Giovanni & Sebastian - My Hideous Illegitimate Daughter
It’s amazing what you can find on the internet these days: rare 12’ Smiths records, pictures of naked women and even the odd Steve Guttenburg fan-site. However, nothing can prepare you for the true magnificence of Giovanni & Sebastian.
In the same way that Gorilliaz are really four musicians with names like Murdoch and 2-D, Giovanni & Sebastian are kings of the Albanian Hit Parade managed by an Albanian know as Count Balthus and ably assisted by Tattoo the dwarf.
MHID is the new single from G&S, and as Sebastian eloquently puts it, sounds like a ‘cross between A Whiter Shade Of Pale/All You Need Is Love and f*** knows what else’. Indeed, and what a result it is. At times sounding like the deranged illegitimate spawn of Noel Coward and Frank Zappa, this is already one of this reviewer’s singles of the year. Telling the story of Giovanni’s wife, her affair with Tattoo and the resultant disgusting child. The lyrics show more emotion than David Gray could even dream of:
‘See our friends, they act so kind,
They offer my offspring chocolate biscuits,
Feeding the slobbering, repugnant child,
Take it away! I scream, Take it to its dark room!’
Enough said really.
The other tracks on this EP are a mixed bunch, with the only similarity being the sheer genius behind them ‘Dancing with Mr T’ is an epic, irrational argument set to music. It is so childish and simple, that you will spend a week trying to work out why you find it so incredibly funny. ‘Gay Icon’ sounds like the Pet Shop Boys on Tennent’s Super, and is twice as threatening. The EP ends with ‘Tattoo the Confessor’, a cover of a Divine Comedy track that somehow (considering Neil Hannon’s considerable talent) ends up better than the original.
If you don’t believe how fantastic G&S are, then visit their website at www.angelfire.com/celeb2/giovanni where you can download this single (and the album, ‘Yass’) and hear for yourself. Then you can tell all your friends how you were into them before they became famous, which they inevitably will.
Further Information
Released on Balthus records.
Written by: James Diamond
