Waldeck Ballroom Stories
Viennese producer Klaus Waldeck’s new album is an homage to the ballroom era–to the 1920s […]
Viennese producer Klaus Waldeck’s new album is an homage to the ballroom era–to the 1920s and jazz halls and smoky-voiced singers backed by wah-wah-wah horns and noodly clarinets. But since it’s Waldeck, better known for making downtempo sounds than assembling a big band, the album knits those influences into something low-key, less about a ballroom full of dancing couples than memories of such (one of the album’s best tracks, in fact, is called “Memories”). Newly recorded musicians rub up against vinyl from gramophones, and spacey knob twiddles complement the lightly swinging jazz percussion. Even the occasional misstep (the bouncy beat on “Midsummer Night Blues” fights against the sultry vocals) doesn’t detract from the evocative whole.