Noot d’ Noot

The amazing psychedelicized Nuevo-Atlanta 10-piece Go-Go troupe NOOT d’ NOOT has managed to cram their hypnotic surrealistic soul-party vibe onto improbably-sized-for-their-task 12-inch vinyl discs. The new LP, CASH FOR GOLD, will be available June 16th, 2009 through the band’s own Shakedown Records imprint.
CASH FOR GOLD is a skilled outgrowth of the band’s open-ended oddball psych-R&B dance collision: a pure 30 minute expression of tailshaking, mind-expansive joy-and-groove. Tellingly, the project began as a 12-inch single – preferred medium of role models like ESG, Arthur Russell and Kilo Ali – but grew, through the band’s proclivity to improv its way to gleaming new spaces with an open Kosmiche-Krautrockists’ attitude, song-for-song, to its current 30-minute mini-lp size.
Openminded vets of the formidable Atlanta hip-hop and underground rock scenes, Noot evinces the best attributes of either steeze: their sonic instincts and studio savvy are redolent of their hip-hop collaborations with Dungeon Family/Outkast, Prefuse 73 and Grip Plyaz. Their vision, though, is propelled by a resilient DIY aesthetic and approach engendered by years spent in the independent shoestring-budget echelons of Punk Rock; what other impulse, besides a restless urge toward creation, could compel them, in economic times dire as these, to self-release records and tour in full 10-piece glory? Members have performed with Metalloid heavy-hitters like Mastodon and Zoroaster, grassroots spacerockers Good Friday Experiment, and pop-funk experimentalists the Selmanaires; these variegated musical encounters have produced a vigorous percolating eccentricity. Experiencing CASH FOR GOLD for the first time is a gently-schizoid and enlightening endeavor.
Charged opening tracks like “Fingers Like Steeples” and “The Occasion” cop this tripped-out and pop-conscious Electro-80’s-Go-Go feel -- imagine Trouble Funk joining La Dusseldorf (Neu!?) with two fine taunting Double-Dutch Soul-Sisters fronting. Album’s second half, though, moves into more rarefied, breathtaking air: mesmeric layers of organ, electric piano and spidery reverberant guitars carry the harmonic call-and-response vocals above the vibrating jungle of timbales and congas. The rhythm section provides the vital anchor, prohibiting it all from whirling too-far-off to the too-thin ether. It’s almost like Shuggie Otis jamming with the Boredoms in full late-model dubbed-out housemusic bloom, or Future Days-era Can featuring Maceo Parker and the most-stoned part of Funkadelic. The whole trip is burnished by a marblemouthed sense of humor straight that’s pure Dirty South: like they let some stoned convenience-store thief DJ-toast their jams, time-to-time.
CASH FOR GOLD hits the streets June 16th, 2009. Look for it in stores, or order it directly from the band’s own Shakedown Records. Noot d’ Noot is gearing up to take its stone-cold live show on the road in support of their newest joint, so keep an eye peeled for their mindbending trip at your nearest and dearest dancehall!
.. Management: Lifestyle Upgrade, LLC