What happens when spontaneity meets strange inspiration? “Tiki Taka (2006)” is what. The chaotic brilliance sparked by soccer highlight was written by Alexei Shishkin on the fly during a four-day studio sprint with producer Bradford Krieger. Blending a loose and off-kilter energy with a sharp ear for rhythm and movement, the song’s lyrical spontaneity works.
While the music came first, the lyrics were shaped by whatever played in the vocal booth. In this case? A random Barcelona highlight reel. Alexei, ever the nonconformist, admits he usually roots against Barcelona, but couldn’t ignore the poetry in their strategy.
I went into the vocal booth, and Brad put on some random soccer highlights for me to watch while singing. It just so happened that he pulled up some supercut of Barca moments, so I just started making up soccer things: the “landslide in Sevilla” was about some match where Barca were beating Sevilla team by a lot of goals; getting “broken down” is about Barca passing the ball around until they find a gap in the defense that they can exploit; and the “move it around” refrain is also about the act of passing the ball around the field and maintaining possession.
That sense of control within chaos pulses through the track. The result is a strange and jagged anthem that feels like watching a genius unfold in real time, even if it’s just two friends messing around in a Rhode Island studio.
It’s not clean nor is it polished, but that’s the point. “Tiki Taka (2006)” is loose-limbed and full of quirks, and that makes it feel alive. It’s another snapshot of Alexei’s forthcoming album Good Times (September 5th) where instinct and a little help from the beautiful game create music without pretension, plans, or pressure.
