Customer Reviews

A Night For Baku

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Just got the new Djam Karet and, having been a fan since their first cassette releases, it is with some authority that I claim this is their best album yet.

It still has that indescribable "relaxed high-tension" which runs through almost all their music, but it also includes tapes (backwards radio broadcasts, various mechanical noises, etc.), stunning guitarwork (Ellett has surpassed even himself on "The Devouring"), highly effective synthesizer garnishes, and some grooves laid down by Oken & Henderson (and new bassist Aaron Kenyon) which drive the music to a whole new level.

Instrumental rock doesn't have to be a wankfest, it can be thought-provoking and toe tapping at the same time. The proof is here.

I discovered these guys last year via a prog rock streaming music Net channel, and bought their CDs "Devouring" and "New Dark Age". Djam Karet is one of the few current bands (that I'm aware of) whose music is progressive-in-the-true-sense-of-the-word, incorporating influences like Pink Floyd and King Crimson, but managing to do so in a way that sounds thoroughly unique and modern. Unfortunately, like their few peers at this exploratory edge of the music world, they seem to be recording away in obscurity, without the attention that their talents deserve.

I would best describe Djam Karet's sound as hallucinogenic, moody, and wandering. The band juxtaposes bright, soaring guitar and keyboard passages with gloomier undertones and otherworldly electronic textures. The music has a distinctly schizophrenic feel, alternating between languid and intense, never staying in either zone for long. It's the kind of stuff that takes a few listens to grow on you, but when it does, it conjures up vivid mental landscapes of smoldering energies and grasping shadows, making it an ideal soundtrack to trip out to while reading either William Gibson or HP Lovecraft.

Out of the three Djam Karet CDs I have, "A Night for Baku" is the one that rocks the most, and it seems to have a little more togetherness than the other two (though they are nearly as good), so this is the one I'd recommend getting first.

A Night for Baku is a deep excursion into soundscapes and moods, with an emphasis on a sort of hard progressive rock tension. In fact it's that tension that I find so intriguing in this bands music. Sort of like worlds imploding and being reborn. Definitely check it out.

2 1/2

Modestly powerful progressive can work as sonic wallpaper for the ambitious ex-metalhead but feels shallowly bloated under analysis.

This is the most dreadfully boring pastiche of progressive rock instrumental cliches I've ever heard. You want atmospheric instrumental rock? Buy Alan Parson's Project or a Jeff Beck album. You want instrumental prog crunch? Get King Crimson's "The Power to Believe". The drummer on this coaster sounds like he is either going through the motions or is half asleep. I'm going to listen to "Snow" by Spock's Beard just to get over my exposure to this sonic dreck! Remember Starcastle?