Nola 504 and More: The New Orleans Bingo! Show

Monday, June 7, 2010

The New Orleans Bingo! Show - Soft Emergencies (2005)

Somehow this one slipped past me and I didn't even know it was out there til yesterday. But I made that right via Amazon (it's available by digital d/l only) last night and haven't stopped listening to this shit since!! I was originally just hoping it would at least come close to the awesomeness that was Vol. II - For A Life Ever Bright (2008) and now I feel silly for worrying. This one is just as good, if not better, and is straight up addictive. These guys are sure to blow up soon so check them out now before they're a household name :)

"The exclamation that is Bingo! has been running on maximum power lately. After rarely touring for the many years that the act has been together, ringleader (ringmaster?) Clint Maedgen, along with supporting cast-slash-henchmen Ronnie Numbers and Mr. The Turk joined a loosened-up Preservation Hall Jazz Band for several months' worth of international dates since this spring, and still found time to release this 17-track opus.

For the unaware, Bingo! is not just a band. Bingo! is a show, a gang, and a potential entire arts movement. Bingo! incorporates sirens, bullhorns, intimidation, confusion, sharp suits, sunglasses, fezzes and all the best aspects of sleaze, crime, luck, cabaret, carnival and romance. The important thing here is that they're capable of evoking the most important parts of the multisensory experience of a Bingo! show, which includes aggressive light, noise, film screenings and actual bingo games on a record.

Soft Emergencies is incredibly diverse. The nasty, distorted grit of "Looking For That Lucky Five," with its clanging found percussion sounds and fuzzy organ is a junkyard creeper that gives way to Maedgen's angel-sweet vocals and smooth saxophone on the whimsical, romantic "Little Kitten." "Requiem #9" is a Kurt Weill-influenced cabaret tale that seems to be about pirates, and "She Loves A Circus" is a shivery, autumnal track with a dizzy, drunken calliope sound. Soft Emergencies should go with the Mardi Gras beads and pralines in your next New Orleans care package to someone far away; it's a perfect snapshot of New Orleans' most original band. -- Fensterstock" ~ CDBaby.com