Late last month our friends at DEEWEE records released the latest EP by Belgian duo ASA MOTO, Martino.
Martino, to put it in the simplest of terms, plays like a DMT soaked Daft Punk record. It’s the kind of thing you hear at 5am on a real good one and squint your eyes to listen better. A holy union of Kraftwerk and LCD Soundsystem B-Sides that is distinctly DEEWEE. The fine folks out in Belgium have really found their stride with the release of their first ever label comp, FOUNDATIONS, and now Martino. They simultaneously embrace the heavy psych avant-garde and pop sensibilities to create a drug addled brand of analogue electronic all their own. ASA MOTO’s Martino may as well serve as an artist statement for the label — it perfectly encapsulates their playful spirit sprinkled with drug fueled paranoia.
Martino is a fun record. All the tracks are cheeky in their own way, either subtly, blending in playful melodies, or right on the nose.
“Keeping the drugs off the streets / So the kids can’t take them / Keeping the drugs off the streets / So we will take them”
They proudly declare this creed in vocoded acapella on the EP’s final track, In My Body. A passionate and noble cry. We can’t let these kids get into drugs, so we have to take them all ourselves. If the EP wasn’t good enough for you to add ASA MOTO to your playlist, maybe their selfless service to the youth will do it for you. After all, we’re only supposed to support GOOD artists right? What could be more charitable and moral than watching out for the health of the future generation?
After the release of FOUNDATIONS and Martino, the importance of jumping on the DEEWEE train cannot be understated. These folks are doing the lord’s work in reminding us there’s a lot of silliness in human existence. Cool shit doesn’t have to be impossibly heavy thematically for christ sake. So much popular music is poisoned with modernity, post-music crescendo bullshit and 6 second Tik Tok choruses. Nobody can make protest music anymore because we adopt our ever shifting moral compasses from state mandated infographics, but Martino is one of the most effective anti-establishment records I’ve heard in a long time. I don’t know what exactly is going on in Belgium, but it’s for real and it’s not worried about you. Bonafide bad kid music, just unzip and pour.