Errorhead is the brainchild of one Marcus Nepomus Deml, the name might allude you but the list of artists Marcus has played guitar with reads like an A-list, with the likes of Bobby Kimball, Saga, Kingdom Come, Rick Astley and so many more included.
For his latest album 'Modern Hippie' he has got together with Frank Itt on bass and Zacky Tsoukas on drums, as well as additional musicians like Robbie Smith on vox, Tom Aeschbacher on keys and Melanie Stahlkopf on backing vocals. This album is well titled 'Modern Hippie', as Deml takes the sixties and seventies funk ridden and psychedelia and brings them kicking and screaming bang up to date with Deml's guitars leading this revolution.
Opening up with ‘That’s Good’, a subtle narrative intro with Marcus setting up with engineer Kai Frickle before getting the album underway proper with the funk filled ‘Connected’, which will get you hooked from the off as the bass hooks by Itt are just so mesmerizing, and when Deml takes over with the lead licks, it will just blow you away. That's surely something you'd want from any opener.
That same seventies funk vibe is carried on with ‘For My Brothers’, again it's Deml’s soaring riffs that carry this one. This song is definitely from the Shaft/Huggie Bear school of funk. Think if Hendrix was alive what would he be playing, that’s the vibe of the first two tracks.
Things are brought down a little with the soulful feel of the instrumental ‘Dave’ before the jazz funk fusion of ‘Temporay Impression’, which again brings in that psychedelic feel to things as the listener is swept away on a Stratocaster shaped cloud.
After another short narrative intro entitled ‘Yeah Man’ before it's back to the heart and soul of the album with the spaced out tones of ‘Watch My Cloud’, again that heavy 70’s vibe is highlighted with the modern fusion of dance and funk in a very eclectic mix. Indeed this one is very early Deep Purple mixed again with a little Hendrix and a touch of the Mamas and Papas.
The pace is brought down dramatically with the easy listening of ‘Northern Lights’ and the superbly haunting almost celestial ‘Heaven’, before the Eastern Promise that is ‘Bhangra Baby’. This is where Deml brings in some World Music influences into the mix. If Bollywood did funko metal this is what it would sound like.
We get a little more serious with ‘We Came In Peace’ where Deml touches on the very now problem of terrorism with news snippets thrown in. Again featuring a more traditional guitar players album sound while mixing it up with some very different sound bites, which all makes for great listening.
The purest of guitar players out there will just adore the magnificent melodic tones of ‘Follow Your Dream’, before the album closes with ‘Táta’, a definite feel good track that will bring a smile to anyone’s face. This one rounds off an album that will be aimed at the muso’s out there, but those of you with a more discerning ear will love this release too.
review by Mayfair Mall
