We hear a lot from Praha7 at KlubKat, and are glad to be able to help promote such a worthy new band. They describe themselves as an eclectic and unique blend of live instruments, electronica, samples and DJ skills, which means you can expect to find just about everything thrown in except the proverbial kitchen sink!
The CD we received for review contains 5 tracks - "Naked", "Baggypussy", "Most Radderist", "Bonzai Spoiler" and "Bens Baby". The sound is seriously mellow, a mixture of jazz and traditional hip-hop with miscellaneous samples thrown into the pot for good measure. Samples are put to good use here, mixed with the live instruments to create something quite unique in modern music - well worth a listen. There are very few lyrics on any of these tracks beyond the first, and what there is can best be described as atmosphere.
"Naked" begins with what sounds like a watch alarm bleeping, followed by a mellow jazz-funk beat overlaid with a scratch track. "Baggypussy" makes good use of a sampled yawn obviously reminiscent of the stuffed cat waking up in seventies kids TV favourite Bagpuss (probably not what you expected, huh?).
"Most Radderist" seems to borrow extensively from the opening few seconds of the theme to The New Avengers for its backing track, although its such a short sample that I would be willing to believe this is unintentional. Just watch out for Steed's bowler hat in the back of the head when you play this one live, guys! This and "Bens Baby" are actually my favourite tracks, mainly because of the excellent "main" tunes which I've been humming ever since I first heard them - always a good sign.
The band consists of Mark Johnson on drums and percussion; Dan Talbot on keyboards, piano and synthesizer; Sophy Wright on saxophone (Tenor, Soprano and Alto) and cello; and Niall Hollaert on bass and guitar. Vocals are supplied by Sophy and Niall, and Mark provides the programming and sequencing skills. Finally, to top off the group, the excellently named Jon Footwork mans the decks and samplers.
I was a fan of Praha7 from the first time I discovered their website and realised that this was something new and exciting. So far I have been unable to attend a live Praha7 gig due to other commitments, but they remain high on my wish list for a live review, and it will happen! You can find live gigs listed on KlubKat as we hear of them, and the band has appeared on our news page more than once...
Meanwhile, check out the website at (predictably) http://www.praha7.co.uk. If you like funk, modern jazz or rap, there's gonna be something there for you!
But hey, guys - how exactly do you pronounce your name? I've been calling you Pray-ha Seven, but I'm sure you're going to tell me I'm wrong. Whatever happened to the days when bands were all called Marvin and the Pumpkins or something similar - never any problems with pronunciation then!!!
