Acid Mothers Temple & The Melting Paraiso UFO - Lord of the Underground: Vishnu & The Magic Elixir

Acid Mothers Temple, led by guitarist Kawabata Makoto in its various incarnations has become the flagship of Japanese neo-psychedelic rock during the last decade. Makoto is staggeringly prolific, to the point that one loses count of how many records he has put out. Nonetheless, Lord of the Underground: Vishnu & The Magic Elixir is a pretty good record. It consists of three tracks. The 15minute album opener "Eleking the Clay" sets the record going with its memorable Turkish psychrock guitar line, on which the band cruises powerfully propelled along by kraut-motoriks. "Sorcerer's Stone of the Magi" is a slower, folkier ballad and the shortest on the album (three minutes). Far longer, 25 minutes, is the duration of the third track, Ash Ra Tempel styled jam "Vishnu And The Magic Elixir". It begins slow and druggy and eventually develops in faster, noisier and weirder directions. A well done record in the area of cosmic psychedelia.

Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest

Veckatimest is third album by US psych-folk group Grizzly Bear, that initially begun as Ed Droste's solo project, playing all the instruments himself on the debut Horn of Plenty (2004). By the time of Yellow House, the critically acclaimed second album (2006), GB had morphed into a full quartet.

Compared to other neo-indie folkers GB is more chamber like, baroque and less rural sounding. Their sound stands out for intriguing melodic and harmonic tricks, multi-part vocal arrangements, along with strings and even woodwinds. All of it sounds especially good on here. Each tune is different, some are folkier, others more psychedelic and others develop into directions on their own (like "Two Weeks" pure pop bliss). Some tunes sound brighter ("Cheerleader") others more melancholic ("Fine For Now"). Thus GB has balanced the material's eclecticism and cohesiveness. Grizzly Bear sound introverted, but expansive and beautiful.

Shogun Kunitoki - Vinonaamakasio

Vinonaamakasio is the second album from the Finnish psychedelic post-rockers Shogun Kunitoki, who also performed in Estonia in 2005. Shogun performs retro psychedelic instrumental music with hints of krautrock and minimalism. They mainly use vintage electric organs as well as archaic tone generators and ring modulators. There are many bands with krautrock influences in today's music scene. Then again, the band sounds interesting compared to the others. Unlike making long monotonous guitar jams or emulating the old sounds (done with more awkward technology) on the computers, Shogun stands out for the hypnotic analog organ sound that sounds a bit rough and gritty, but nonetheless human and warm. Then again one could expect more from the band in terms of composition. Still, hopefully the band manages to develop in more interesting directions.

Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion

American avant garde group Animal Collective, who also performed a memorable gig in Tallinn a couple of years ago, is one of the main acts associated with the nascense of the so-called freak-folk trend during the last decade. One can certainly note the folky tendencies on the album Sung Tongs (2004), that indeed presented the bold and crazy animal collective at its most acoustic.

At its most simplified one can say that with its crazy eccentricity, shamanic suggestion and spirited affinity to nature, Animal Collective does embody everything that is both idiosyncratically charming as well as overblown and self-important in freak-folk. Then again, AC is too eclectic to fit in to any stylistic limitations as implied by a "scene". They've covered a wide territory actually, from neo-psychedelia and progressive folk to krautrock and noise-pop.
Merriweather Post Pavilion, the band's ninth studio-album, demonstrates that these post-modern neo-hippies as critical darlings have reached to the phase of electronic dance music. Merriweather Post Pavilion itself is a concert venue in the USA, that the band members have particularly fond memories from the childhood, that they've tried to put into their music here as well. AC recorded this album as a trio (of Avey Tare, Panda Bear and Geologist), given that Deakin took time off from the band.

Does MPP imply that AC has gone techno? It would be a sin to represent this album in such an oversimplified manner. It's true that the band's already hypnosuggestive motorik groove is now fed by drum machines and sequences and thus the myth of AC as archetypal freak-folkies is now apparently shattered for good. Otherwise, Collective has stilistically stayed true to their trademark psychedelic atmospheres and the overabundant multilayered nature of their arrangements. And actually the more prominent electronic elements simply underscore the notion that the trademark AC style and the basic essence of electronica are very compatible.

Certainly, MPP is one of the most accessible AC albums. That the songs longer than six minutes are now gone is but one fact to demonstrate it. The same band, who could put fifteen minute jams on the record earlier on. Some of the tunes, "Brothersport" actually have some kind of a "hit" potential.

Still the style of AC is so dense that it remains challenging to the conventional listener. This is still not easy listening. MPP, in its own way, is even more avant-garde than previous albums. It's a great art and challenge to condense ideas into a shorter format that are all too tempting to be expressed during 20 minutes as is the usual wont of experimental musicians. Animal Collective has risen up to the challenge well and delivered their most subtle record to date.

Dungen - 4

Dungen from Sweden used to be pretty much a one man band by Gustav Ejstes. On the current album, which is actually the fifth, despite being titled 4, Dungen pretty much functions as a full band. Ejstes mainly sticks to the piano and vocals, adding occasional flute and violin overdubs here and there. Even though we still get heavy psychedelic guitar sound in spades (especially on "Samtidigt 1"), the current emphasis is in general softer. Dungen's psychedelic rock sound is now mellower and suggests lounge-infused jazz-rock, occasionally referring to the Soft Machine's Volume Two. It's almost as if Dungen took the softer and more orchestrated pieces like "Familj" from the last album and developed that style further. Even though none of the songs really capture the highs of that composition, this album nonetheless is a fine work as a whole, that can, with its charming sonic language, grow on the listener.

Kayo Dot - Blue Lambency Downward

New York avant-rockers Kayo Dot are nowadays distancing themselves from both metal as well as the traditional post-rock quiet-loud structures which have seriously devalued today. Although it could be said that the earlier rockier references in Kayo Dot's work have served as an obligatory blandishments for listeners used to expect the chamber-like introspection pay off with a massive cathartic wall of sound. On Blue Lambency Downward, their third album, KD ups their ante on fluidity of free-jazz and the chamber arrangements. Instead of aimless noodling, even though the line is exceedingly thin, Toby Driver treats us to his compositions that are structurally fluid, floating and unpredictable, almost like dreams. Arrangements featuring even more prominent reed (sax, clarinet) instrumentation only help along the surrealist atmosphere of this record. It's telling that Toby Driver has polished his skills in the area of cerebral avant-rock. The result is at times remarkably similar to Tim Buckley's free-rock opus Starsailor (1970). It also confirms that Kayo Dot is nowadays perhaps the best modern equivalent to avant-prog legends Henry Cow.

*This review was published in Estonian in a journal called Postimees. This is the English translation

Clinic - Do It

Known for their image presentation based on wearing surgery masks on one hand and their combination of psychedelia and garage-rock on the other, Clinic from Liverpool integrated Silver Apples and Spacemen 3 type influences into a sound that was more punk than legions of neo-garage rockers to follow; on their debut album Internal Wrangler. Fifth album Do It takes a slower and calmer approach. With the exception of heavy punk of "Shopping Bag" with its shrill dissonant clarinet on the fore, the album contains songs that generally are slow to mid tempo. Outstanding single "Free Not Free" even flirts with lounge music, although to be fair, they still inject their trademark fuzztone riff diversions into that. Some of the songs are clearly influenced by 1967 era hippie music, with even touches of folk rock here and there. The weakest aspect about this album is that musically there's little that Clinic or other bands have not already done. One gets the impression as if Clinic's sound has not substantially progressed throughout the years. Still a good record and in the good old Clinic tradition, only half an hour long.

*This review was published in Estonian in a journal called Postimees. This is the English translation

Boris - Smile

Japanese noise-metal power-trio Boris is a band of longevity, having played for more than 15 years and released comparable amount of albums, to say nothing of assorted collaborations and split-releases. Outside their homecountry, Boris only gained wider attention with their 2005 album Pink. The band has an interesting concept about their albums: whenever the band name is written as uppercase on the covers, we have a more or less straight rock/metal record. Lowercase Boris however indicates a more experimental direction. As one can tell from the album cover, Smile is more rocking than avant-gardist record. There are less stoner-rock/doom-metal elements to be found than before. Instead, the band offers more compact and focused rock attacks like "BUZZ-IN", but also a fair bit of psych-outs as well as sampling and sound manipulation often bordering on industrial. Smile is fairly accessible record, but still a far cry from conventional rock&roll.

*This review was published in Estonian in a journal called Postimees. This is the English translation

Gong - Angel's Egg

In 1973 Gong was possibly one of the few bands specializing in psychedelic rock that kept the psych flag flying, in the age of progressive rock and jazz fusion, both idioms that were becoming increasingly more virtuoso-centric while phasing out the mentally expansive idealism of the late sixties. Even though Gong also flirt with prog and jazz-fusion leanings here, it's less about instrumental show-offs or overbearing seriousness. If anything, the level of musicianship from musicians like drummer/percussionist Pierre Moerlen, highly inventive guitarist Steve Hillage and sax/woodwind master Didier Malherbe; enhances the druggy, surrealist and off-beat humorous vibe and elevates it on an entirely another level. Then again, wherever Daevid Allen went, a lot of deranged aura of weirdness would be present. As a result, Angels' Egg, the second album from the Radio Gnome Trilogy, is all over the place. It offers everything from odd tracks like the drunkenly sang "I'm giving all my loving to you" to deranged pop tunes like "Oily Way" and the lovely vibes-led "Love Is How Y make it", but also lengthy tantristic space-rock jams like the opening cut "Other side in the Sky". Daevid Allen, just like Syd Barrett (who influenced Allen) several years before, is a confirmatory example that the best kind of psychedelic rock comes from genuinely eccentric minds.

Can - Delay 1968

When Can was formed in 1968 by Stockhausen protégés Holger Czukay (bass), Irmin Schmidt (keyboards), rock guitarist Michael Karoli and former jazz drummer Jaki Liebezeit, they were soon joined by the black American sculptor Malcolm Mooney. This lineup rendered Monster Movie in 1969 as well as parts of Soundtracks and Unlimited Edition, before Mooney left and was replaced with the legendary Damo Suzuki. However, Can (who was also known as Inner Space earlier on) recorded an even earlier session and the plan was to release it as their debut album titled Prepared To Meet Thy PNOOM. However, no record company was interested in releasing it. The session was shelved and only unleashed by the time Can had already disbanded, hence the title, Delay 1968.

The sound is very lo-fi, even for Can who did all of their recordings up to 1974 on the two-track stereo recorder. Captured with minimal miking, this is Can at their rawest. Rawness is evident in the music as well. Compared to the latter Can albums, the sound is heavily influenced by psychedelic rock and rhythm&blues, meaning that this album, along with Monster Movie, is Can at their most rock-oriented. While tracks like "Nineteenth Century Man", "A Man Named Joe" and "Little Star of Bethlehem" align closer with the American acid rock Michael Karoli was influenced by, tracks like "Butterfly" and "Uphill" already indicate the band's interest in repetitive trance-like jams and grooves, influenced heavily by Velvet Underground's brain-searing mantra-rock. Similar direction would be pursued on Monster Movie and subsequent albums would take the repetitive trance-rock direction to an entirely new level. Then there is "Thief", early Can at their most melancholic and emotional, this song was later covered by Radiohead as part of their live repertoire. An interesting early document, but not up to the standard of Can's later classics.

Soft Machine - Live at the Paradiso 1969

Live at the Paradiso 1969, an archival release from the Voiceprint Records released in 1996 is the closest thing to indicate how the pre-jazz fusion Soft Machine sounded live. There's not a single wind instrument in here, this is pure organ-bass-drums power trio sound. The material from their second album is treated with vengeance by the trio of Mike Ratledge, Hugh Hopper - cranking high-decibel walls of sound from fuzz-fed organ and bass - and Robert Wyatt who was a real hooligan on drums. Vocals-wise he sounds more like a tortured soul singer contrasting the jazzy subtleties of his vocal work on Volume Two. The music is played as a continuous 40 minute set, without a single break. The numbers with vocals come first, the medley from "Hulloder" to "As Long as he Lies perfectly Still" would soon be dropped from the band's set-list as both Ratledge and Hopper had more intricate compositions in mind than Wyatt's Dadaist rock leanings. The band sounds very heavy and rocking, without sounding like a clichéd rock outfit, especially given the lack of guitar. After some self-indulgent noodling of "Fire Engine Passing With Bells Clanging" mid-way into the set, the band takes on "Hibou Anemone and Bear", offering a lean, mean, rushed and distorted version of it, with Ratledge flashing his vicious chops to a great effect and Wyatt's voice towards the end struggling to be heard. The 20 minute medley, known as "Esther's Nosejob" (comprising the final pieces on Vol2) follows, and while not as elaborate as the original versions nor as academically jazzy as later live versions, they play with great energy although it's obvious that the trio line-up was limiting: "Pig" lacks the main melody as there is no saxophone to play it and any drummer who can also sing would be hard-pressed to carry out both obligations simultaneously. But the more rock-oriented and mean version of "A Door Opens and Closes" has some magic that makes the later live versions seem somewhat anemic. Wyatt gives us an interesting drum solo in the finale that is "10:30 Returns to the Bedroom" before the band states the final main theme and sizzles out. Even if it isn't musically as polished as Volume Two or as tight as the band's BBC recordings from the same era, it's a valuable testament to the live energy of Soft Machine's unique power trio formation.

Can - Tago Mago

One of the strangest and most ambitious releases from the German Kraut-rock scene, Can's Tago Mago was originally released as a double album in 1971. Original first LP (first four tracks on CD) features the most timeless kind of great German psychedelic/Kosmische music ever. "Paperhouse" evolves from a minor key melancholic psych/blues number to a menacing poly-rhythmic workout with some insane Damo Suzuki vocals on top. "Mushroom" takes the quiet-loud aesthetic to a whole new bizarre level, alternating between mellow low key eerieness and loud heaviness (highlighted by Damo's alienated screams) that thankfully doesn't get too obnoxious. This is an example of restrained anger, and Jaki Liebezeit shines on drums too, providing captivating Meters-style groove. Jaki and Damo are the true stars on this album. "Oh Yeah" is pure psychedelic drone heaven that rests on Jaki's fast paced drum pattern and Damo singing backward, then in English and finally Japanese. 18-minute "Halleluhwah" is an epic acidic mantra which is an endless exploration of funk rhythms.

Original LP two is where the things got very very strange, if also a bit self-indulgent. "Augmn" is all about psychedelic effects, bizarre drones, acidic vocal hums and whatnot. Whether you like it or not, this is one of the Can's most abstract pieces, sounds a lot like Stockhausen on acid. "Peking O" gets even quirkier, utilizing eerie organ drones, primitive drum machines, which get faster and faster as the composition progresses, free-jazz piano playing and on top of that, Damo's insane paranoid babblings that might either annoy the hell out of you or just make you laugh your ass off and last but not least, the noisy Zappa-esque ending with deranged feedback effects, clanging percussion work and more screams from Damo. I tend to prefer "Peking O" to "Augmn". "Bring Me Coffee and Tea" returns to the rock-oriented territory as it's yet another pleasant slow lethargic improvisational psych-drone number that builds and builds but never reaches to obnoxiously and extroverted rock climaxes as one may expect, there's some pretty acoustic guitar picking though. A true exercise in subtlety. And that's Tago Mago for you.

Frank Zappa - Uncle Meat

The first three Mothers of Invention albums were really great and unique. However, on Uncle Meat, Frank Zappa takes the Mothers' sound to an entirely another level. The album retains the psychedelic sound of the previous records and there are still some song-based tunes that match the tuneful psych-pop gems on the earlier Mothers stuff, such as "Dog Breath, In the Year of the Plague" which sounds as catchy as "Who Needs the Peace Corps" from 1968's We're Only In it For Money, but with majesty that presages "Peaches En Regalia" that would appear on Hot Rats. Of other vocal material, "Sleeping In a Jar" is one of the earliest pieces written by Zappa (it was composed in 1958 along with "Pound for a Brown" as a string quartet) here presented as the main melodic block from a piece that was usually performed live as an instrumental. The arrangement is strikingly similar with Soft Machine's Volume Two: tuneful one minute ditty with colorful instrumentation and nonsensical, Dadaist lyrics. "The Air" and "Electric Aunt Jemina" are charming mock-doo-wop numbers and "Mr. Green Genes" is a lovely slice of dreamy low-key psychedelia which is also reminiscent of "Duke Of Prunes". "Cruising For Burgers" is probably the complex of all of these, very reminiscent of WOIIFTM album tracks, but with even more complex instrumentation. Another great one.

Then there are odd tracks that are partially musical jokes (attempt to play "Louie Louie" on Royal Albert Hall's pipe organ, hilarious version of "God Bless America"), spoken-word bits dealing with the microclimate of the Mothers ("Our Bizarre Relationships"), or live recordings mixed with band's history ("Ian Underwood whips it out" starts with Ian's story of his audition for the band and continues with furious sax-driven free-jazz jam in 5/4 time recorded in Copenhagen).

The main meat of Uncle Meat however, are instrumental tunes with either jazz leanings or chamber music instrumentation. "King Kong" is a jazzy monster with several parts that flows and swings effortlessly and has great instrumental interplay: ostinato/drone bass, swinging drums, great work on reeds and keyboards and guitars, that take leads after one another. Complex, yet mesmerizing. "Uncle Meat", "Dog Breath Variations" and "Pound For A Brown" on the other hand are classically influenced (a la Stravinsky) chamber rock pieces with unique instrumentation of clarinets, harpsichord, electric organ, guitar, vibes and sundry other things. The instrumentation is rich and the multi-instrumentation of talented cats like Bunk Gardner and Ian Underwood gives the album the kind of colorful and multi-layered feel which is unique even in Zappa's oeuvre.

The CD version of Uncle Meat tends to be marred with so-called "penalty tracks", which are audio excerpts from the "Uncle Meat" film and a cheesy hard rock song "Tengo Na Minchia Tanta" from 80s. Vinyl version is much recommended if such factors are annoying and subtracting from the album that I'd highly recommend for lovers of complex, yet totally far-out and weird music.