Neon Neon - Praxis Makes Perfect

"Stainless Style" (2008), die erste Zusammenarbeit zwischen dem amerikanischen Hip Hop-Produzenten Boom Bip und Gruff Rhys, dem walisischen Frontmann der Super Furry Animals, setzte sich thematisch mit dem Leben von John DeLorean, einem Manager und Sportwagenbauer, auseinander. 

"Praxis Makes Perfect" orientiert sich nun am Leben von Giangiacomo Feltrinelli, einem italienischen Verleger, Politiker und Revolutionär. Und so tragen die 10 Songs nun Titel wie "Dr. Zhivago" und "The Leopard", die sich auf die von ihm verlegten Bücher "Doktor Schiwago" (von Boris Pasternak) und "Der Leopard" (von Giuseppe di Lampedusa) beziehen, oder "Hoops With Fidel" und "Hammer & Sickle", die sich mit seinen politischen Aktivitäten auseinandersetzen.

Neon Neon präsentieren Josh Klinghoffer von den Red Hot Chili Peppers an der Gitarre, lassen die italienische Schauspielerin Asia Argento Wortbeiträge beisteuern und, wie bereits 2008, die walisische Sängerin Cate Le Bon mitsingen. Außerdem haben sie Sabrina Salerno, die 1987 leicht bekleidet einen europaweiten Hit mit "Boys (Summertime Love)" hatte. Im Video wird der knappe, weiße Bikini erst durchsichtig und zeigt dann die Problematik trägerloser Oberteile auf - das wollten Jungs 1987 wohl so sehen:     

Sabrina Salerno - Boys (Summertime Love) 1987 - MyVideo

Italo-Disco und der Synthie-Pop der 80er Jahre beeinflussten auch "Praxis Makes Perfect", das im Song "Hammer & Sickle" Diana Ross' "Chain Reaction" ebenso zitiert wie "Shopping (I Like To)" die Pet Shop Boys: "I’ve got the bucks, you’ve got the looks ..."  

Das Album erscheint über Lex Records und hat neben der LP (inklusive CD) auch eine limitierte Edition zu bieten: a deluxe digipack CD & Book including lyrics, exclusive archive Feltrinelli photographs, redux artwork and a 4 track Bonus EP, 'Years of Lead'.

Neon Neon’s long-awaited second full-length, Praxis Makes Perfect, is also a concept album, albeit a more obscure one: It’s based on the life of the late Italian political activist and publisher Giangiacomo Feltrinelli, who was responsible for discovering and distributing the novels Doctor Zhivago and The Leopard but died in 1972. Sonically, it’s immediately identifiable as Neon Neon, between the John Hughes-movie-soundtrack keyboards, electronic beats, and Rhys’ mush-mouthed vocals. But as might be expected with more enigmatic (and somber) subject matter, Praxis Makes Perfect doesn’t always have the generous hooks and lighthearted feel of Stainless Style. The early-’80s AOR gold homage “Dr. Zhivago” and the tropical “Hoops With Fidel” are sluggish, while the melancholy “Ciao Feltrinelli”—on which Italian actress/singer Asia Argento reads Feltrinelli’s biographical information atop brooding, Miami Vice sax wails—drags. 

These momentum-sucking songs are frustrating, because overall, Praxis Makes Perfect has broader influences and is more interesting than Neon Neon’s past work. The trashy robotic synth-pop blurt “Mid Century Modern Nightmare” (which features Cate Le Bon on vocals) sounds like a lost Magnetic Fields song; the strident “Shopping (I Like To)” resembles a tougher Pet Shop Boys; and the surging “Hammer & Sickle” is an ace update of the motorik disco favored by early Human League. Even the rhythm-light “The Leopard”—which matches eerie floating keyboards to Rhys’ Eeyore-like vocals—and the sleepy-eyed synth-punk jam “The Jaguar” interpret proto-new wave in mesmerizing ways.  But in the end, Praxis Makes Perfect is an uneven mix of gleaming ’80s homages and tunes burdened by their own ambition.

(A.V.Club)

Ironically, the depth of the source material shows up the problem with concept albums – no matter how great the idea, it still needs killer hooks. 'Stainless Style' did this effortlessly with tracks like 'Belfast' and 'Raquel' etching themselves into your mind instantly, but tracks here such as the merely competent 'Mid-Century Modern Nightmare' require you to spend an afternoon with Wikipedia before their content can be fully appreciated.

Ultimately the confusion and convolution is all part of the charm on this adventure into a world of history and imagination. It doesn't hit the peaks of 'Stainless Style', but is still a record worth investing time in. At the very least, you'll learn to be more careful with dynamite around power lines.

(NME)