Published by Davide Pappalardo on December 14, 2019
Bobby Joe Long’s Friendship Party is an Italian project hailing from Rome not always easy to understand. Take a lot of irony and sarcasm with a Dada attitude, references to the history of dark music, Italian political situation and the society of the “Bel paese”- and especially the situation of a capital full of contradictions like Rome – add post punk, darkwave, electro pop, proto EBM and lyrics in Romanesco and you will get the music of Abacab Carcosa, Henry Bowers, Peter Spandau.
Their career started in 2016 with the self-released album Roma Est, a trip in a dimension made of reminiscences in darkness, captivating rhythms and caustic attitude, and followed suit with Bundytismo – Concetti Sostanze Meanstream in 2017, an album adding even more electronic-tinged elements and grooves while staying true to the core of the project. It’s hard to describe their fusion of “coatto” attitude and international sounds, and how to manage to create something very Italian and at the same time outside of Italian music logic.
The new album Semo Solo Scemi (We Are Just Fools in Romanesco) is the first one for a label – the famous label/store Contempo Records in Florence – and it shows a band at ease with its style made of parallel worlds colliding into an everlasting irreverent mood underlined by a melancholic touch. A nice guitar work enrich tracks orchestrated by simple but effective synth sounds and melodies.
Dreaming ambaradam starts with a sample of Bettino Craxi‘s speech from the infamous Tangentopoli scandal, then adding throbbing bass-lines and enthralling guitar sounds. Broken beats and snare drums complete the movement of a groovy track with captivating rhymes and syncopated passages. Perlasovranitànazionale uses with alt-rock elements coming directly from the 80’s, a fast-paced tempo sees strong riffs and obsessive refrains, while the lyrics play as usual with meanings and words about society. Even at their most conventional the band still adds its own identity to music giving us a very enjoyable episode.
Mondo scemo impazzito is characterized by uptempo beats and elegant phrasings mixing post-punk and 80’s rock motifs, while Allarme pesci palla (non è una fake news) is a robotic dance-tune with oldschool electronics and minimal synth sounds with a dark edge, Shrilling alarm sounds dominate the scenario in a never ending tension paused only by hypnotizing lines. King kong non è come godzilla follows suit with its “gonzo bass-line” and steady rhythms, evolving during its course with sudden guitar passages and bitter-sweet irony, and the slow-paced Charles starkweather conspires against our well-being with its nocturnal atmospheres and references to existential problems.
Magno bevo e tifo roma is a groovy hymn to everything the project wants to express: distorted low-tuned guitars and ethereal synth sound are the main stage for a series of metaphors using football as a way to dissect Italina society and mentality. The last part of the track sees a compulsive ride with syncopated effects. Aka lawrence d’arabia ends our journey with arabian music sounds and heavy metal motifs fused in the usual post-punk songwriting of the project, The result is another fine example of madness-in-sound keeping the resolute and somewhat out-of-there nature of the singer
Bobby Joe Long’s Friendship Party don’t change course of action with their third album, keeping their style in which the total love for 80’s post-punk and alt-rock meets electronic elements and some experiments along the way. The previous albums have maybe a darker edge and a more adventurous nature, but the production here is better and the songwriting more focused. A true underground project deserving to be known by a wider public despite what could be a tough obstacle: their nature rooted in references to life in Italy.
Label: Contempo Records
Rating: 7,5