How do you summarize the origins of ElektraGaaz and the story behind their debut album? The group is said to consist of multiple contributors, but is the vision of the mysterious Poppo Redband. Said to hail from Friesland, which is a province The Netherlands, Redband, as he is often referred to, is the instigator behind the somewhat animated, ElektraGaaz. The first thing you might notice about ElektraGaaz, is the lack of vocals. They are an entirely instrumental project, and like any one sided marriage, for better or worse, takes on an entirely different meaning, here.

TWITTER: https://twitter.com/hashtag/Elektragaaz?src=hash

ElektraGaaz’s full description might be too excessive to go into here. There are several musicians listed as being involved in the project, and the backstory is bizarre, and even a bit contrived. The full length LP is titled The Synaesthetic Picture Show: Now Showing PT 1. This would of course indicate that there are more volumes on the way, which might be a good thing for ElektraGaaz, and debatable for others.

SOUNDCLOUD: https://soundcloud.com/elektragaaz/cabin-fever

ElektraGaaz describes themselves as an amalgam of several genres, but the one that is most outstanding is cinematic. This is music that would gain the greatest level of notoriety by being included on soundtracks, ranging from film to video games, and everything in between. We have to be completely honest, here, and say that the casual music fan, would not make it to the end of the SPS album. However, it’s interesting to note that the band boasts over 8000 monthly listeners on Spotify. In the process, ElektraGaaz has outperformed many of those, that they have been criticized for not being more like.

At 6:22, “The Magic Knapsack” is one the lengthiest tracks on the record. It certainly exudes that video game vibe, as I kept envisioning Sonic The Hedgehog doing furious twirls in time  with it. Like most things on the SPS, it suffers from being overly repetitive. The synth work, however, does breathe frequent flashes of life into the listening experience.  “The Magic Knapsack” will eat up some time, for sure, but overall, I enjoyed it.

On “Dancing With The Queen Of Hearts,” I of course couldn’t help but think of the Juice Newton hit from the 70’s. In fact, you can almost hear some snippets of the melody from that song, but, it’s unclear whether or not this is a tribute or even a sample of some sort. If you’re going to make an instrumental album, it’s probably wise for at least a portion of your content to be danceable. Unfortunately, not a lot of the material on the SPS satisfies all criteria, but this track does. “Dancing With The Queen Of Hearts,” shows a lighter side to ElektraGaaz.

This album is going to be subject to classification, and it may or may not be a favorable classification. Thankfully for ElektraGaaz, it’s unlikely that they care about their mass perception. You get the feeling that they know exactly what they’re doing, or perhaps, what they’re not doing. This is music composed for a specific purpose. If you want to know the purpose of this album, this music, and this band, then you might just have to attend the picture show.

John McCall