Description
‘MR. McKILLOWATTS DANCES’ is an album of brief, and unusual instrumental pieces, all around two minutes long.
In my youth, the BBC Light Programme often featured music by so-called ‘Novelty’ ensembles; groupings of unusual or incongruous instruments, which somehow almost always included a Xylophone. This happy tradition is continued today by the band who perform these musical miniatures of mine.
The album has twenty-five tracks, with a playing time of 53 mins 45 secs, all featuring the unmistakable sounds of period electronic instruments and tuned percussion. You will hear references to the classic ‘Novelty Numbers’ of the ‘50s and ‘60s, with elements of Light Music, Lounge, Jazz, Minimalism and Advertising Jingle.
These are the theme tunes from imaginary TV programmes, strange shows in fuzzy black-and-white, long forgotten now except for that damned music that hovers on the threshold of memory.
‘The Weird ‘O’s Novelty Quartet’, comprises the multi-instrumentalists O’ Henry (Ondioline), O’ Brian (Farfisa Organ), O’ Neal (Xylophone, Marimba & Vibraphone), and O’ Clare (Theremin & Percussion), together with their special guest, the irrepressible Mr McKilowatts, controversial exponent of ‘Neolithic Wild-Dance’ and notable for having been banned from folk-dance festivals on three continents.
‘MR. McKILLOWATTS DANCES’ is on the ‘Masters Of Art’ label and comes as a physical CD in a beautifully designed DigiPak. It is also available as Streaming and Downloads from Bandcamp. https://judgesmith1.bandcamp.com/
Here are short samples of six of the 25 tracks.
1. Electric Brindisi
2. The Leeds Esprit of ‘Alabaster’ Eddy Holm
3. The Gray Town of the Fifteenth Dogfish
4. Bop for Beer with Token Precision
5. An Evensong Trilobite
6. The Texas Chrome Thieves
