Zelazowa

Elephants On A Mouse Hunt

Written by: TL on 15/02/2009 17:15:49

I know what you're thinking but you're wrong. Despite Zelazowa's choice of name and cover art for their 3rd LP "Elephants On A Mouse Hunt", we are in fact NOT dealing with a band with any discernible influence coming from African music. No my friends, Zelazowa is and indie rock band and actually, I'd be likely to forgive you if you listened to them and found that they're so indie it hurts. Still unsigned and keeping it DIY, "Elephants On A Mouse Hunt" effectively sounds like taking a very drunken road trip through "indie land", zig-zagging to hit both the borders of classic rock'n'roll and punk rock respectively and making stops to chill and jam with several of the area's inhabitants, The Strokes, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, The Vines, Dear And The Headlights.. Just keep naming indie bands and there's a fair chance you'll find a little of all of them in here.

At the core of the sound the band has a solid and classic arrangement of lead and rhythm guitar, the latter mostly pounding away with chords that are distorted to sound like good old garage rock, and the former either spitting out notes that The Strokes indeed sound very familiar to, or letting a noisy solo fly as a tribute to all the old heroes of R'n'R. Their lead singer too sounds a bit like either Julian Casablancas (Strokes) or Craig Nicholls (The Vines), except way drunk and rambling like he actually cares about something. Again, nothing says rock'n'roll like the kind of over-the-top attitude with which this dude spits out the words. It's still hard to pigeonhole Zelazowa (which by the way means something like "Steel Will" and is the name of Chopin's birthplace in Poland) with the The wave of indie rockers, simply because this record is all over the place. Much like the elephant that's very fittingly portrayed on the record's cover (passed out on the back), the album itself stumbles around from one mood to another, one song maybe hinting at the quirkyness of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah while the next becomes almost full on punk'n'roll in the veins of Rock Hard Power Spray.

Throughout this whole salute to all things underground and straight forward rock'n'roll, Zelazowa do very little to appease those on the lookout for catchy hooks or instantly recognizable song structures, meaning that the record also becomes even more rock by being as little pop as possible. Trust me when I say this will never reach mainstream radio, and trust me when I dare the guess that Zelazowa couldn't care much less, simply because they're too damn wrapped up in feeling awesome about what they do, something which emanates very clearly from the vibe of their album. Overall, the record is far from original, nor especially memorable, but even so it's audibly a product of a band that are passionate about what they do and who do so in the most credible of ways, and for that alone it is highly enjoyable to listen to, even if it's not something you'll be putting on again and again.

Download: Autumn, Numbers,
For The Fans Of: The Strokes, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Rock Hard Power Spray
Listen: myspace.com/zelazowa

Release Date: 17.01.2009
**UNSIGNED BAND**

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