Artists: Braun & The Mob
Title: As The Veneer Of Dumbness Starts To Fade
Cat.No.: non16
Format: CD/LP
Complete Tracklisting:
01. da pluster up (aller a******! ist schwer)
02. if you dont have da f***! - buy it (dont be afraid - its just a little piece of globashism)
03. da flash an da f***! (... dort oben leuchten die sterne)
04. da haaaah! da huuuuh! da ph***! (need to have the b***!)
05. da f***! of kopenhagen (abu ghureib styles)
06. survival of the dumbest (da revenge of merzenich ...)
07. this piece of p****! (da unbeschrieben is you ... )
08. b.l.a.s.s. da f***!ateer (burnt! Ish schnaid da nischts weg!)
09. hihi! (... genau das machts ja so bitter)
10. explosions in b.e.i.g.e. (nothing has changed ...)
11. da schmonked starlet (uh baby - ah ah ah!)
12. uff strass funden (un da f***! Rinn gemaked ...)
13. da calm down (ich mach das alles nur für geld und sex und den f***!)
14. b***! da dom.rep (steinig ist der weg ...)
A peculiar skittery form of Fun----k, the sounds of Cologne based Oliver Braun are totally unlike those experienced elsewhere! His twisting rhythms exorcise angst and casually sprawl their way through unpredictable ramifications. A counterattack on idiocy. A tymbal landscape sketched by James Brown (who in fact was black) suffering from convulsions, and more besides: party bomb or guerrilla attack by a lo-resolution home orchestra far removed from the temptations of vanity.
Braun´s upcoming third album also contains elements of House Music and Rhythm and Blues, sliced up into fragments of real horns, double bass, piano, accordion, claps and freakish vocals nuzzling up the toaster, the crotch in one hand, the microphone in the other. It is a record characterised by unsettling off kilter pacing and a fearless approach to ridicule hip-hop codes. In a spasmodic jerky kind of way Braun brings the F--- back.
Beige turns Braun !
Braun released 2 albums under the name Beige, one on the Leaf label 2000, U.K. and "I Don´t Either" on Nonplace in 2001. He changed the artist name from Beige to Braun (And The Mob) also because the new record is not a one man show anymore. There are lots of direct influences by other people (The Mob)/ see credits below. The artwork of "as the veneer of dumbness starts to fade" refers to a reknown 80ties release: Mark Stewart's "As The Veneer Of Democracy Starts To Fade" (On-U sound). "It was "the" album of my life" states Braun, also listening to some Adrian Sherwood remixes/productions at this time. He was irritated: "It sounds like to much dust on a sliding record needle I really thought "there's something wrong" and I liked it, so I bought the Stewart album - and then I was absolutely sure there´s something wrong and I liked it much more, I really enjoyed this feeling of "there'ssomething wrong" until today it's a key-point of my work - and it's my reference when I'm listening to music." (excerpt from interview with Fader Magazine, Tokyo 2004)
The Wire 2002:
If you locked George Clinton, James Brown and a couple of hyperactive kids in a room with an equivalent number of Casios and a primitive sampler, they might come up with something along these skewed lines.
NME 2001:
You know the giant insects who live inside Planet Funk ? This is their party soundtrack.
NME 2002:
Braun (brown) attempt to do for light brown what Eminem did for white.
BIG DADDY 2002:
I would even go as far to say that this has got the funk.
Credits / the mob
beige (ballon, harmonica, toys), braun (recording, arrangements, guitars), jessica krueger (vocals), dennis kessler (vocals, saxophone, trumpet, turk aldalla, violin), lars "the" kaiser (vocals), ana machado and josé mà rquez (vocals), sasha perera (vocals), robot koch (samples), oren gerlitz (bass), michael nauss (bass) http:www (some very strange stuff)
further informations: www.beige-electronica.com
Reviews:
On As the Veneer of Dumbness Starts to Fade, Braun (Cologne-based Oliver Braun, that is, whose two former albums appeared under the name Beige) merges the funk stylings of Parliament-Funkadelic and James Brown with the anarchistic lunacy of DAT Politics to create wild, dada-like stutter-funk. What prompted the name change? For starters, Braun-more accurately Braun (and the Mob)-is a band, a collective hell-bent on challenging notions of musical taste, convention, and decorum. Comprised of six vocalists and various others on bass, horns, sampler, violin, and (ahem) balloon, Braun (and the Mob)'s convulsively twisting rhythms are mental enough all by themselves, but the insanity ante ups considerably once vocals (delivered in English and Spanish, among others) join the mix.
The opening track alone ("If You Dont Have Da F***!-Buy It (Dont Be Afraid-Its Just a Little Piece of Globashism)") encapsulates the band's essence, not to mention its affinity for convoluted and grammatically-challenged titles. Atop a synth-stabbed base, vocal coos alternate with a codger's gutturally mused "Nice piece of funk" amid the sour scrapings of an out-of-tune violin. A mutant, horn-driven "Sex Machine" pulse powers "Survival of the Dumbest (Da Revenge of Merzenich...)"), while a slamming, almost tribal feel prods a blazing synth and horn groove in "Explosions in B.e.i.g.e. (Nothing Has Changed...)." The remaining songs trace similar paths on this succint 36-minute album.
I suspect you either cotton to Braun's spasmodic jerky flow or you don't, though its modest running time renders the album more palatable if you're of the latter persuasion. Some listeners may find the vocal babblings more annoying than anything else; others more partial to wildly irreverent and synth-flavoured re-imaginings of Parliament-Funkadelic and The Godfather of Soul, on the other hand, may be delighted. (textura.org)
Oliver Braun heads this mob, marking quite a change of direction for him. Previously, he recorded minimal, clicky serious sounds as Beige for labels like Leaf and Nonplace. But that's all gone out the window now-you're on the mothership with Braun (and the Mob) replacing George Clinton and posse. The music, while experimental, is dead funky and insanely hilarious. (Both the title and cover are spoofs of one of the least joyful records of all time, Mark Stewart's Adrian Sherwood-produced noise/dub fest As The Veneer of Democracy Starts To Fade.)
This party rocks as clicks, clacks, and a perfect mid-range bass sound get mixed in with live horns, guitars, and vocals (provided by Ana Machado and Jose Marquez. So clinical and yet so crazy, it's like Plastikman jamming with Bootsy, Bernie, and the Brides of Funkenstein. Although the most immediately appealing track is a Spanish cover of Parliament's "Flashlight" (called here "Da Flash and Da Fuck"), many of Braun's own crazy creations will stick in your head for weeks as well. If there's any complaint to be had regarding this exploration of a brand new funk, it's that the 14 tracks clock in just past 35 minutes. But that's 35 minutes of mind-blowing good times. (See Magazine (Edmonton) - March 10, 2005)
There's something delightfully awful about the name Braun and the Mob, and As the Veneer of Dumbness is likewise horrible, nasty, and clunky. The album title is a reference to Mark Stewart's As the Veneer of Democracy Starts to Fade, though it's not clear why that work is targeted: Perhaps it's because of Stewart's humorless delivery. In any event, you wouldn't want to introduce Oliver Braun (formerly known as Beige) and his mob of musical associates to your mother they might try to pimp her.
The bass frequently sounds like knicker elastic being twanged. It's like being trapped in a hard drive with Benny Hill. It's the sound of a naughty boygirl id emerging into the light of day, grinning inanely and intent on causing trouble. This is nasty funk whose roots can be traced back to Richard D. James' manic infantilism, to Bootsy Collins, and even to Dada's wilful plundering of the unconscious. Where that movement's apparent senselessness mirrored the tragedy of the first World War, conservatism and the bourgeoisie, Braun and the Mob states, "Don't think, don't think, be quiet and there you are. This piece of paper is you. Let there be peace, let there be love and let there be unity. And fuck the signal good." In its merry playground pranksterism, As the Veneer of Dumbness declares war on the airbrushed pop and self-satisfied consumerism that are multiplying exponentially as you read these words, sleep at night, or fart complacently after a Big Mac. (Colin Buttimer, groovesmag.com)