Nujazz maestro extraordinaire has taken Alemaro Romero's "Tema de la Onda", a Sergio Mendes-style light vocal bossa number, and turned it into a jazzdance smasher.
Conte takes the female lallation-like vocals and a simple two note piano riff, adds his trademark samba/dance-skewed percussion work with a huge shaking piano breakdown, and creates a number that would have been as much a dancefloor filler in the 70s as it is today.
Do you like soft rock? Belle & Sebastien? 60's pop?
If you answered yes to the above, this song (and the whole album) is a must listen. Twee vocals, cheeky lyrics, delicate harmonies and the occasional trumpet solo fill out a song about a schoolgirl crush gone wrong.
Quite simply a perfect song for lying in a grassy field watching the sun set.
from Underachievers Please Try Harder (Merge B00015HVWO), available on CD
Before the (deserved) hype and the sell out concerts, this tune- a B Side on one of their earlier EPs- was the first Franz tune I'd ever heard.
The raw, slightly out of tune vocals, the wonky synth/organ riffs, the lyrics about Archduke Ferdinand's assassination by Gavrillo Princip, as sung to his wife Sophia? How can anyone resist?
It's a shame they don't play this live at their shows!