Human Natures

Their first 12" EP Chica Da Ici/My Favourite Things could be found in virtually all relevant fusion charts, followed by the Dudley Perkins collaboration Human Natures, a track which — even before its official release — received massive airplay support from Gilles Peterson, who was spinning it on his worldwide show on BBC1. On their now-available debut album Human Natures, Mokadi leave the beaten track for an enjoyable stylistic cross-country walk — not without sticking their tongues out at the notoriously grumbling jazz purists. Inspired by '70s soul, rare groove, '80s new wave disco, and postmodern fusion sounds, the trio creates their very own unconventional style, and despite a strong leaning towards musical perfection, they remain roguish and astute: great songs, orchestrated in a virtuoso manner, handmade, trickily arranged, but still straight to the point.

Mokadi consists of vocal virtuosa Dita von Aster, Ralph Kiefer on keys, and Marc Frank. Dita and Ralph got to know each other in autumn 2002 at a mutual friend's kitchen party. Dita: "Ralph had a children's guitar with him. The idea for the first song was born after just five minutes!" Before becoming Mokadi's front vocalist, Dita, who actually studies medical sciences at the University of Munich and acquired her enormous vocal capability merely through autodidactic training, performed with a women's a cappella group. Ralph is a founding member of the Perfect Toy act Hipnosis, for whom he also arranged the dancefloor jazz bomb Black Forest Stomp.

On the initiative of Perfect Toy label head Marcus Hacker, Marc Frank — a real jack-of-all-trades and well known for his work with Les Gammas and Difusora — joined Mokadi in February 2003 as a drummer and producer. His trademarks are soul and craziness.

The opener Voodoo Chant — with its smooth-cruising Rhodes theme — settles things down, a kind of introduction and self-positioning in a spectrum of musical styles. With the help of live strings and Dita's lascivious vocals, Human Natures elegantly tiptoes out of the dim of a jazz club into the rays of sunlight. The very laid-back My Favourite Things stays exactly there, despite precisely cut abstract beats. The psychedelic See the Light floats with mesmerizing flicker over the wah-wah saturated vocal track; more obvious is the latinesque easiness of the following Chica Da Ici. Rock the House — not to be taken too seriously — is a totally improvised trashy 80s discofunk track playing with No Wave patterns, which arose from a spontaneous 30-minute studio session.

To live and love the poetry of the moment, without worrying about the fears of the morning: that's the story behind Always Now, a simple soul track in the tradition of Bobby Womack or Stevie Wonder. Almost timeless are the opulently arranged ballads A 1000 Times and Butterflies. How fatal glances can be is what Don Freeman and Dita reflect on in Fateful Glance, a duet embedded in subtle boogie vibes.

Vidshi Wa is completely a cappella — mouth percussion and finger plop beats. The lyrics, as well as the name Mokadi, are neologisms created from Dita's artificial fantasy language. L'Operta is a brash mixture of Italian opera, handclaps, and jazz improvisation. And at the end of the album, a top-class hidden track: Dudley Perkins' rough-n-tough, straight-to-the-point version of Human Natures.

Mokadi is both a studio project and a live band. Supported by a guitar and a bass player, Mokadi will enter the stages in autumn this year. See the light. Rock the house.