The second installment in
Eugene Chadbourne's association with the Italian quartet
Zu,
Motorhellington is a collection of uncanny renditions of unlikely tunes. Jacopo Battaglia (drums), Luca Thomas Mai (saxophone),
Roy Paci (trumpet), and Massimo Pupillo (bass) follow the Doctor through stolen leaves off songbooks belonging to artists as varied as
Black Sabbath,
James Brown, and
Charles Mingus.
Zu is a cross between a jazz-rock quartet and a noise-rock/avant-punk band, something quite close to Ne Zhdali, or a less mathematical
Doctor Nerve -- thanks mostly to
Paci's energy-driven blowing reminiscent of Rob Henke.
Black Sabbath's "Iron Man" and
Motorhead's "Sacrifice" get a treatment fans of either bands will have problems to suffer -- but then again, the chances they should stumble upon
Motorhellington are slim. Heavy metal is not your cup of tea? How about
Antonio Carlos Jobim's South American anthem "Corcovado" or
Kraftwerk's "The Robots"? Every song is tortured by the punkish energy of
Zu and
Chadbourne's mocking vocals and off-the-wall playing. If anything, this CD is the proof that at the turn of the century the guitarist was still alive and kicking. This is one of his rockiest, most galvanizing albums yet. Strongly recommended for the shock value, the mock value, the musical value -- and the warning for "explicit gnocchi recipes!" ~ François Couture