Information on this mysterious band is scant- at least current information. We're talking MySpace here. Blog interviews from 2008. I used to read the Aural State blog regularly for local music; his review of the same album I listened to shows we are pretty much on the same page with this crazy/awesome experimental band. In case you were wondering, an Abiku is a spirit of a child that dies.
They often performed covered from head to toe in shimmering blankets, so that sorta adds to the mystery. The only thing I could find streaming to listen to was a single album that I know I uploaded myself to the digital library. It is called Novelty, and it is labelled "Industrial," which I guess is close enough. I know they have other albums because a friend got a CD of theirs at a show that was a homemade live tour CD with Oregon Trail imagery; the last song is ALL the songs played at once. That's a pretty great trick, and let's you know what you're in for here. Thanks again to Aural States I know that Novelty is actually a compilation of demos and singles from 2002 through 2005, when the band was most active. (Also read that blog review for an insight into some of this band's intense lyrics.)
It is difficult listening at times, but damn it is good. The lady vocalist in the band, who alternates between creepy whispering and horrifying screams, also plays a Korg keytar - so I'm seriously asking: what could be better? There's only one other guy in the band (her partner?) and no drums- mostly keys, some thrashy guitar blasts, and delightfully sub-par drum machines. Plus they always seemed to have a live visualist- which helps enormously. OK, I guess it is Industrial. Some of the songs on Novelty are mere brief soundscapes, others are brutal rave-ups. It keeps you guessing - and I appreciate that. It reminds me of Suicide at times in that it pushes the boundaries of listenability in intriguing ways. I suppose it invites comparison to Jucifer too; they also seemed to have toured restlessly. When I saw them at the Wind-Up Space in Baltimore they covered NIN's "March of the Pigs," which is probably as mainstream as their influences get. I should mention that this was at a "NerdFest" show that my "band" Perverse Osmosis was playing and that our "production company" was curating. Abiku was at the top of our wish list to play, and through a mutual friend the connection got made. They didn't respond to any of our emails or promote the show in any way, but they showed up, blew everyone's minds, then disappeared.
I know other people have heard this band! They were part of the still(?) active MT6 noise scene in Baltimore. In fact, MT6 put out Novelty in a limited pressing of 1000 CDs. And they put out that live album in an extremely limited run of only 120!
Glorious.
I also went to their "tiny rave" on the Charles Street midway at Artscape in 2010. And then this wonderful moment happened. That's what it's all about! There was also a chillout room.
Where are they now? Still playing? In other bands? Hopefully somewhere shooting something dark into the cosmos...
* Update: I think she is in this band and currently touring. But of course there are multiple bands named Curse.
* Update 2: my friend uploaded pics of the out-of-print live album- it's real!
Update #3: OMFG they have influences way more mainstream than NIN.
Picture it: New Orleans. Mardi Gras. 2002. Some friends and I stumble into notorious late-night metal bar The Saint, but it's early (only 10 or 11pm) and the place is empty. The jukebox is legendary for all the punk and metal, but nothing is playing. And the woman who would become my wife doesn't like punk or metal. So she finds ABBA and plays "Dancing Queen." She loves that song. Then, because it's Mardi Gras and we've all been up late and messed up for days on end, she climbs on top of the table and starts twirling her dress and dancing to ABBA. This scene is great in its own right, but then a group of hardened punk rock-types enter the bar. This group of people may or may not have included the bar owner, who just happens to be the former bassist from White Zombie. If the group did include her, then she was definitely the one who took one look at the girl dancing on the table and one listen to the decidedly non-metal music and screamed, "What the FUCK?!" [End Scene]
I like ABBA. I had Gold like everyone else (and maybe the soundtrack to Muriel's Wedding), but that's about it. So it was fun to listen to all of these albums in a row and hear many interesting songs that I had never heard before. The popular thinking is that their albums getting darker and weirder as they go. That may be true, but it's only barely noticeable. The shift is almost completely invisible if you only listen to the pop hit singles, which are scattered throughout all the albums (except the last one). The songs surrounding the known hits are weirder, cheesier, and campier, with some ill-advised delving into more rocking songs, more songs where the guys sing, and even some reggae-tinged numbers. But that awkwardness is part of the appeal, right? We were all listening a little ironically in the 90s, right? The fact that founder Bjorn Ulvaeus started his career in a folk-skiffle group is not easily forgotten while listening to some of these tunes. So they weren't all great, but they were quirky and fun to hear. I might even happily label some of it "glam" for a bit, but they abandon that for more direct pop; sometimes the ballads get a bit dreary, even irritating. Still - there are often interesting keyboards (What is that- harpsichord?) and some clever studio-work. "Dancing Queen" and "Take a Chance on Me" are timeless pop classics. Their greatest hits collections always charted far more than any individual album. They really are a pop hit band.
Besides the obvious influences from The Beatles, The Beach Boys, The Bee Gees, and a bunch of Swedish pop, they interestingly claim to have been unfluenced most by Dr. John! They only have eight proper albums plus a live album. They are great at making a perfect pop song. But you know what they are not great at? Naming albums. I've never understood the massive appeal of "Waterloo" as a hit, but it was the most famous song/band ever to win the Eurovision song contest (where one of the ABBA couples originally met). Still, it hardly seems to capture any sort of thematic unity that would justify it being that 2nd album's title. The first album is also named merely after the single, their first as ABBA, "Ring Ring." Their third, not first(!), album is called ABBA, which make no sense; it's not like they reinvent themselves or their sound on it. Their fifth album is called The Album, which is again super-weak because it's just another collection of songs not unlike any of their other albums. Give your work a title, people!
One of my favorite songs in their whole catalog is "Gimme Gimme Gimme." It's a great disco number but just electronic enough to vaguely foreshadow today's pop. Interestingly, just like "Fernando," it was the new song included on one of their many compilations, but it hit big. It sounds like Britney or Madonna or whatever passes for that today. Madonna actually substantially sampled it, and it has been covered numerous times, perhaps most notably by total ABBA-rip-offs the A-Teens, but also by some metal bands like Therapy? It might not have instant familiarity of "Dancing Queen" or "Take a Chance on Me," but it has aged very well. It's on Vvoulez-Vous, which is their most disco album. It's also the album where they finally get some THUMP, so that is appreciated; I tried to listen to the best versions available, but the early records seem poorly mixed by today's standards, with too much treble and everything blending together. I get that they're going for the Wall of Sound; sometimes it works, but other times not so much.
The heavily-disco period is also the era when they release their one live album, which is interesting but not superb. The audience seems small and not very into it, although they do warm up eventually. I'm not sure why the crowd chose "Money Money Money" to start clapping along, when that's a song that slows down, starts back up, then slows down again! They also try to clap along to "I Have Dream," which is not easy either because there's one measure with 5 beats- and a children's choir. I couldn't believe it when the guy says, "Do you want to hear that song again?!" and then, yes, they play the song again. (Interesting side note: in the UK, "I Have a Dream" was held off from the No. 1 spot by Pink Floyd's "Another Brick in the Wall - Part II," which also features a children's choir.) It's also awkward to hear them sing songs about their own divorces in front of everyone. "Knowing Me, Knowing You" is brutal in context, but maybe that's part of what makes them an international spectacle. That and their jumpsuits. And the stage banter is stilted and weird. Sample lines: "I want to introduce you to someone...The blonde one!" and "Do you like our band?" The final songs and encores are well-selected and prove they know what they are doing.
Oddly, they seem to pull back a bit on their subsequent album Super Troupers, which might be their weakest (thematically and musically), except that it has the sorely underappreciated "Happy New Year." Add it to your NYE list now.
The final album The Visitors gets interesting. It sounds a bit prog-rocky. This spaceyness was hinted at earlier, such as in the instrumental bit that opens the non-single mix of "Gimme Gimme Gimme." Indeed, at points the last album sounds like (good) Genesis. It is far more political and personal than anything they had done before. It could have been an intriguing album by another band, but it was not well received by ABBA fans (and understandably so). There's no real hit on it, though "One of Us" is the forgettable single.
The influence of this band looms large in the pop vocal world of the 80s, 90s, and even through today. Even bands like the Foo Fighters like them, with Dave Grohol once telling NME, "I like loads of crazy-ass, dissonant, distorted rock ‘n’ roll, but I also love The Bee Gees and Abba, bands whose pop choruses get bigger and bigger. I love anthemic choruses, that overwhelming feeling of release that you can connect with.” He added: “So whenever I thought I had a big enough chorus for a song, I would use that as the pre-chorus and then I would try and write something even bigger, like they did." There's also a band called GABBA that plays ABBA songs as though they were covered by The Ramones! ABBA certainly left their mark on Puffy Ami Yummi, as just one other example. Both bands are multilingual too; ABBA did well in Latin America and recorded a number of songs in Spanish, in addition to English and their native Swedish. With their global success, they are rightfully one of the best-selling artists of all time. They seem to be much bigger everywhere besides America, Australia and Scandinavia for example. I don't even want to talk about Mamma Mia!,but it happened. What I do want to hear about, is their rumored comeback in the next year with a new "digital entertainment experience." They are in their late 60s now. Bring it on. And I say, Thank you for the music.
P.S. I'm not sure if "Dancing Queen" ever made it on our wedding playlist, but "I Do I Do I Do" certainly did.
You can not argue with that voice! That range. That tone. He's amazing. However, what you can argue with is a solo career that's made up almost entirely of various collections of standards. The best of these might be 2005's Bring it On Home...The Soul Classics, which is exactly what it sounds like. The worst may be Nature Boy, subtitled The Standards Album, none of which are necessary; it sounds like a band of nobodies playing nothing, but maybe I just don't want to hear such a great voice wasted on watered down cocktail-hour music. The doo-wop theme on My True Story is better; the album is produced by Don Was and Keith Richards, and features Benmont Tench on some nice organ. Although the repetition of some of the same songs gets tedious, his various Christmas and gospel collections are actually a welcome pep-up from the rest of the mercilessly mellow catalog. Grandmothers in New Orleans need something to listen to after all; he did perform on The Young and The Restless to promote his soul covers album. It all starts way back with his debut single from 1966; "Over You" is spooky and fun-rockin' R&B hit. It's largely unlike most anything else that he does as a solo performer. His second single "Tell It Like It is" is more like the smoothness that defines his career - it hits big, topping the R&B charts for five weeks in 1967 with some crossover pop success too. (Heart covered it in 1981). Then he's in The Neville Brothers... Apparently he and some brothers back up Jimmy Buffett on an album, but we won't hold that against them (having not heard it yet). Many of the Aaron Neville songs that have seeped into the collective pop culture conscious are likely to come from his 1989 duet album with Linda Ronstadt. Although he co-sings every song, it's her album not his, which is why I didn't even listen to it. A few years later he's riding his peak and releases the album with "Everybody Plays the Fool" - one of the many covers on that album. His most recent album, 2016's Apache, is actually fantastic - arguably his best! And the man is 75! It's all original songs, and that helps. Good songs too. Working with younger jammy bands Lettuce and Soulive, probably helped. The band sounds much fuller, deeper, and somehow even more authentic than some of his standards work. Great horn arrangements throughout too. It's a really diverse and fulfilling album, especially in the context of an already impressive long career. But don't take my word for it. Take NPR's word ("less like a memoir and more like a manifesto — a declaration of self by an artist who's had time to figure it out").
