Irving Klaw Trio
Utek Pahtoo Mogoi
Road Cone, PO Box 8732, Portland OR 97207
Release Date: 1997
Beauty takes up residence in the weirdest places. The simple, the absurd, the downright depressing. A Picasso painting. A neon diner. A child's handprint. Nearly anywhere you can squint your eyes, tilt your head, and see just a little more than what's actually there.
Utek Pahtoo Mogoi, the second album from the Irving Klaw Trio (in the grand tradition of the Thompson Twins and Ben Folds Five, IK3 is really a quartet), is one twisted piece of work. It loops more styles together than yarn on a hooked rug. But the nifty trick of twisting is that, if you do it right, you end up with an awfully neat braid.
The band knits together the wiggle and wah-wah of Unrest; the cha-cha-charisma of Tito Puente; the sway and swagger of the Rolling Stones and an off-kilter kinship to perpetual whiners Pavement. They coax the sitar into compromising positions and top it off with a double shot of espresso sax (someone must have gotten themselves kicked out of the marching band a few years back).
Utek Pahtoo Mogoi is equal parts circus, horror flick, acid trip and campfire ritual. Squint your ears, tilt your head, and hear beyond the Irving Klaw Trio. There's beastly beauty waiting for you.
-- Lindy Powell
powell@outersound.com
