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Pepper

by White Owl

11 tracks

33:51

1	Just Chains	3:08
2	Lord Of The Dance	2:19
3	Miksi Ne Neijot	2:53
4	Cunla	3:02
5	La Rotta	3:10
6	Korppi	3:54
7	Fifteen Men On Dead Man's Chest	4:22
8	Good Old Spider	3:17
9	Personal Jah	2:35
10	Kannunkaataja	3:02
11	Rising Of The Moon	2:09

Album description

White Owl is a Russian folk-core group, created in Moscow, who play music of different nations adapted in various styles. Since the tastes of the musicians don't belong to the same genre their arrangements are mixtures of such traditions as alternative, indie, solid rock, folk tradition and even renaissance. The ways some folk standards such as "Lord of the Dance" or "Cunla" are presented can be taken for a joke. And this is true - it was a joke at first but then the WO found that the idea was well enough for taking it seriously. Not all song at the album are so funny such as "Lord of the Dance" or "Cunla". Everybody who read "The Treasure Island" can guess that "Fifteen men on a dead man`s chest" is a harsh pirate song arranged as a nowadays bandit song. A manner the musicians chose for "Personal Jah" is alike. It is not strictly a bandit song even on the contrary: it conveys how a new world can be created. All you need is not to be afraid of letting your crazy imagination free. The album also contains a number of songs that don't belong to Celtic tradition - Finnish songs. It is a new brunch in a varicolored passage of folk-music life in Moscow. "Kannunkaataija" ("The Tippler") - a cheerful song about a funny drunkard; "Miksi Ne Neijot" (karelian song) can be translated as "Why do the maidens...?" One can try to guess what they do or why or attempt to study Finnish. And another song - "Korppi" ("The Raven") is a very beautiful and emotional song, as you understand about a raven. "La Rotta" is an Italian instrumental composition that goes back to times before Renaissance. Rotta is a dance that one can find in cultures of different nations (French, Italian and even Moldavian). WO never follows the traditional performance, thus only a tune of an old original "La Rotta" is used and developed into a new dancing composition. A little number of WO's own songs are plaid now. One can find only three of them at the album -"Just Chains", "Good Old Spider" and "Personal Jah" - that survived in a stream of traditional music and could stand the test of time. But how many we - no, you! - have in store!

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Reviews on Pepper

Louiz63

Great stuff!

21/02/07

Really nice interpretations of some (more or less) popular tunes! Especially, the new version of the well-known "La Rotta" is quite inspiring.
Generally speaking, the mix of straight-forward pop/rock with traditional folk seems very convincing to me.
Also, the arrangements & mixes are all pretty well done.
If you like well-made folk/pop with a little "rock" touch - this is definitely an album to listen to!

galileo2001

Foot tapping

26/05/07

This is great folk & rock...cool music, fun beats, and great vocals. A lot of variety in the tunes, with a nice blend of hard guitar and fiddle (violin).

kkffoo

Fun Folk

09/03/07

Enjoyable album with mix of styles, wonderful fiddle and energetic vocals.

locrian

Fun Folkrock

23/02/07

White Owl do a great job marrying Folk and Rock music. For me, the album really didn't get rolling until Cunla (though Miksi is good as well). They have a great mix of style, from the speed of Cunla, to the much more traditional folk La Rotta, to the hard groove of Personal Jah. Overall they are great musicians and I really appreciate their song writing skill.

Another pleasant surprise about the album is the quality of the recording. It isn't strange for bands who try to fuse different styles to have a terrible time with their early attempts at getting their ideas recorded properly. Here the violin, guitar, drums and vocals are all clear and easy to differentiate, while at the same time being mixed together to form a complete whole.

I have very few complaints about the album. Sometimes the vocalists style does not appeal to me, and there are a few moments I really don't believe it fits well - his tone goes better with the harder numbers, in my opinion. This is a pretty small complaint, and after I got used to the overall feel of the album, I've enjoyed it tremendously.

VozDeSangue

Stunningly insane Irish Rock

16/09/11

MAD..the world has gone MAD..Russian band playing "Irish" rock..and playing it brilliantly.Massive riffs pummel their way thru the whole set..enormously great !!

themadterran

I chuckled

25/01/09

I chuckled when I read "folk-core" in the description and some of the reviews that talked about the marriage of Folk and rock as if were something new. (Google Dylan-Judas, or listen to the Band for that).

This however, is something wonderfully different. It can sound a bit jam bandy, like Dave Matthews Band on a good night, or Red Hot Chili Peppers at their slipperiest.

And the fact that its all traditional songs with new, modern arrangements is mind blowing. I never wanted to shout "Yo Ho Ho and a bottle of rum!" quite so much.

TVParkdale

In One Word--Brilliant

29/09/08

This album is as enjoyable as a real Italian pizza with double cheese.

The funked up versions of classic folk songs are well executed. The fiddler is in a category all his own. Absolutely top notch musicianship and production values.

The album has a live, energetic feel from beginning to end. Yet the musicianship all the way around is perfectly executed at full speed ahead.

"The Rising of the Moon" with non-Celtic phrasing is more fun than a crate of yo-yos.

I loved it all the way around!

Rattan

Great fun!

23/08/08

I'll any comment on the musicianship except to say it's superb. Production values are also excellent, all parts clear and well mixed.

This is one of those albums that's just fun to listen to, and I got so caught up in it that it had played through and I restarted it before writing the review.

A lot of talent, and I'm enjoying this a lot.

ExEgo

отличная смесь!

21/08/08

И фолк, и кор, и оригинально, и хорошо :) Спасибо!

kotto

Хорошо!

24/04/08

Чо за пежня! Ребята! Ни одной рецензии на русском про вас. А я читал про вас ещё в журнале "Неформат". Наконец, послушал. Не такой уж и кор, не такой уж и фолк, но оригинально и ... хорошо!