King Dick – Mean Phases

Description

From Indiestyle

Exactly nine months after his previous full-length album, King Dick has released a new album with ‘Mean phases’ – his fourth in two years. Wim De Busser, a Antwerp-based solo project, is assisted by members of Gruppo Di Pawlowski and The Hickey Underworld, among others. When we take a look at his resume, his versatility stands out: musical experience from Zita Swoon to Helmut Lotti, but anyone who expected a newest ‘Helmut goes classic’ is worth it. If there is anything about Helmut Lotti in this album, then it is his crack addicted version.

Opener ‘Prayer’ immediately sets the tone with a rumble in which even the plastic hip of our grandmother bleached blissfully. What follows is a solid uppercut that we had not immediately seen coming. Instead of lying against the canvas, the pinging guitar makes you want to jump straight and kick a shack. Continued After the good opening, ‘Love drunk’ feels like a somewhat mediocre precursor to the musical highlight: ‘Unseen paradise’. In the unseen paradise you will be welcomed by an Eastern guitar and we get the feeling that Tom Waits has already reserved a room here. No rice pudding with golden spoons here. The paradise where King Dick does the trick is a dark place where the dirtiest and the dirtiest of society is. And we like that.

For the next highlight it is already waiting for ‘Baby needs love’. It floats at a catchy rhythm towards a wonderfully drawn out outro, of which there may be many more in modern music. Where we might have sunk a bit more in the seat in the past numbers, we are shifting to the edge of our seat again. Unfortunately we are a bit hungry again. The closing piece ‘Tied up – baby boy’ can still meet our expectations. It is one of the longer creations, but it does hold the attention from start to finish. It has something aggressive with the electronic repetitive beat and at the same time something comforting due to the soft vocals. It fights and harmonizes at the same time, resulting in an intriguing valve.

‘Mean phases’ has not become a record for smiley faces. Where we used to be able to put on our dance shoes once in a while, we are now musing about the end of the world. King Dick is still not in a box, the hottest and clashes from start to finish. After two years of writing songs, a few lesser moments have crept into the album here and there, although these are compensated for by several highlights.

King Dick is the solo project of Antwerp based musician Wim De Busser. Anno 2017, the multi-talented De Busser can look back on a decade of professional experience as a versatile keyboard player, dancer, choreographer, composer and arranger in various acclaimed musical and theatrical productions, such as Zita Swoon Group (2009-…), Helmut Lotti, The Baboons, The Colorist, Stef Kamil Carlens Solo, Abattoir Fermé (COLOSSUS) and more. In addition, as a highly skilled jazz pianist, De Busser is band leader of his own notorious Wim de Busser Quartet (together with renowned musicians Simon Lenski, Alfredo Bravo and Nicolas Rombouts), for over 8 years an established name in the Antwerp Jazz scene, with their stage at the famous Antwerp Jazz-bar ‘De Muze’.
In 2015, the artist decided it was time to write his own songs. De Busser assumed the role of his alter-ego, King Dick, and within a year, he finished his first album: New King Dick. The album has 10 songs, all written, performed, recorded and mixed by De Busser himself. On top of that, he launched his own music label: King Dick Records.
King Dick’s music has been described as lo-fi psych-pop, gothic folk or oompah trash-pop, but in the end, King Dick refuses to be pigeonholed into one musical genre. His music is simply too varied, multi-faceted and agile. With each song, the listener is confronted with a universe of unfamiliar sounds, vibrations and energies. At the same time, however, the songs are still undeniably poppy in nature. But it is as if all poppy elements have been smothered in a thick, greasy psychedelic sauce. A spoonful of mustard right in your face, followed by the most appetizing delicacies.
King Dick’s unique sound is not a happy coincidence; it is the result of a well-deliberated decision. More than being just a new sound, it wants to be a symbol for all non-conformist voices that remain unheard in today’s society.

–Farid Zahnoun–

KD live is:

YORGOS TSAKIRIDIS (Borokov Borokov, Hickey Underworld, Bed Rugs,..): bass, keys, backing vocals

JEROEN STEVENS (I Love Sara, Gruppo di Pawlowski, Ultima Vez,..): drums, keys, backing vocals

MICHELE MORGANTE (Rocket Fire, Isle of The Sky,..): guitar, backing vocals

WIM DE BUSSER: guitar, keys, vocal