Mushroom x Nazi Propaganda

It’s funny that I just had a conversation in which I mentioned Leni Riefenstahl as being a good filmmaker, much to the consternation of my associate, and then found this disc. The cosmos, indeed, are odd. Riefenstahl, though, came to acclaim in German film between the first and second world wars. She starred in what were referred to as ‘mountain films’ in which the protagonist was pitted against some absurd set of odds off in the wilderness and then summarily overcame them.

Riefenstahl was hailed as a beauty and a great actress, but when the war broke out her talents behind the camera were called upon. And in creating Triumph of the Will she filmed one of the most beautiful mediations on the human body that’s ever been captured. Of course it was Nazi propaganda, but Dziga Vertoz’s Man with a Movie Camera was just Commie propaganda and that was an amazing film. Regardless, Riefenstalh’s film has been alternately called a classic and a detriment to man kind. Due to this weird dichotomy, it’s interesting that Mushroom, a Bay area psych/jazz/other group, would decide to name an album after the German filmmaker.

It sounds good, so the impetus for such an action is all but irrelevant.

Leni Riefenstahl begins with the title track, a mélange of seemingly random noise, motoric drumming, basserisms and a wandering lead guitar. Over the tracks fifteen minutes, there probably isn’t a passage that you’d be able to whistle back, but that doesn’t mean that the music’s not engaging. In its lack of form – well, there is some, just not too much – the band is able to create a backdrop for players to levy some drug infused soloing on listeners. The keyboard sounds add a bit of Pere Ubu styled backing to fill up space as the lead guitar goes off on a tangent that surely makes sense in the mind of the man who wields the instrument. Yeah, the spacey noise get kinda bothersome after a while, but when pushed to the side, it’s not too bad. The groove’s omnipresent, so any drawbacks here are mitigated by that at least.

Accompanying the opening salvo by Mushroom are two shorter tracks that while interesting, seem half conceived in comparison to the longer offerings here. Both feature drawn back atmospheres in which to ply hippie sounds, but not too much. There’s still a pulse to the music even if not too much else is going on.

“A Tribute to Eddie Harris” is the other long track here on Leni Riefenstahl. And despite the song being dedicate to the forward thinking sax player, this offering doesn’t really bare any resemblance to his music. That’s not a slight, “A Tribute to Eddie Harris” comes off as a song that post-fusion jazz and rock combos would want to work out. Whoever contributes sax to this particular track has some chops, but they just don’t resemble Harris’ too much. The song wonders around a bit with nothing holding it together. That, though, is what Mushroom does. It’s collected players just go head into some musical setting and try to work it out as best as possible.