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Pre-Order the upcoming release, Prepare The Preparations by Ludo and get a limited* autographed CD Booklet with purchase!
"I want it with whipped cream on it/Baby, gimme gimme gimme your love." - "Whipped Cream"
Trying to get a handle on Ludo's music is a little like forcing six blind men to describe an elephant having felt just one side of it. Listen to "Whipped Cream," the first single from the band's sophomore Island Records/Island Def Jam Music Group album, Prepare the Preparations, and you hear what co-founding member, vocalist/songwriter Andrew Volpe, dubs "'70s butt-rock," delivered with a deadpan, tongue-in-cheek irony even Weezer would appreciate.
And while the singer's leering come-on is exaggerated for effect, Volpe never fails to apply the double-edge to those "emotional prototypes," as the laugh dies in the throat, revealing a more pointed "objective" message, much like the similarly satiric "Go-Getter Greg," from their 2008 Island debut, You're Awful, I Love You: "I think I'm entitled to your body/Gotta little problem with personal space/I'm pounding the Jaeger/My breath and behavior/Have been driving the patrons away."
After forming in 2003, and releasing two independent albums on their own Redbird label - 2003's self-titled bow and 2005's concept album, Broken Bride (both re-released in 2009 by Island) - Ludo scored a Top 12 Hot Modern Rock track in "Love Me Dead," the burlesque-style necrophilia smash from their major label bow. And while humor is a vital part of the group's approach, their musical chops place them closer to art-prog artists like Frank Zappa, They Might Be Giants, Ben Folds, Randy Newman and Queen than a novelty act.
"It's kind of a blessing and a curse," admits keyboardist Tim Convy about the band's sense of humor. "But it's a large part of what we do. We're just trying to be genuine and true to the cornucopia of human experience. We have songs that are dark and creepy as well as songs that are stupid and fun."
"Humor shouldn't hit people's ears at an odd angle any more than anxiety, fear, love or lust," says Volpe, whose far-flung imagination sends Ludo's songs soaring into the cinematic stratosphere, an archetypal nerd whose obsessions on the new album include skeletons, pirates, cyborgs, robots, leprechauns, witches, curses, Bonnie & Clyde and '50s R&B, as the lyricist/musician locates the magic in the mundane. Remember, this is a band that takes it name from a character in the movie Labyrinth. "Music shouldn't just be for when you want to feel like a badass or a sad bastard," insists Andrew.
"I'm a Romantic with a capitol R," says Volpe. "I think the moon is beautiful, the stars are beautiful, the mountains and ocean are beautiful. The same way the macabre can be beautiful. Those standard 19th century poetic images still work, even if they are cliches. Just because you're intelligent doesn't mean you can't have fun. Sometimes, it's OK to just indulge. You can be smart and be moved by something simple. There's something satisfying about taking those icons and hammering them home."
Perhaps that's the best way to describe Ludo. Simple, genuine and down-to-earth, but smart. They can be funny, but also dead serious about their craft. In all, a rock'n' roll band for the post-modern 21st century.
"Andrew's imagination is unmatched in its inventiveness. We just take his crazy ideas and make them accessible," nods Convy. "Our goal has always been to be able to do this for awhile. There's more of a sense that we belong this time, even if we still don't quite fit in."
Spoken as a true Ludo geek. |
