Dead Earnest
Dead Earnest CD Reviews Page
ANOMIE: Cool, Clean & Cosmic LTD EDITION CD-R
A single 50 minute track recorded live at the Luna Dome and here we have an excellent example of their assemblage of space-related and political samples mixes in with a melting pot of music that encompasses psychedelic, space-rock and Krautrock, with a strong yet languid feel as the guitars, bass, drums and samples weave some exceedingly hypnotic musical spells with hints of Gong, Hawkwind, Hillage, Ash Ra Tempel & Agitation Free in there along the journey. Recorded a bit low, so you have to turn it up a tad louder than normal to get he desired effect, this is the sound of predominantly instrumental, not so much powerful as "studied", Kraut-psych where guitar mostly takes the lead role, where the music occasionally strays into early seventies Tangerine Dream territory too, but for which the overall effect is quite superb.
CRATER 93: Desert Clouds CD
An instrumental album that is, essentially, one track divided into four separate movements, and it's just fantastic. We're talking ambient but not synths, we're talking relaxed, but not boring, we're talking riveting, but not intense. No, this is music that slips and slides over you like a warm summer breeze, so gorgeous and yet so substantial, maximum use being made of musical space, with chords and notes almost suspended in the ether as the melodies langurously roll through the airwaves. So - it's guitar music - and more. The first track is pure laid-back Pink Floyd with a hint of Morocco, as the to-die-for Gilmour-like electric guitar lead kind of drifts and sways like palm trees on a tropical beach, backed by subtle Mason-style drums and even subtler electronics that almost imperceptibly swirl around the mix to create a totally spellbinding effect as other musical subtleties creep in and out, but it's slow guitar heaven all the way for eight minutes. Track tow is, if anything, even better, and this time we're in Heldon territory, but far from the cyclical or intense music that you might think, this is the reflective side of the band as languid Richard Pinhas-style guitar leads and harmonics create the sort of spellbinding music that captivates both head and heart, not a million miles away from the 'Ballade....' track on one of the first two Heldon albums, again very gorgeous but here with a certain amount of bite to the guitar tones and a feel that will have the heart racing and the smile getting ever wider, despite its slowly moving state, as synths again fillout the background in a very subtle manner and deep deep bass gives the music depth, all in all a totally amazing track. Track three almost manages to mix both the aforementioned styles in the one track, but this time building things to more of a crescendo, and introducing a Tangerine Dream-style sequencer line to the track, giving the piece more movement and developing the feel of the album as a whole while the electrifying guitar leads shine on top, the composition itself still retaining the feel of before, but this time with a greater range of textures, with a synth foreground joining the guitars towards the nine minute mark and eventually seeing out the track in cosmic fashion, a swirl that leads directly into track four where a synth line similar to that of the start of Floyd's 'Shine On You Crazy Diamond' can be heard before a gentle synth rhythm and a slowly flying synth lead are introduced to give a suitably heartfelt melodic atmosphere. Around the htree minute point the drums, bass and guitar join in as the whole track takes off and a soaring electric guitar lead just climbs high above the rest in breathtaking fashion, the combinations of melodic synth layers and rhythms, Floyd-like rhythm section and biting electric guitar seeing the track out to is conclusion at just over ten minutes.
JON DURANT: Brief Light CD
Fourth album if I remember rightly and it's wonderful The nine track have a production, arrangement, sound quality and structure that is just awesome, although musically, while it's very strong, it's also very spiritual and it's that combination of all those things that make this a truly timeless album. Opening with clattering drums and pounding bass, the music surges ahead at mid-pace as a sustained guitar texture is added and the whole thing travels forward in this glorious mixture of rhythms and texture. 'Rosemary' features a cascading keyboard figure under which a deep lilting bass moves it forward, while over it, a lead guitar and separate lead keyboard intertwine and unfold their shining melodies, a distant xylophone-like tinkle adding. that little extra touch to a deep and meaningful slice of languid but strong instrumental bliss. The six minute 'River' opens with another stirring electric bass layer/rhythm as clay pot percussion, eastern sounding drums, tablas, weaving synth backdrops and lead guitar foreground combine to create a truly exotic sounding piece of east-meets-west music, strong and dynamic yet at the same time warm and rich, the fantastic bass work giving the track a sense of deep strength as the guitars and percussion climb an ever higher melodic peak. Just fantastic. The nine minute 'Behind Stone Walls' is similarly structured only starts here with a more modern King Crimson-like feel as you could almost imagine that it was Fripp-Belew playing the leads over this incredibly dynamic sounding backing from electric bass, exotic drums/perc and sparkling synth backdrops. The track changes pace and texture as it goes, from corking contemporary progressive to more atmospheric realms, the sheer clarity of the sounds being quite eye-opening as you hear the percussion, bass, synth and guitars in all their travelling glory. 'Evidence' continues the thematic elegance with more melodies from the cascading percussion, resonant African-sounding drums, and a joyous combination of guitars and keyboards leading the way, all the time the, this time more lilting but no less powerful, bass guitar providing the depth and strength to the gorgeous motifs playing away on top, substantial, solid yet simply beautiful sounding music, three minutes giving all the enjoyment of a piece twice that length or more. 'In Her Memories She Floats' is a more relaxed but more symphonic-sounding composition, this time largely rhythm-free in the drum sense, as the assorted melodies from guitars, bass, synth and piano flow and soar in a fine combination of melody, depth and atmosphere. Three more tracks follow revealing at one end powerful music where the drums and guitars just pour out of the speakers, and at the other, ending with a track of pure melodic/cosmic-sounding bliss from synths and guitars with all sorts of exotic touches, while somewhere in the middle, 'The Wind At Night' occupies a ground that is equally spellbinding. Overall, a magical album, not easily classified or categorised, but simply one that can be called music of genuine quality, emotional depth that is composed, arranged and played to perfection.
EUROCK CD-ROM
THE GOLDEN AGE: CD-ROM
A Multimedia CD featuring 40 minutes of music, 25 minutes of audio/video music from the Euro-rock archives, enhanced with CD-ROM technology - a complete Audio/Visual experience.
Described as 'A History of Music from Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Eastern Europe, Japan, South America and points beyond', this item, three years in the making, is one of the most indispensable multi-media releases in the Euro-rock/synth and beyond fields of music. For anyone not around in the '70's/'80's, Eurock was the name of the first ever magazine, started by one of Euro/Kraut-rock's leading visionaries, Archie Patterson, devoted exclusively to serious listening cult music away from the mainstream and which was to go on to take the world by storm and influence countless hundreds of bands down the years. This CD-ROM contains the entire contents of all 47 issues of the magazine. But there's more….so much more.
The Music: Since 1980, Japanese master musician Hiro Kawahara has been exploring the realms of electronic and progressive music (not prog-rock) releasing albums as leader of the groups Osiris, Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde, and more recently, Heretic. His new album, featured exclusively on 'The Golden Age', contains 40 minutes of music recorded between 1980 and 1999. A dense Zen electronic tone poem, it echoes the work of such luminaries as Kitaro, Steve Roach & Robert Fripp, yet has a distinct quality that puts it in a category all its own.
The Video: 'The Golden Age' features 25 minutes of 16-bit, digitized audio/video by Amon Duul 2, Popol Vuh & Urban Sax, again all exclusive to this multi-media extravaganza.
The Magazine: 'The Golden Age' contains 1100 articles, 300 rare photos, 1200 reviews, 350 discographies, a complete index. In addition, there is a brand new issue of Eurock magazine. It contains recent articles and interviews featuring some of Europe's original journalists and musicians who created the scene, including Manuel Gottsching, Klaus Schulze, Christian Vander, David Elliott, Mani Neumeier, K D Muller, Andy Garibaldi and loads more.
An absolutely amazing item, just as, if not even more, indispensable than the Freemans' 'Cosmic Egg' book, this is something special that mere words cannot begin to describe and the most enjoyable and unique CD-ROM you'll come across.
THE EXPLODING MEET:Birds Of Grey DBL CD
An astounding 140+ mins of music dominated by one man and his massed ranks of guitars but also featuring drums and percussion, urban samples, lots of treatments and processing plus various use of electronics, but it is the guitars which tower over the proceedings and around which the compositions are based. Musically, the range of stuff on offer is just mind blowing with tracks remeniscent of classic Gunthe Schickert, a 16 min track that sounds like something from Aphrodite's Child '666' album with narration over a sea of storming blues-based electric guitars and subtle percussion, tranquil melodic electric guitar excursions, huge dense wedges of scorching electric guitars over mid-tempo rhythms from drums and percussion more powerful than anything done by Guru Guru, early Durutti Column style layers of guitars with more cohesion and an edge not present in Vinni's work, passages that sound like Oldfield's millions of guitars on sonic overload, Tibbetts-style electric blow-outs, fuzzed up waves of soaring, scorching guitar heaven, all nearly always backed by various non-intrusive but fluid drum/perc rhythms, all making for absolutely stunning listening without a bad second in sight....and that's only the first disc!!!!! Disc 2 is equally amazing with so much great guitar work you won't come down for a week if you do it all in one sitting. One of the best electric guitar CD's I've ever stumbled across and at this price for this quality, depth and range of music you simply can't go wrong. Essential and then some!!!!
THE EXPLODING MEET:Circus Of Disharmony CD£
Opens with the sound of sampled laughter and synth backdrop for just a few seconds which abruptly dies down and in steams a scorching electric guitar riff which then splits and the bass undertow thunders along while what seems to be 3 separate guitar solos spiral outwards in true psychedelic fashion as the drums and bass guitar drive the piece along with a Santana-feel to the percussion section. Over the course of 5 mins the guitars just soar out of sight and solo until they burn while the bass guitar undulates to floor-shaking effect and the percussion holds it all together on what is an inredibly full sounding track and what an opener.
Track 2 open with more sampled voices before delicate bass guitar and drums patter away underneath and then the voices are accelerated and decelerated as a pleasant guitar spreads its sound over the mix in great waves of sustain and feedback as the track flows assuredly along threatening to intensify all the time and then, at the 3 min point, the bass guitar suddenly breaks loose, proceeds to positively roar along setting up a massive foundation over which the suddenly emerging electric guitar begins to solo once more in classic psych fashion with the controls set on stun as the drums and percussion are kept to a distant rumble and an up-front blend of toms while the track goes through a maze of atmospheres and regions of uncharted space as the feedback-drencehe dguitar alayer and the spiralling solo take off on an interstellar voyage that threatens to engulf everything in its path as the whole conglomeration of drums, massive bass, guitars and sample underrcurrents hurtle skywards in a veritable cauldron of sonic bliss that cannot fail to have you leaping about like an idiot or sitting there open-mouthed at the sheer splendour of the 12 mins that are unfolding before you as rd-hot guitar work takes over leading to a storming finale that travels seamlessly into track 3, a short one featuring 2 mins of spacey Fripp-like guitar soaring in and around layers of voices samples, delicate percussion and a flowing river of synth or very delicate feedback guitar, creating a beautiful atmosphere and going straight into track 4 led by another booming bass line on top of which various lead guitar lines swoop and fly to marvellously sustained and scorching effect, while the sound of a female voice is heard to recite a short lyric, slightly buried in the mix for maximum effect. Normally I wouldn't like this sort of things on a psychedelic guitar album but here it fits like a glove and you just have to marvel at the way this track, and indeed the whole CD, has been so carfully layered and constructed.The track spends the last 2 of its near 6 mins length on a guitar section that just blows you away as the layers of guitars plus the accelerating bass and drums steamroller over you to amazing effect.Track 5 features just under 3 mins of guitar layers and undulating bass guitar in an almost space-industrial fashion, very moody stuff and a neat break from the mayhem going right into the 9 min track 6 on a layer of steaming guitars, throbbing, undulating basss guitar and superbly sounding drums/percussion as the guitars splinter, spiral, soar and solo to breathtaking effect, all around you this massive wall of guitars begins the journey and carries you right up there with them on a psychedelic ride of epic proportions yet without any overblown or bombastic charactristics that often constiute this music as carefully layered and immaculately produced guitar weave a heady trip trhough the airwaves as the bass fires up in the mix and the multi-layers of bass and guitar burn holes in your skull for 9 mins of sheer guitar heaven. Track 7 is spacier music with acres of guitars and gentle bass/percussion but still with an intensity to which you will be transfixed.
Tracks 8 through 13 featuure over 31 mins of amazing music from aline-up of dual electric guitars, dual percussionists, bass guitarist and sax although the latter takes a similar role to that of Nik Turner in Hawkwind, used as much to emebellish and enhance the soundscapes being created rather than actul solos although the sax line on track 8 is absolutely mind-blowing with the mood and paces very much those of the legendary 'InSearch Of Space' album although sonically it does not actually sound like Hawkwind but you'll see what I mean.Track 9 is a short spacey soundscape before the group roll headlong into the 5 min title track and the guitars scorch in majestic fashion as the sax briefly joins the fray until the guitars spiral out above thunderous layer of percussion and rumbling electric bass. For the final min the sax and guitars duel to a roaring crescendo, then another short sound collage in the outer reaches of their musical galaxy with sax spiralling all over the place, briefly dying away to lead abruptly into the 10+ mins track 12 which sees the guitars climb ever higher over a rolling sea of rhythmic thunder as the guitars duel and solo to jaw-dropping effect and the sax wanders in and out of the mix at odd intervals. The CD ends with a weird sound collage and a strangely tranquil climax. Overall, a truly incredible CD, totally unique but with elements of synth-less early '70's space-rock in places as stated.
FOGNODE: Beat Hollow CD
Simply gorgeous instrumental CD of dreamy guitars-driven melodies, soundscapes and serene post-rock from one guy with assorted guest musicians, playing electric, and the occasional acoustic, guitars, bass, drums as the core sound with embellishments from pedal steel guitar, flute, synth, bowed bass, keyboard, kalimba and more. The result is just a sheer heavenly set of compositions that amble along without a care in the world, creating beautiful landscapes as they pass. The atmosphere is truly hypnotic as the tracks and instruments shimmer off the desert highway down which you are gliding in sublime slow-motion, The nearest comparison we have to this is the classic album "Mind Lagoons" from Skyray, and you get the feeling that the Ochre label would kill to have this band on their books, for this is such a fantastic set of melodic and warm-feeling tracks. Just the right length, plenty happening texturally but mainly so languid and relaxed that you simply melt into the music. Already no lesser a person than Brian Eno has described it as 'a very original soundscape of seductive quality', while King Crimson's Pat Mastelotto described it as having 'fantastic ambience'. The equivalent of a hot, warm summers day in your favourite place, this is magic and simply can't be faulted.
FOGNODE: Urban Passer CD
While anyone getting into this band should start with the one above (the later of the two here), this is also an excellent album, albeit with a slightly more electronic sounding set of instrumentals, this earlier one tending more towards a languid ambient dub territory on the early part of the album, albeit with a lot more layers, textures, samples and effects, still mainly pretty warm and heavenly music but also that bit more of an edge, with guitars still ringing out, over lazy but solid bass and drum rhythms, as track after track keeps your feet tapping and your senses transfixed on the glory of what you are hearing - superb and recommended.
RING CYCLE:Flame Of Days CD
Starts with strong, flowing sea of sound from massed ranks of strings, drums, and saxes conjuring images of Zappa and Jean-Paul Prat, until, after a few seconds, the whole soundscape changes and you hear a solid Beefheart-style drum rhythm, ringing guitars in the background and a husky female vocal that sounds like it could have come off Brainticket's 'Cottonwood Hill' recites a short lyric over this, finishes and then the percussive rhythms are strengthened by the addition of tablas, the guitars fade out and the soaring flow of strings and saxes returns, taking the lurching rhythms to an altogether higher plane. As distant saxes take the lead, the now-faintly echoed voice returns and the sound is so dense yet clear as a bell as the brief vocal ends and the track does too. A fantastic opener to what you will discover to be a truly unnique album. Track 2 starts with what sounds like piano and the gorgeous voice, to which are gradually added various layers of violins, bass guitar, drums and organ in various degrees of volume, creating a magical soundscape that is immaculate and highly individual, all the time, as before, retaining a towering sense of melody, cohesion and dynamics as the layers and textures flow strongly and effortlessly through the airwaves, neithe rock nor jazz nor classical nor progressive, but a contemporary mix of all of these and much more besides. Track 3 begins with a cascading keyboard sequence and this time you hear added violin in the background as the voice, this time wordless, warbles away for a couple of seconds, until the whole ensemble roars in and the female vocal returns briefly, the composition changing as it goes, tablas and drums creating a Santana-like rhythm section while a combination of keyboards and trumpet provide the lead lines as the textures and layers appear and disappear as the track rolls to its conclusion. Track 4 begins as a Zappa-esque version of The Roches, all beautiful female harmonies and crystal clear backdrops from the instruments as the drum rhythms return, a flute is heard winding its way through, steel drums take a sudden lead role as the sinuous electric bass and distant blasts of the wind instruments combine to produce a fantastic soundscape, the likes of which you have never before heard, as the vocal is more ethereal and multi-tracked. Track 5 continues the instrumental mood with lurching drums, beautiful wordless female harmonies and the steel drums soon giving way to the real vocal line as a lead tabla rhythm emerges above the bass and drums rhythm that drives the piece along, this time an organ line thickening out the sound as the steel drums return andan electric guitar flies over the proceedings in suitably fusion-esque fashion, but as gorgeous as the rest of the music. Track 6 is still similarly rhythmic but more pastoral as the instruments take a lighter approach to this laregely instrumental track, the combination of sounds, as throughout the album, being more imporatnt than the brief bursts of lead instrumnetal space that appear as the composition rolls along.for nearly 10 minutes.The final 3 tracks are instrumental and largely continue this pastoral-fusion style of music with all sorts of combinations of piano, percussion, wind, brass, keyboards and guitars giving a most amazing set of ensemble work. Make no mistake, this is fantastic, enjoyable, not easily defined or pigeon-holed, but possesses a musical quality and consistency, the like s of which you will rarely find in any but the exceptional classics of serious music down the years. It is accessible, enjoyable, complex, immaculately produced, brilliantly played and composed and as a work of 20th century music, is utterly timeless and one of the truly great pieces of modern contemporary music.
RING CYCLE: Heart Of Mind CD
In the UK, it fell to me and no-one else to champion the first album by this band - I reviewed it in detail - quite a feat for such innovative music - and it got promoted a bit, we sold a few, then it vanished into our portals waiting for some appropriate moment to be reactivated, and that moment isn't far off.
In the meantime, however, out of the blue has come a brand new second studio album, and you know what - this is one extraordinary album, possibly even more innovative than the first and certainly a more challenging listening experience, but it is this sort of challenge on an album that makes the rewards so much the greater when it all finally clicks into place. So, where are we, musically.
There are six tracks in forty minutes of which the first is an introductory mallet percussion piece for a minute or two, before 'I Am To You Are' kicks in, and here we inhabit a twilight zone that seems to take from Soft Machine, Phillip Glass, Urban Sax, Nucleus, Agitation Free - you get the picture - as first a trombone and female voice take the limelight over the rhythm section and assorted backgrounds, leading to a crescendo before dropping back to feature suspended guitar chords and sax with a very seventies Frenh feel to it, as then the sax, strings, brief female vocal (wordless), violin and piano all interweave on a passage that is pure heaven, as it gently flows through the airwaves, percussive splashes in a kind of '73- era Crimson mode, adding to the textures. At this point an el piano figure that is pure Ratledge-era Softs heralds an increase in pace as the drums roll, the bass pounds along a clean, breezy, jazzy guitar solo begins over the rhythm section drive, as the other instruments disappear. Then the violin returns and the piano - you see, we have a melodic, flowing intricately composed piece that changes shape and texture absolutely spot on, never letting anything hang around long enough to be boring but using the time better than any other album you'll hear, getting it right so that you enjoy every bit of what you hear without feeling that any phrase could have been developed or elongated. By the fifteen minute point, the ride continues as the piece exits a brief percussive lead into a spacious horizon where mulit-tracked heavenly vocals, cymbal splashes, sax, clarinet, bass, drums and brass all combine in a really solid groove that is pure Zappa to bring the piece to an end - sensational. 'Ultraviolet' is a song that you could have imagined stemming from a meeting of Wyatt, Nucleus, Henry Cow & Tippett, all laid-back fluidity and atmospheric space, where rarely has a musical combination of clarinet, violin, trombone, bass and percussion sounded so sweet (in the good sense). 'Thrid Heard' is another five minute song, this time a mix of relaxed and uptempo with a new set of instrumental textures around and below the gorgeous female vocal that does waves in the foreground, up and down in high operatic or breathy jazzy fashion, exiting into an almost samba-esque outro as the vocal returns to the fold. 'O Is' at seven minutes, starts with brass, rhythm section and multi-tracked vocals, suddenly drops to just piano and voice, all very lilting and spring-like, as drums give structure and drive forth, while the piece as a whole has a sort of direct rhythmic Beefheart quality juxtaposing with the almost slo-mo Magma like electric piano lead all changing and sailing through waves of pure atmosphere, the voice spiralling upwards in jazz mode as the layers unfold and develop, the flute and reeds creating a calm sea of tranquillity above the choppy drums and percussion. Finally, 'Blazing Star' sees the album out with an instrumental, leading withlight drums and percussion as a cyclical piano motif rings out before, bass, deep piano chords, a harpsichord like sound from one of the instruments all joined in, briefly dropping away, and then suddenly re-entering, while the rhythm section continued a solid but delicate course. All the while different instruments both join and change the layers of melodies that are flowing away on top, with the piano in the spotlight as it moves to the final chords ending on rich layer of organ, piano, bass and percussion, as the individuals drop out to leave the organ chord to end the album on a fine note. Overall, this is superb stuff - it took me three listens just to get the feel of the thing, to realise that the melodic content was paramount and that it wasn't the difficult album I'd imagined it to be on first hearing, and finally to realise that despite a clear appeal to many fans of the classic seventies groups I've mentioned (and don't take too much from that), this is a fresh-sounding and, for the time, novel musical experience that is a plasure to hear and one that will take on new shapes for a long time to come.
SIR MILLARD MULCH: 50 Intellectually Stimulating Themes From A Cheap Amusement Park For Robots And Aliens, Vol 1 CD
Where do I start............with 50 tracks in seventy-three minutes, across such titles as '15 interesting things to do with chairs II', 'Battle Hymn Of The Suburban Horticulturist', 'I Got Bit By A Hamster' and 'The Hardest Bone In Frank's Body', I think you'll have more than a knowing smile on your face when I not only say that it's total eclecticism allied to a musical intelligence and ironic/observational humour unseen since the late-lamented early days of Zappa, and also the humour of a band like the Bonzo Dog Band.
Welcome to the amazing world of Sir Millard Mulch!!
You can't begin to review an album like this in detail, but you need to know have answers. So.....yes, it is musically valid; yes, it is extremely funny;, yes, you will play it more than once, in the same way you treasure your copies of "Keynsham" or "Uncle Meat"; a fair portion of the album is instrumental, relying on an assortment of keyboards, guitars, percussion for its effect, while the songs are quirky, the effects are wild, the samples unreal. As a one-off listening experience, it's indispensable, but there is so much more to it that you really have to make your own mind up - eclecticsville, man!!!!!!
SIR MILLARD MULCH: To Hell With All Of You, I Just Wanna Grow My Vegetables CD
Even more eclectic than the latest album is this, the first album, here with eighteen tracks in its running time, but it's just as fascinating stuff, a sort of embryonic preparation for the marathon that was to follow. It's positively bizarre, but he songs are, if anything , more 'rock' based, or at least more structured, with some great guitar work in places, while the humour is just as funny, guarantee to bring a wry smile to your face throughout.
STAR PERIOD STAR: Jet Propulsion Mystery Summer CD-R
If it wasn't for the presence of some (not many) vocals, this would be THE most incredible album around. The tracks are played largely by a trio of electric guitar, drums and electric bass, on songs that surge ahead and take no prisoners. The electric bass work is absolutely outstanding and at times you'd swear you were in the middle of some Magma/Crimso offshoot, were it not for the direct rock nature of the music that you're hearing. A lot of the music is instrumental and, as a result, a lot of it is just superb. A mix of contemporary indie-rock to which there is more than a touch of Euro-rock fever, with some scorching guitar work and thunderous bass, underpinned by equally fine drumming, this will blow you away. Hell - you even get to think that the few vocals that are heard really do actually fit in there amidst the storm of music that leaps out at you - easily the best thing they've ever done, and I'd say that, if the next one is all instrumental, it will be SENSATIONAL. As it is, this is huge and worth your time, especially for fans of modern Crimso, but don't take that comparison too literally.
STAR PERIOD STAR: The Swivel Neck Justifies The Hand CD
A single forty-seven minute piece, it opens with the sound of drums, accordion and electric guitar - yes, you heard me right - drums, accordion and guitar. Now you'd think that this would never work in a million years, but the atmospheric and solid melody line and rhythm base that are heard will absolutely hypnotise you in its magic - trust me! Just before six minutes the guitar is left on its own to shimmer, ring, echo and drone for one glorious minute before the rock solid, lurching, crunching drums enter as guitar and drums roll forward in almost stripped-down Can-like fashion, slowly adding more and more guitar layers and textures on top to create this bubbling cauldron of sound that now sounds more like a really powerful decelerated modern instrumental King Crimson. Then it really starts to get heavy - making more like a mix of Heldon, Pinhas, King Crimson & Magma rolled into one, this section begins that is just mighty electric bass, smoking electric guitar and titanium strength drumming, and the trio are just awesome, that bass threatening to bring up the floorboards while the guitar threatens to demolish your head in the same way. At nineteen minutes the whole thing drops down to leave chiming ringing electric guitar performing a languid lead over rolling electric bass and well tasty drum work. Around twenty-four minutes the electric bass goes into Jannik Top mode and flies high above the guitar and drums, as the guitar decides to fight back and duel with the bass thunder over the crunching drums and another electric guitar squall going on in the distance, all to absolutely breathtaking effect. The music intensifies once more and the band proceed to whip up yet another storm of howling proportions, but always staying the right side of the structured, melodic fence, although also remaining incredibly powerful and heavy at the same time. This continues to well over the thirty minute point and then the music trails off into a much more languid, darker zone where the band play it much more subdued, and the contrast couldn't be greater or more welcome after the hurricane just witnessed.
The album then spends the next ten minutes in darkly cosmic mode with textural guitars and percussion lighting a guiding path throughout and sounding just sublime. A gap in proceedings then takes us to the percussive finale, almost Zappa-esque, and a coda, essentially of beaten and hammered percussion to end a most extraordinary but utterly amazing album.
V/A (INFRASOUND COLLECTIVE): Owasso Night Atlas CD
It does contain all tracks exclusive to this CD, most of them by artists and groups who haven't even recorded a CD yet, it's on the same label as the excellent Fognode, and it comes, surprisingly, highly recommended, even at full price. It's instrumental, covers a wide array of compositions in terms of textural qualities, but music within a sphere, both electronic and electric. From lush ambience through more twisted electronics to flowing idyllic post-rock, this is music with a warm heart, occasionally adventurous but never straying from structure, and as good a set of creative and easily digested, but long-lasting compositions as they come.
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