MP3: Koppen - Ethiopian juice

"Strømmen Gamelan City" is more than a record. Heavily influenced by counterfactual history, it is a humble attempt to explore key historical events that could have taken place in the history of the small Norwegian industrial suburb Strømmen. Far from keeping it real, Koppen seeks to represent the possible outcome of various scenarios that never occurred.

Cool, that sounds like it could be interesting. I wonder if they'll be incorporating more odd folk instruments other than gamelan.

Every song is nothing more than a big "what if?". What if Strømmen was forced to import labour from Indonesia? What if Strømmen was surrounded by cotton fields? What if alcohol was still prohibited and young and old labourers alike chewed khat every Saturday evening?

Nice, sounds like they'll be using a lot of disparate folk influences in this. I'm into that.

What if the Yakuza ran pachinko parlors at the local mall? What if the local government invited Uri Geller to arrange workshops in circuit bending and gender bending? What if Christmas were celebrated in seedy love hotels? What if everyone went home in a rickshaw after a night out? What if Stevie Wonder was pulling it?

Uh...

This is not music. This is Counterfactual Nu-Bricolage.

Okay, if you say so. Not at all what I expected and definitely not good. At worst I figured it would be boring ethno-tourism, but I never would've guessed indie hip-hop garbage. Most bad records just bum me out, this one made me angry.

Koppen - Ethiopian juice