Wilhelm & The Dancing Animals
Audio
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1. All Along
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2. Elephants
Scientific research suggests that, due to the slowness of their digestive process, cows generate methane emissions that account for 35% of all the greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere.
PETA, a pressure group with several Hollywood actors among its members, has denounced KFC for using questionable methods in the breeding, fattening and slaughtering of more than 60 million chickens every day across the world
Hundreds of associations all over the world are trying to head off the hunting season in Canada, where every year half a million seals are battered to death for their skins.
Is the world sick? The fact is, yes, it is. Should we be miserable because of it? Obviously not. Well, this is something close to what Wilhelm & The Dancing Animals or, in other words, Helen (San Sebastian), Guille (Pamplona) and their dancing animals-Iñigo, Have, Josh and Kiko- think: Everything's a mess, but what the hell, we've got music, and we can use it to celebrate diversity as we see it, and fuck McDonalds, KFC and all those bastards who still wear sealskin coats, right? If half of the world is mental there’s no need to get mad with the other half, none at all!
There are so many beautiful things in the world we can’t be angry, at least not all the time, because there's a time for everything. Their message is clear: if there's something you don't like, say so, but don't forget to say what you do like, because otherwise...
So there, W&TDA have just pulled out of their sleeve “The War Of The Species” (Origami Records, 2012), a concord treaty which mingles, in equal parts, the best of folk (listen to the instruments), punk and hardcore (check out Guille's voice), hints of pop (the balance is in Helen's voice). The production is vibrant as well as colourful/exciting/polished. This album, which was recorded at Montreal Studios (Subiza, Navarre) and produced by Hans Krüger and the band members themselves, pulls the voices along a dense, cheerful route, oscillating between the choral and the pastoral, in an amalgam that has echoes of punk, pop, folk and rock. Anyhow, the songs sound rounded. Rounded, strong, robust and optimistic. And upbeat, very upbeat, although the lyrics are not always that colourful.
What do you like? New York and No-Wave? Well, Helen and Guille like forests- yes, forests and all their inhabitants, any objections? Inspite of living in Pamplona, they love Scandinavia, and bands such as Lukestar, who they revisited already with the remix of “Flying Canoes” in their first EP “The Forests Have No Name” (self-edited, 2011).
Our recommendation when listening to “The War Of The Species”? Go with the flow of its music and lyrics, appreciate its well-crafted production and don’t miss its statement of intent. “All Along”, which will be their first single (with a video by Dodo Estudio), is a song that hovers between love and hate with the same restlessness that is present in the rest of the tracks on this album which is already No 1 on Mondo Sonoro's lists of favourites, even before its release. The band reached the final of The New Talents Contest SOS 4.8 of Murcia, and their EP, which was voted best demo in Mondosonoro Zarata 2011, has been aired on the prestigious North American NPR (USA's public Radio) and on the UK’s "This is Fake DIY".
