Anyone who has been lucky enough to see QUACK QUACK in recent years will already have them well up in their "favourite live bands" list. Scintillating music apart, they are just such cheerful, happy people when they play that the infection quotient is waaay off the normal scale. We have been waiting (patiently or otherwise) for a solid album of material from the wee tinkers, to supplement the bits and pieces, the EP and the vinyl single for longer than is decent.
But here it is, recorded by Richard Formby at Hall Place, direct to tape over an astonishing three years of working around their other projects and enthusiasms. It is an absolute belter. The trio of Neil Turpin (drums) Richard Morris (keyboards and drums) and Stuart Bannister (bass) is joined on a couple of tracks by ace saxophonist Pete Wareham and, playing additional drums on the title track "Slow As An Eyeball", by the wonderful Seb Rochford.
Turpin (lavishly and rightly praised wherever he plays) is the centre of the trio. He plays unobtrusively brilliant patterns, around which Stu and Moz drop in tuneful, minimalist dance lines as if they were born to chaos, with hereditary addictions to pleasure and melody. The combination of simplicity, happy repetition and jaw-dropping complexity works ridiculously well over the ten tracks.
At times it seems free form. On "Phonehenge" your can hear the grinning protagonists being led up garden paths to ancient sites of all kinds by the druidic Master Turpin. On others the structure/tune is clear and firmly struck: on bass (the opening of "Big Sounds"); or on keyboards ("Perpetual Spinach"). So while the signature sound is unmistakable, the shape of things in general seems infinitely elastic. Any one of these 3 to 5 minute pieces can splurge out to a ten minute riot on stage with Moz making like Inspector Clouseau with collapsing stands and wild flights of surreal forensic fantasy.
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Every track is a mini-adventure of discoveries and treats. Riffs, beats, sounds and cute little changes pop up every few bars like the maddest Super Mario trip you could imagine. My current favourite track is the multi-riffed "Cakes Are Easy". But, in typing that confession I realise that it's the track currently playing. Give me a minute or two and my favourite track will have become the riotously varied "Bird Parliament"
To be honest, this is not a CD that you could put on, surreptitiously, in company. It would be like spiking their drinks with happy pills. They won’t notice at first, but before long, the smiley faces, the asymmetric swaying, the urge to hug people and point at the mirror ball will creep over them. So, file it under minimalist krautrock psychedelic dance-jazz and feel good about yourself for having your own copy. Download and CD are promised. UK tour already beginning.
http://www.thisisquackquack.co.uk
http://www.cuckundoorecords.com
http://soundcloud.com/cuckundoo/sets/quack-quack
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