TWICE A MAN AGRICULTURAL BEAUTY ALBUM SW/EDEN RELEASE: MAY 27, 2002 REVIEW: MAY 29, 2002

When I bought "Fungus & Sponge" in the early nineties, I practically played it to pieces. Imagine a band ripping off Neuromancer and getting away with it. I loved the stuff - even the more doped out goa parts. Even now, I play the record from time to time, soon a good ten years after I first heard it, as a matter of fact.
This will not be the case with "Agricultural Beauty". 49 year old Swede Karl Gasleben has been to India and brought back a bunch of sounds, memories, songs and impressions. Now he and his colleague Dan Söderqvist want us to share it. This is like an album-length postcard from them to us. If you were a huge fan of the more freaked out parts of "Fungus & Sponge" and want to hear something like them - only this time with sampled Indian children and flies and with a very evident crush on India as a whole - you will find loads of interesting stuff here. If you are a fan of the colder, classic electronic Twice a Man, you will find less. The strong tune "Song of the Fruit" is one of the few titles from the album springing to mind in that genre.
But, "Agricultural Beauty" is a cool project. The collaboration with writers Zac O'Yeah and Anjum Hasan (his wife) is a nice touch. I think none of the old fans will be totally disappointed. Myself though, I prefer to stick to "Fungus & Sponge". Maybe it is because the Chiba sky holds more interest to me than Bangor, or maybe it is because that's an album that doesn't make you nod off on a warm, sunny day. You decide.

KALLE MALMSTEDT