The Bullfight - 81 Bedford St. (2025)

Dutch folk noir band The Bullfight always do things differently. Inviting fellow artists to act as spoken word contributors for an album? Check. Write a novel and provide the soundtrack? Check. Oddly enough they never did a film score, but that gap in their resume is now filled with 81 Bedford St., an imaginary neo-film noir set in the Seventies, with lots of booze, a femme fatale and the CIA being up to no good, as the main characters are trying to make sense of it all in that foreboding building after which the film was named.

Most soundtracks are connect-the-dots affairs, with a few well-known popular songs and a run-of-the-mill theme that a composer won't lose any sleep over to create to something memorable. Not so for 81 Bedford St. on which the band's resident writer and multi-instrumentalist Thomas van Vliet went above and beyond with a bunch of songs that are closely linked to create a narrative, but also can hold their own and be enjoyed as such. There is jazz, industrial noise, torch singing, avant-garde, pastoral violin driven baroque pop, and much, much more.

81 Bedford St. does not really need the visuals. This album can conjure up a flurry of images in the listener's mind's eye that will be extremely costly to capture on film. It is a trip for the ears, a maze to wander around in and feel lost in a good way.

The Bullfight deals in electric folk-rock with a dark edge, titled ‘pop noir’ by the band itself. Strong touches of Hammond organ, violin and ‘ found sounds’ rid the music of any guitar rock band association. Lyrics concern the Bermuda triangle of love, violence and death. Alarming on record, throat gripping on the stage. Ambiance is important, but only serves the ultimate goal of any music: a melody that strikes the soul. With a claw hammer if needed.
In the fall of 2006 The Bullfight released their début album one was a snake on LVR records. The critics were overwhelming (check section reviews for some of them)… During 2007 they played various live shows throughout the country in great music houses like Vera, de Effenaar, Ekko & Waterfront. During their 2007 tour they also recorded and released a vinyl single with LPG on Excelsior Recordings.