Monday, September 20, 2021

Albums of the Year # 97 Altin Gun - Yol

 


Turkish band Altin Gun, based curently in the Netherlands are beginning to make some waves as they release their latest album Yol, their third in all. First of all, they're developing their fanbase, largely in Holland, Germany and not unnaturally their homeland, where they prefer not to be, given the extreme nature of the political regime there at the minute.


They're also getting increasing critical notice and acclaim, notable a five page feature in this month's Uncut Magazine. A listen to Yol is all it takes to grasp immediately why all this is beginning to happen.
This is one seriously funky record.


According to Uncut, Yol is notably less 'Psych' than the band's previous two albums. I'm not sufficiently personally versed to comment on this, not having heard their earlier records, but it certainly works well enough on its own terms for me. It's certainly rather kitsch in many respects, conjuring up images and sensations from Turkish B Movies of the Seventies and Eighties.


The first immediate feature of Yol is that it might make you want to move your hips and feet. There's much here you can dance to, it's 'disco' in very many respects and I certainly don't intend that in any perjorative sense.This is Good Times music in many respects, regardless of whether you can understand the lyrics or not.


With an alternating, female and male vocal attack, there's plenty of variety here. Yol is a highly diverse listen. A record that's a joy to listen to. The politics of dancing in motion.


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