Sometimes you hear a snatch of a song, and you just know you love it. While we were out in town this afternoon, we were making our way out of the Gardens onto Princes Street, and from above us came the sound of a screaming fiddle. Not a folk fiddle: a wild jazz fiddle. As we climbed further, the bassline became more pronounced, and the funky drums tickled the rhythm centres of my brain. It was a band called Puncs (pronounced poontsch–they’re Hungarian), who had set up their kit out of the back of a van on Castle Street.
That’s the drummer in the back of the van.
We stood around and listened to the rest of the song, and man, it just grooved. They had a guy selling their CD “Your Idea Since 15”, and I bought one straight away. I haven’t had a chance to listen to it yet. It’s possible that the pleasantness of the day, and the Festival atmosphere gave their performance a buzz that won’t shine through in the recorded material, but I hope not. If I like it enough, I might see if I can grab tickets for one of their shows. They’re playing at Studio 24 on Calton Road until next Friday. Their flyer reads:
“fruitpunch from Hungary, balkan ice cream. mixed world music in rock cream. fast and slow, swirl of jazz, rhythms like crushed cookies. as prokected through an impressive jazz violinist, crazy vox, a dinosaur on bass, and an imp on drums.
Very cool. Coming across bands like this is one of the reasons I love the Festival.