Like A Stuntman – Original Bedouin Culture

Observing the evolution of a band is like watching your own child grow from a child to an adolescent. One minute you're marvelling at how utterly bloody sweet they are, and the next you're floored from the shock of how much they've grown, developed and changed. And so on the kitchen floor I remain dazed, listening to Like A Stuntman's latest musical endeavour.Previous album Fresh Air Is Not The Worst Thing In Town and various EP's saw the Hamburg-based four piece as a vocally-focused indie-pop act, their leading attribute being the catchy vocals and nice-yet-melancholy verses that tend to be the predominant selling point for most indie-pop efforts. Hints of what was to come however were occasionally visible in the details, the occasional nod towards electronic experimentation paying homage to the krautrock scene that originated in their homeland of Germany. Original Bedouin Culture doesn't just nod, it grabs krautrock by the hand and flees with it into the night.The twelve track album takes musical experimentation to a completely new level from the quartet's previous produce, choosing to put their distinctive vocals on the backburner, opting instead for a mirage of shy whispering vocals, layers of shouts, echoes and cries and tribal-like repetition. The overall effect is startlingly different from the 'one man and his band' concept of yore, the album undoubtedly being a collective effort into which each member put in their all.Introduction song 'Wake Up William Blake' eases into the fast-paced tempo of the album through repetitive high and low cries of "Wake up, wake up, wake up" on a back drop of looped electro sounds, until finally Fleck bursts into song, repeatedly asking Blake to indeed”¦ wake up. His strong voice at times mirrors Wolf Parade's Dan Boeckner, threatening to lapse back into their indie-pop era if it were not for the crazed digitally modified over-vocals and rapid looped percussion.The types of genre that could be applied to the record vary from song to song, second track 'Fake Beards / Our Hands Sweat' sounding like a psychedelic adaptation of Sweden's Suburban Kids With Biblical Names, with xylophone based percussion and pop-folk vocals, while these vocals disappear completely on 'On Repetition We Are', which sounds disconcertingly similar to Panda Bear's Person Pitch, lethargically hypnotic vocals heavily repeated until drowned out by similarly repetitive droning synths.No doubt Animal Collective and their various side-projects will be frequently referenced when discussing Original Bedouin Culture, the experimentation and use of modern, forward thinking methods bounding the two bands together in similarities. Track 'Off-Flavour' almost sounds like it belongs as a hidden track on Strawberry Jam, and countless others sound so similar to Panda Pitch that it seems necessary to keep checking iTunes to make sure that it hasn't somehow deceived you.Original Bedouin Culture is unpredictable, and at times dangerously forward thinking - but this is a band that obviously realise that there is nothing more dangerous than staying the same. The album possesses every characteristic it requires to become a success, especially in the current age wherein being inventive and forward thinking is the only way to stabilise your place in the music industry. Every song possesses various elements of music throughout the ages, and each is incredibly different to the other, yet all are equally bewitching. It's like watching your child grow into an adolescent, and then realising that not only are they an adolescent, but they're also fucking awesome.Like A Stuntman on Myspace