A name totally unknown at its introduction. Where did they fetch it from ? Instantly the floor falls silent when the four mentally retarded musicians, Johan, Linh, Kim and Rudy together with their artistic mentor and drummer boy Damien, all ill at ease, clear their way among drums, trumpets, violins, melodica, samplers and an electric guitar. Concentration, suspense, beads of sweat, a sigh, a cough, and then...'the scream'. For over forty minutes they are pouring a sauce of punk, rock, noise and free music all over the audience. If you ask me, this CD needs to be played very loudly! Finally here we have a group of persons with a mental retardation to pack in all stigmata: not obedient or staying in line, no beat of showbiz or schmalzy popular songs here, let alone a flavour of Carl Orff! This music is neither contemporary, nor popular. It can't be labelled as subversive outsider nor as avant-garde. This music is the fantasy and emotion of five musicians, directly translated into sound and colour. It looks like an ultimate 'relief'. Their research of musical instruments and the way they deal with sounds and samples evidences a much sound approach to what music can be. The infrastructure -Kim's rock-riffs on his Fender Stratocaster-offers a structure and a rhythm to the group as for the composition of their songs. Their voices are piercing the thickest-skinned elephant, they delight the ears and chatter at once. It is just a simple must to encounter this group.
Fourth opus of musical art brut. Faithful to our precepts, we search out self-taught musicians. That means people who make contemporary music outside the customary production and distribution channels and with the determination and creative gifts that stem from unmistakable artistic talent. Some of these musicians operate in mental or social isolation and make their music in special workshops while others can be classified with the spiritualist or visionary artists. This particular relationship with the creative process is a fundamental characteristic of outsider art. Sound is an energy, a power. The ability to handle that power is perhaps what so many musicians, artists and writers lack - they are too referential, have no universe of their own, are pushing to get their particular insights recognized (through art-historical criteria). Whereas here, everything is marked by the spirit of a chaotic intelligence, going too far, being excessive: isn't that just what we are looking for?