents so low, it's possible to follow your instincts and not surrender to commercial requirements.
They also sound as if they're enjoying themselves and that they don't take themselves too seriously. And that can cause problems for reviewers who prefer musicians with angst. But while there is a light, open atmosphere to their sound, most of these songs have a rueful and even melancholic tone. There's more here than first meets the ear.
Kiki Sauer sings the exquisite ballad 'Son Mystère' (His Mystery) flawlessly in French, and wrote the German words of several others sung by the group's English member, Chris Blenkinsop. 'Wann war das?' ('When was that?') and 'Tick Tack' both convey a between-the-wars nostalgia, like a band on a transatlantic liner. 'Deine Tränen' ('Your Tears') has traces of a Gypsy band from the Balkans. Each song has a slightly different combination of instruments, switching from banjo and accordion to guitar and clarinet, as influences and inspirations flash by — Cajun, Cole Porter, French chanson, and Leonard Cohen.
17 Hippies are not rock and they aren't world music. Still more or less unknown in Germany, they are headliners in France, where they get mainstream radio play. They would certainly make the perfect support band on a Manu Chao world tour, sounding nothing like him but somehow compatible with him. They've always been interesting, and this is their best album so far.
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"17 Hippies is a prolific outfit ... their polyglot style has evolved to take in dozens of genres, and here they've chosen to mix an Eastern European odd-metered rhythm, played on bass and accordion, with a plaintive, gentle reading of the `Apache' melody on the clarinet. It's very simple, and effectively makes an old classic new again." — Pitchfork
"17 Hippies sounds like someone used a warped blender to mix an accordion, ukulele, banjo, saw, clarinet, violin, trumpet, trombone, flute, a Jew's harp, an Indian tampura, an Irish bouzouki, an assortment of other string and wind instruments, a Zydeco band, Luminescent Orchestrii, and a circus sideshow from somewhere in Eastern Europe. In other words, their sound is quite bizarre and absolutely fantastic." — Murúch
"17 Hippies are one of the most exiting bands that exist in Germany today. And if you miss them, it's your own fault." — Rolling Stone [Germany]
"17 Hippies are ridiculously underrated. They should be in the front rank of European world music artists." — Charlie Gillet, BBC London
"The musical idioms are ... disparate, yet the mix is never incoherent. 17 Hippies have learned how to fuse sundry musics into one." — Washington Post
"The renegade sound of 17 Hippies--captured on the new disc Heimlich-- is an engaging blend of pop sounds and traditional eastern European folk melodies." — Chicago Sun-Times
For the past 12 years, Berlin's very own "special orchestra" 17 Hippies has been playing a whirling, crashing, diving, bobbing, weaving mixture of music from around the world. Imagine a mix of Eastern melodies, Balkan rhythms, French chanson, Anglo songwriting, and Cajun tunes, all perfectly blended together to create a unique pop style.
Starting in Spring 1995 as a trio playing mainly instrumental music, the band mutated into an ensemble--now numbering 13 musicians--that displays a vast range of musical creativity, ranging from their French radio hit "Marlène"" to the soundtrack for Andreas Dresen's award-winning film Halbe Treppe(Silver Bear, Berlin Film Festival).
With their new CD Heimlich, 17 Hippies have set a milestone. On this intoxicating album, most of the tunes are vocal--sung in German, French, and English. From a wild dance inspired by a Romanian melody to a Zydecogoes- Bollywood tune, 17 Hippies have created another masterpiece.
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