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The Base have always shown a fascination for — and an expertise in — a certain kind of Americana. And while their influences are there for all to see, it’s what they do with them that continues to make them stand out as an innovative band. Always exploring. Always looking forward. Even when they’re turning the past upside down.
The Base are a long-running, creative band from Austria blessed with an uncanny ability to reinvent the American sound. Sparking images in my head of the old west, ‘Tested Under Extreme Conditions’ is no exception to this reinvention. The twists on language that shape stories from atypical angles. The haunting and at times melancholy way the music carries itself. The passion of the more upbeat turns. The simple production that let’s the sounds speak for themselves. All of it has lent to the making of a very unique record.
From a more personal point of view, this record makes me want to be back in Graz, Austria. Walking the late-night streets seeking out great music and beer and food and always finding them. The inventiveness of this record reminds me again of why I became such fast friends with these souls and why I so immediately felt at home in their city.
It makes me wish that my city, my country could be more open to reinterpreting it’s own sound the way these men from another land can.
Keep up the good work my friends and I will see you soon.
See Also
The Base
