“ART CARTEL” By New Gondoliers

Rarely does music arrive unannounced and rewire your listening habits overnight. It happens with “Art Cartel,” the second album of the Croatian folk indie quintet New Gondoliers. Popping up seemingly from nowhere out of a conveniently forgotten email, this album didn't find itself making the playlist; it crashed down the door and commandeered the game. Dropped in January and released now on all major platforms, including Spotify, YouTube, Apple Music, and Deezer, “Art Cartel” is an energetic, bold, and genre-bending declaration that sets the bar for this year's music regionally and globally.

Following on from their 2021 album “Escape Town,” which experimented with "Mediterranean Americana," think Bob Dylan in flip-flops cruising down a Dalmatian coastal road. “Art Cartel” has stretched their musical horizons with quite surprising confidence and panache. Guided by audio legend Howie Weinberg, whose 21 Grammy victories speak for themselves, the record propels toward funkier, more groove-based terrain without losing lyrical sharpness and narrative heart from their earlier albums. Weinberg himself described it as "a cool album! Very vibey and fun!" and he ain't joking.

Under frontman-turned-actor Alen Čelić, New Gondoliers have created music that defies easy categorization. Beyond Čelić on vocals and guitar, the quintet consists of “Veljko Popović “ on drums, Rudi Vu\remilović on bass, Ivan Škvorc on keyboards and saxophone, and Nina Ipavec on backing vocals and rhythm guitar. Chemistry is unavoidable. All of the songs ring true, they sound lived-in, collaborative, and well-engineered everyone working together to make something that represents the neighborhood, but that represents each of them. There's a secret rhythm of joy embedded in all the arrangements, even music that deals with difficult ideas.

What distinguishes “Art Cartel” most, though, is that it successfully expands with every song without becoming fragmented. The record traverses genres of indie rock, folk, funk, and punk but comes back repeatedly to that irresistible Mediterranean warmth. It sounds analog, thoughtfully, full of small cracks and happy trappings. It's a breathy record that exhales. Fans of such bands as The Strange, The Marshmallow Notebooks, and My Buddy Moose will be at home, but so will any who appreciate story-singing in music and surprise songs that don't estrange.

What puts “Art Cartel” over the top, though, is how it manages to grow track to track without becoming disjointed. The record moves between genres, indie rock, folk, funk, and punk yet never loses sight of that inimitable Mediterranean heat. The production sounds analog in attitude, warm with subtle blemishes and surprising touches. It's a breathing record. Fans of bands like The Strange, The Marshmallow Notebooks, and My Buddy Moose will be right at home, but so will any listener of narrative in song and music that is shocking without ever feeling alienated.

If this is the first really big local album to drop so far this year, then the rest of the scene had better step up big time. “Art Cartel” throws down the gauntlet with a playful grin, daring other artists to match it with groove and sense of adventure. Whether you’re discovering them for the first time or returning after Escape Town, New Gondoliers have delivered something truly special, and it’s already a contender for album of the year. Don’t sleep on this one. Stream “Art Cartel” wherever you stream your music, it's a pleasant mistake you'll be grateful for.