The Reptile Palace Orchestra
Iguana Iguana (Omnium)
Reviewed by Holly Day

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Reptile Palace Orchestra is a crazy, funky ensemble of seven core members that often bring additional horn or string or whatever players into their close-knit fold, producing some of the wildest Balkan/Middle-Eastern/ blues/swing/metal-influenced you can imagine. Female lead Anna Purnell rolls Columbian ballads off her tongue like she'd never even heard English before, while technowhiz Bill Feeny manages to mix fuzzbox gadgets with classical and traditional instruments (violins, mandolins, balalaika, accordions, saxophones, and ethnic percussion) as though they actually all belong together. I took my mom to see this band play about 2 years ago, and she's been bugging me ever since to make the drive to Wisconsin with her to catch one of their local shows.

© 2001 - Holly Day