Eines ist fix: „Hyphenated Man”, die dritte Punkrock-Opera von Mike Watt wird in die Geschichte als eines der besten Alben der laufenden Dekade eingehen. Ein Mammutwerk! 30 konzise Songs in 45 Minuten. Gebracht mit einer Dynamik, die bei Livedarbietungen eine derartige Intensität erreicht, dass so mancher Zuhörer sich regelrecht ausgehebelt fühlte. Watt hat hier wieder einen Weg gefunden, selbstreferentiell seine Geschichte zu erzählen, ohne wie ein ”complete dork“ (O-Ton) zu wirken. Und das ist natürlich auch die Geschichte der MINUTEMEN, deren Musik auf diesem Album auch stark mitschwingt. So schade es ist: Das wird nun wirklich die letzte Gelegenheit sein, „Hyphenated Man“ live zu erleben. Wers schon gesehen hat, kommt sowieso wieder, sonst gibts Ärger!
Uz Jsme Doma, (pronounced oosh-smeh-dough-ma), are a progressive rock band from Czech Republic, who originally formed in northwest border town Teplice in 1985. The band´s name translates literally to, "we´re home now" but, as an idiom, means something more like, "well, there we go" in Czech conversation.
The band has, to date, released seven proper studio albums, two live albums, a best-of package and a DVD containing live footage and a documentary about the history of the band, which discusses its artistic significance and chronicals its dozens of lineup changes in its 26+ year career. In addition to traditional band functions such as recording albums and touring, UJD have taken on a wide array of ambitious projects, including work with theater, fiilm and art. They collaborated very closely to the world famous band The Residents on their Freak show and felt in friendship with them and many other great musicians all over the world (Tom Cora, Amy Denio, Jello Biafra, David Thomas etc)
Band tours frequently whole the world, from first foreign show in Germany till now they visited 37 different countries, major part of them took USA (more than 600 shows in almost all states), but as well as Japan, New Zealand, Israel, France, Poland, Russia etc etc.
The band´s approach to arrangements is unique in the world of rock. They bring the instruments and vocals in different directions within the same scales and keys to create a dense melodic atmosphere. In addition, their rhythms often accent off-beats and half-beats, throwing the listener in unexpected directions. The music seems to be an exhausting juxtaposition between beauty and ugliness, as songs will frequently shift between modes to create tumultuous, powerful hooks (a good example of this is the song "Hollywood.") The band is also fond of shifts between time signatures and the insertion of extra beats in the shaping of the mood of the song.
Wanek´s lyrics have earned him a reputation as a respected Czech poet. His lyrics have been described his writing as "an axe for the frozen sea inside us," a line taken from fellow countryman and influence Franz Kafka. All lyrics are translated to English and to Polish language, too.
www.uzjsmedoma.cz