Gelka - Less is More

Wax On Records



All the repair men in the world rejoice! There's a new duo in town naming itself after the general repair service for all household electronics, during Hungary's difficult times. Budapest-based Gelka is the music project of Alex and Sergio, who first surfaced on a Café Del Mar compilation five years ago. They are now signed to Nightmares On Wax's label for their debut album, described as "urban blues drenched downtempo electronica".

"Less Is More" is indeed a collection of cosmopolitan beats converging to a collage of funky, laid-back horns and bass lines. Such laziness-induced sounds languidly crawl from your eardrum all the way to your skin, leaving you with nothing but a sudden craving for fancy beverage and the most comfortable couch in the room. Even though these pieces are more suitable for headphone-listening, they wouldn't be out of place as the background music at a late-night party.

Unlike many overproduced electronic numbers, which squash all the fun out of your listening experience, this is a record that you won't regret spending your bus fare home on. And this is partially due to songs like the opener "So Many Ways", "Blame" and "Angry Eyes", all sung by Budapest-based, Ghana-born Sena, who has worked with DJ Vadim, among others. But also to the vocal delivery of regular Nightmares On Wax singers Ella May (here heard on "Soon") and Ricky Ranking, who showcases on "Burlesk" and "Eau Rouge, Part 2".

As Alex puts it, "Budapest has two faces, we had a very heavy past, but now our city is very beautiful and vibrant". So it seems like life and its trials have softened this duo's heavy legacy to deliver a set of bouncy melodies that are both redemptive and gloriously infectious. Without ever dulling its knack for discharging intellectually-engaged sonic pleasure, this duo's reach goes way beyond the lament wrapped up into three chords in today's pop music.

Even when the record serves the usual cup of chilled-out tea, namely in tracks like "Rasta Baby" and "Find the Peace", the duo chooses to shatter the begging bowl and preach a different mantra – that of blameless indulgence and hedonistic fruition. From "Hungarian Voodoo" on, the record sets a different tone, going all new age like for the remaining three or four tracks. But if these soulful pieces are the price to pay for an enjoyable mental journey, I won't mind becoming a puppet and courageously disregard my fear of needles.

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