The Full Story
About So Much Fun
MADADKIN’s next piece of meat in the great human casserole of absurdity is SO MUCH FUN. From a samba dance into the revolution with Waiting for the Rising unto the final hangover at We’ve had so much fun, SO MUCH FUN is a dark appraisal of our collapsing civilisation.
Anti-war and bomb-banning tunes like No Way Out, Our Final Bow or Passacaglia for an Atom Bomb (with the special appearance of Dwight Eisenhower and Martin Heidegger), our eulogy for the next scorching summer When the Mercury Rises High, the ‘obligatory’ antisystem song Paradigm Blues, or the political song Tell us the plan, make this album a great companion to the misery of the daily news. More pessimistic than the postpandemic albums this new work is a deep reflection of the new-realism.
Love it or hate it, you’ve got to listen to SO MUCH FUN at least once before the fun stops.
Revolutionary:
WAITING FOR THE RISING, THROW OFF YOUR FEAR, OUR FINAL BOW & NO WAY OUT
The opening track WAITING FOR THE RISING, has two parts: a melodic opening followed by an upbeat, latin rhythm, danceable section. A happy way to call for world revolution, while THROW OFF YOUR FEAR a slow, jazzy number has a laid-back positive feel and is a call for positivity despite the growing negativity. OUR FINAL BOW explodes with thundering drums introducing this dark rock song about the crumbling, muddy mess we are slipping into. In NO WAY OUT, on the other hand it is a cool jazzy vibe, that undermines the dark message that this song about systemic oppression is really about.
Ecolgogical & Anti-war:
WHEN THE MERCURY RISES HIGH & PASSACAGLIA FOR AN ATOM BOMB
WHEN THE MERCURY RISES HIGH is a psychedelic rock track, with tremulous guitar twanging distantly under the lyrical description of life in the world of global heating.
PASSACAGLIA FOR AN ATOM BOMB: The PASSACAGLIA is another example of Madadkin collage. It takes a Baroque bass line, jazzes it up and paints a sonorous collage with a mixture of chops from the German existentialist philosopher Martin Heidegger and US President Eisenhower talking about the invention of the Atom Bomb.
Atmospheric:
WARM RAIN
WARM RAIN is a throbbing, pulsating instrumental piece of electronic synthesised music. A style that Madadkin would later develop more deeply with Sherwin.
Angry:
SORRY
SORRY is a lo-fi rock track. A kind of confession by Madadkin about how much he has offended listeners and those who'd prefer not to listen at all.
Political & Social Comment:
PARADIGM BLUES, TELL US THE PLAN, & WE'VE HAD SO MUCH
PARADIGM BLUES: Blues yes, with a piano accompaniment. Sung to the system (Western civilisation), which is sucking us dry in its insatiable desire for more.
TELL US THE PLAN is a Noel Coward like (or Monty Python perhaps) call for a governmental plan to get us out of the mess we currently suffer.
WE'VE HAD SO MUCH begins with a chorus of drunken Last Men drinking their way into the dystopia, interrupted by a Noel Coward type moralist who tries to guide them out of the mess. The piece is both comic and dramatic.