Name That Genre!

MOUSSU T et LEI JOVENTS
Home Sweet Home
Manivette Records 274-1600

And now for something completely different…. Moussu T are a quartet from Marseilles who sing in French, English, and Occitan and that’s just the tip of a very eclectic iceberg. The opening track, “La cabussada” leads you to think this is a sea song ensemble along the lines of Cabestan, but I can assure you it’s the only thing on the album whose genre is identifiable. If you took a jug band, a swing group, some stride jazz, a dash of blues, some over-the-top music hall, the soundtrack from a 1940s Loony Tunes cartoon, and some refugees from Spike Jones’s band, and tossed them into a blender, you might get something approaching Moussu T. This one will have you smiling from start to finish; just don’t try to figure out what it is.