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The Revolution is Here July 5, 2005 by: Bruce Bahmani
I think for the first time, I have heard lyrics that actually mean something, expressing the growing frustration and boredom with an increasingly materialistic and decadent life in modern day Iran. A refreshing and honest commentary on the superficial social scene Iran has become. I am glad Kiosk said it, because I know that a lot of us over here have been thinking it, but couldn't dare say it, as we watch the increasingly pervasive nose jobs, and "wet look" hairstyles and general "punky" attitude coming over in sloppy steamy buckets of pictures from today's Iran. Usually announced on an email from a friend who has been browsing one of the many "Tehran??.com" sites, often accompanied by the comment "...look how advanced Iran is..."
Well Kiosk tells us the real truth with hard biting roots rock rough edged but finely honed guitar licks, accompanied by equally torsh barb-wired lyrics like;
At first I wondered about the overall sound, but as I listened to the words, I found it to be an excellent choice for the material, and the songs are new and fresh versions of familiar roots rock. Basically this is a rock/blues album with Iranian lyrics. Isn't that weird! (veird?) I especially liked the commentary on "zorbaye malayeri", a song set to a ridiculously addictive zorba-the-greek style song (it even picks up speed as you go!), but with such bitter soft lyrics that cut through the twanging guitar, all add up to make the song all that more politically dangerous and extremely funny to listen to. Here's an example of what I mean,
On "adameh mamooli" the singer puts down all of the showing off going on, about which movies are cool to be seen at, which poem is popular to quote, who's rich and owns which factory, by exclaiming himself to be an ordinary man, a self for self's sake. And content to be so. Yearning for normal ordinariness. That's pretty bold given what braggarts we tend to be. On "taghseereh man bood" the singer decides to simply take the blame for and appease all of the common complaints about all the ills in the world, including Tehran traffic, why the national soccer team loses by playing "too emotionally", Iraq, Israel and even managing to squeeze in the Tamil Tigers, which I thought was an especially creative rhyme. While it may not actually solve any of the endless problems it lists, it is nevertheless cathartic to hear him address them and suggest that if you want to blame someone, anyone, you can blame him, if it makes you feel better. And it kind of does.
The overall quality of the recording is superb given the distance challenges (see above), but recording software has clearly come a long way and nothing surprises me anymore, except maybe why LA can barely pull off 192 on their recordings? But I shouldn't even bother anymore. If you like your music fine and dandy, and happen to like your head where it is, namely buried in the sand, this album is not for you. Simply move along, and keep on 6/8-ing your decadent ass off. But if you miss having ample doses of rough harsh truth in your music, and more importantly, can handle it, this is one of the strongest efforts put forward by anyone so far. Maybe too strong for you.
To Buy Kiosk's album "Adameh Mamooli" Click Here To visit Bamahang Productions for more alternative Iranian music Click Here |
Well
maybe not exactly, but it's a good title for an article, and a good
effort for first timers Kiosk and their debut album "adameh mamooli" (Ordinary
Man), one of the up and coming underground (literally) Iranian alternative
bands, slowly starting to come out into the light.
In an almost
embarrassing homage to Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits fame, with a dash
of Stevie Ray Vaughan blues guitar work, thrown in for good measure,
Arash, the lead singer and principal guitarist, shows he has been doing
his homework and belts out the wonderful bitterness with aplomb.
Because
you can't play this music anywhere publicly inside Iran, understandably
the band is literally underground, and I predict, about to become a
phenomenon. But with a twist. It wouldn't be Iranian without one! The
lead singer Arash (not even sure that is his real name) is based in
Tehran, he put the initial guitar and vocal tracks together and sent
them out on a CD, actually hand carried by a traveling passenger, to
his childhood collaborators who now live in Canada, and the US respectively.
Each added his part and sent it back to Arash for finishing, then the
whole album was finally mixed and produced by 
Listen
and enjoy, but do it with caution because this album will do something
most Iranians don't count on, and what most Iranian popular music doesn't
do, and that is to make you actually think. Now that's veird!