Scrooge ‎– Happy What Else (1995, CD, Austria)

Scrooge, baby, yes! What we have here is some rather obscure band from Vienna that made two albums in the mid 90s. Sadly, I had never heard of this band until now, despite the blindingly obvious fact that they are exactly what I love. In any case, they instantly entered my avant-rock canon.

It's a basic fact about the human brain that we perceive things in terms of our expectations and previous knowledge. Here's a case where I feel like I'm hearing a huge number of references to a variety of my favorite music. This is your basic rock-as-high-art music and every piece is a very distinctive compositional entity, not a variation on a consistent style, so there's a ton of information and references to consider.

First and foremost, there are Dog Faced Hermans vibes ALL OVER THE PLACE, and the jaunty, caustic smart punk flavor of the Dutch legends, particularly in the vocal style, is the first thing that made me hop on my pogo stick when this album burst forth from my speakers. There's something really special about this female vocal sound that really intoxicates me, and I don't have too many examples of it to cite, so I tend to get very excited when I hear it. I recently found an excellent example in the Italian duo Amavo, which is more on the straightforward punk side of things and not at the level of musical intrigue of Scrooge or DFH. "caustic" is the word I fall back on, but I wish had a better way of expressing it. Actually, Comus is a key example too. It's something about a slight acidity in the vocal timbres. There are plenty of differences between Scrooge and DFH though. There are lots of reasons why DFH is one of my all-time favorite bands, but the amazing lyrics and sizzling melodies have an incredible emotional resonance for me, and that's something I'm not getting from Scrooge in any significant way. Actually, I have no idea what they're singing about here. DFH wrote addictive pop nuggets with all the delicious edginess as icing on the cake, while Scrooge's songwriting is much more eccentric and varied. Someday I'd like to learn what kind of cross-pollination existed between these bands, since they are from the same region and era. Instead of trumpet, the lead instrumental voice here is violin, which is even better for my tastes. I melt into putty when I hear rock with bowed strings, especially the whole European avant-folk-rock post-RIO aesthetic that Scrooge is a stunning and prototypical example of.

Speaking of which, the next major evocation on hand is Tom Cora's cello in Skeleton Crew and Nimal, all those jagged rhythms and warm bittersweet melodies. These profoundly special favorites are fully evoked at times, which brings many layers of meaning and pleasure to me. Oh dear, how sad to think of this world without Mr. Cora, a man I never had the pleasure of knowing, but I feel I know him in some way through mutual friends. He has a beloved abstract presence in my life that will never fade and it's rare that much time passes without his musical legacy entering my thoughts. This album definitely gives me some misty-eyed thoughts of that whole post-RIO Step Across the Border universe that was so vital to my formative years as a music lover.

But of course there was the later period of Nimal without Cora, with accordion and electric guitar carrying the full weight of the magic, a combination that occurs here as well to similar effect! In fact, the spiky, playful electric guitar style by itself pops up too. There's also a lot of Frith in the guitar playing on this album.

With all this talk about violin, it bears noting that this group has a standard rock lineup, but the vocalist Regina Ausserwöger not only played violin, but so far as I can tell, the violin is multi-tracked in some parts, so it's quite a dominant part of the sound.

Some of the pungent rock moments with accordion and violin evoke P.E.S.T., the very obscure group that was also from Austria during the same period, so I'd also like to know what relationship might've existed between these groups. I absolutely adore this sound they share, well represented by "Milena Jesenka" or the accelerating passage in "Earthfake" on this album. Scrooge has some truly ferocious rock passages amidst their postmodern quirkyness, but they rarely kick ass in the customary manner of Dog Faced Hermans or The Ex.

Then there's the whole wacky ditty sound of Miriodor, Begnagrad, Debile Menthol, Cartoon, Samla, Stormy Six, etc in ample supply. They blow the roof off with "Polka". I could probably say a bit about Sleepytime Gorilla Museum and other Carla Kihlstedt matters, but I lack adequate familiarity with that topic. People into her stuff should take that as a recommendation. Likewise, I'm not sure what to say regarding some similarities with Charming Hostess, as I'm not a fan of that band in general or the vocals of Jewlia Eisenberg in particular, but the Scrooge singing sometimes seems closer to that sound than the Dog Faced Hermans sound I zeroed in on above. Instrumentally, vocally, compositionally and conceptually, Scrooge was a versatile and varied unit.

Moving on to the odd singularities in my Spot That Reference experience with Scrooge, I was amused to notice that "Earthfake" includes a clear blend of Dog Faced Hermans and Thrak-era King Crimson, but there's a lot of other things happening in this song I'm not able to put my finger on. Incredible vocals on that piece, among the moments where Iva Bittova comes to mind, but this song also has bits that sound like Bjork, whose music has never appealed to me other than the interesting voice. The whole Czech axis of Bittova, Tara Fuki, Rale, etc is definitely among my pleasurable associations while navigating the nooks and crannies of this fantastic album. The wild vocals in "Sad and Sick Waltz" sound like Bittova at her freakiest, the sort of thing that never fails to make me giddy. Back to the Crimsonian thoughts, I find the the delicious creamy liquid guitar part on the last track (the title track) to be strikingly similar to the classic early Anekdoten sound, or maybe it's Anglagard because my memory is lacking here. Wonders never cease. This album is truly loaded to the gills with creative, eccentric and compelling music.

And finally, to honor the insight of John Waters that "life without obsession is meaningless", not only is the opening cut "Hit the Pig" a real nugget worth some heavy replay, the high vocal line totally sounds to me like a song that I'm quite obsessed with, the opening cut "Men" from the very obscure sole release by Mad Curry from Belgium in 1970. What's especially fascinating about that song is how it sounds like it's from some late 70s post-punk art wave band, something that really can't be said for many things made in 1970.

I was so flipped out by this album I immediately listened to their second album, which is equally great, a whole nother pile of goodies! (review by herkyjerky)