Viva DIY. Sometimes you hear something, and it sounds like it was tailor made just for you.

Hirsute Farfelus feels like that to me, and to any eco-obsessed fan of shoestring Utopian art projects with lyrical, improvisational, experimental bends. The ground rules for this one run thusly: The music must swing, the instrumentation be melodic and clever, and the titles witty, pun filled and guffaw-worthy. And it must be international, with a polyglot joy. Tako Taki skews Asian /French (which already brings in huge varieties of cultural mixing) with smatterings of other references from just about everywhere.

They thrive on the hashtag: diy, world, afro, groove, japanese, jazz, Kpop, soundtracks and “Paris.” This later means what? Bal Musette? Chansons Française? I’m unsure here, but thinking anything that might evoke the film “Amélie” could work. Discogs weighs in, listing the album genres as : African, Korean Court Music, Mo Lam (songs from Laos), Gamelan, Shinkyoku (post-Meiji Japan compositions influenced by western music, usually for the wood flute), Pasodoble ( a fast-paced Spanish military march used by infantry troops). Merging both lists does give good hints as to the eclectic nature of what’s on offer. I might add “jingle,” “lounge,” and “Brazilian” to round it out.

In these harsh and economically challenging times it takes real creativity to keep going and think big while not being tone-deaf to the plight of others. How about homemade musical instruments and costumes made from detritus and off-cuts? In the videos one can see them onstage- standing at their stations like an Asian-inflected DEVO, in matching giant hats and totally into the groove. This video gives an up-close and personal tour of the instruments. Corks, bits of wood, string, cans, rubber balls old footwear; it's all grist for the musical mill.

The “groleshakes” are my favorites - tuna cans filled with seeds and other small items, then taped to athletic shoes. These are worn on the feet and tapped in time for rhythm. I have plans to make some of my own with a pair of well-loved, now dead, sparkly all-stars and a trip through the recycle bin.

The “klarblass” needs to be seen to be believed. The Cat-in-the-Hat may very well have been early inspiration for all of this. Who knows? And I would say, that one could do worse as a patron saint than Dr. Suess. The project also references dada, Surrealism and countless gamelans, Krews, marching bands and parade troupes working to musically entertain us all in lean times.

Apparently, Stevie Wonder got his start playing pots and pans in his mom’s kitchen. The musical instrument the “Arbre à son”- a large frame hung with salad bowls and cooking vessels- evokes that early childhood joy, but also has some of the elegance of Harry Partch’s “Cloud Chamber Bowls,” the forming of which was in itself an act of musical reclamation.

Wordplay abounds, with an emphasis on the garbled and the mashed together. Saying a bit about the names, titles and words in general might be helpful. “Hirsutism” is the condition of having pronounced body hair, appearing very visibly where one might not commonly have much, and “Farfelus” means eccentric in French. (It also gets easily mixed up with Farfalle - eggbow pasta “butterflies”). “The Hairy Oddballs.” Is this a reference to “The Hairy Who,” the 1960’s Chicago art collective determined to distance themselves from the dominant aesthetics of the New York Art World? It is not that big of a stretch, so I’m going to leave that one on the table for mental rumination.

Many of the offerings, in true French fashion, seem to linger around food and drink. Tako Toki appears to reference “Toko Taki,” a Korean bbq taco and Saam restaurant and the song title “Gad Gad Chef” evokes Jamaican comedian Gad aka Kanyankole, who is also a chef, and perhaps the Indonesian dish Gado Gado (an assortment of vegetables with a peanut sauce). This is music celebrating the age of multilingual Googling for sure. I love the tune and even more so on video.

"Raymond Scotch" does indeed seem to be a tipsy homage to the master of advertising jingles and Warner Brothers animated films, Raymond Scott, himself a pioneer of electronic music. Do take a minute to deep dive Scott's offerings online.