ever notice how much buda looks like benny from ABBA?Luke Buda — Ben­ny Ander­s­son (ABBA) imper­son­ator extra­or­di­naire, and one of the front­men of Welling­ton band The Phoenix Foun­da­tion — has just released his debut solo album ‘Spe­cial Sur­prise’ (fol­low­ing on from his 2004 release ‘The C‑Sides’ mini-album, which is still avail­able over at Slow Boat Records so we’re told).

And it sounds great. Fans of The Phoenix Foun­da­tion will know rough­ly what to expect: lots of nice melodies and gui­tar action, but with a touch more humour and a lot more synth action than the two ‘Phoene­cian’ albums to date. But don’t believe us, believe the paid pro­fes­sion­al review­ers. Says Lind­say Davis of the Domin­ion…

Musi­cal­ly, the album is eclec­tic, mix­ing the gun­sling­ing rock on the ‘Stal­lion’ to the Latin feel of ‘Sauer­kraut Bossa’, which com­bines a cheesy elec­tro-lounge rhythm with organ wash­es and yet some­how you are hooked. ‘Slav to the Rhythm’ updates mid-peri­od Bowie with a slick lyric that morphs into a a dri­ving fuzzed con­clu­sion that would make the Tin Machine blush.

…and Lyn­don Walk­er of Rip it Up…

With lots of soft melodies, mel­low synths and a sound which is part Phoenix Foun­da­tion and part his own, this album is a great lis­ten from begin­ning to end…

Any Auck­lan­ders who hap­pen to be read­ing this blog should be aware that Buda is play­ing up at the Kings Arms this Sat­ur­day (8th April) with SJD, and for us Welling­to­ni­ans, more gigs are appar­ent­ly in the pipeline.