Originally published in Tutti Frutti Magazine #3
I have met Gonzo M several times. Each of these nights had an aura of mystery around them, and I can’t say that I fully understand the guy. You smoke a cigarette, you talk. You smoke another cigarette. You have talked about everything and nothing at the same time. Gonzo M and I share a bassist; meaning his bassist plays in my band as well – we don’t share him romantically, at least not yet.
But Gonzo M made an album. A collection of songs from 2017 to 2024. Old and new songs somewhere in the ether of Can, the Velvet Underground and undefinable things from the 80s. Like fever dreams. The tracks are mesmerizing and abstract, they draw from past soundscapes, but they don’t feel nostalgic at all. As if they exist somewhere up there in a timeless space.
The record, by the way, sells for 1000€ on Bandcamp, just in case some rich fuck reading this has some coins to spare. It starts out with Intranaut; Gonzo M’s voice hypnotically carries us through the dark like a male version of Nico. Ugly Boys feels like a long-lost early Pink Floyd demo, written by Syd of course, not fucking David.
“Drugs are no property”
“Guten Morgen”, Gonzo M greets you every time you run into him. It doesn’t really matter if it’s morning, or midnight. Actually, I think I have rarely seen him by daylight. After he just finished a show in a church (yes), I come with him and we effortlessly meet a bunch of cool people in Café M, the place where Nick Cave and Blixa Bargeld used to hang out. Of course here, I think. We sit down and stop counting beers. “Drugs are no property”, he says.
Here and there we get sprinkles of trumpets in our ears, and Gonzo’s voice hides behind a wall of smoke. Hallways of Always combines disco drums with chorus-heavy guitars, 26nd is rushing through its own textures and shows beauty in speed, even though it might mean nothing. When Gonzo M played at Hinterraum a few months ago, he dedicated his performance to “all of our dead musician friends”, which I found both bizarre and beautiful; and that combination of words also applies to his music.
Sometimes I wish it was less jams, more composition. The musicians on this album are absurdly talented without a doubt. But there is more to uncover. I wish he wouldn’t hide. I wish Gonzo M would talk clearly at least once. I wish he would tell the truth.
It sounds like the nights we had; it’s 5 a.m. and you realize you’re spending time in a bar with complete strangers
Songs like Skin Two showcase an incredible drive to move forward. But I want them to ask me more. Verzichtserotik is one of these tracks that do – a jam session peppered with nightmarish synthesizers. It sounds like the nights we had; it’s 5 a.m. and you realize you’re spending time in a bar with complete strangers. Hearing Situationist is like painting a colorful picture of that. It is meaning that lies in the textures, not in the words. I hope to uncover that meaning some day.
Original page design for Tutti Frutti Magazine #3.