Round Wound

Abunai! | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 21, 2000)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Camera Obscura
• ASIN: B0000542LD
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #862,699 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Abunai! - 'Round Wound' (Camera Obscura), January 5, 2005

By 

Mike Reed (USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Round Wound (Audio CD)

I cannot believe that only one OTHER person had revieved this disc before I did.Another thing I find hard to buy is this ensemble is actually an American band,coming to you from Boston.'Round...' is the band's third effort as I believe they may've recently disbanded.Who knows?Maybe they'll reunite sometime in one form or another.CD comes packed like a set of guitar strings,so you'll need to get a new jewel box to protect this precious sound artifact.A total of 21 tracks with a running time of 79:24.I understand this disc is more krautrock like than their two earlier CD's,'Universal Mind Decoder'('97)and 'The Mystic River Sound'('99).Tunes that about nearly gave me a natural high were "Time Of The Funk-Lords",the airy "Herb-Skirt",the way out-of-this-galaxy fourteen-minute "Fearsome Bat-Man/Drowning In Light","Anti-Twilight Arch",the straight ahead "Rolling Of The Stones","Electric Reynolds" and the dramatic closer "Buzz Bombs".Whew!Better have some time on your hands when you check out this audio gem.Beside kraut,some MIGHT describe 'Round Wound' as part space rock,part dream neo psychedelic.Line up:Kris Thompson-vocals,synthesizer,organ&theremin,Joe Turner-drums,Brendan Quinn-guitar and Dan Parmenter-bass.Should appeal to fans of Spiritualized,SubArachnoid Space,Hawkwind,Flying Saucer Attack,Spacemen 3 and Amon Duul II.It just doesn't get any better.A MUST HAVE!!

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Their best album, but a horrible introduction, June 14, 2005

By 

Tommy Jacobi "Tommo" (New Orleans, LA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Round Wound (Audio CD)

Just hold your horses! This album is incredible. From the organs to the decidedly psychedelic guitar work, there are few flaws. Wound Round runs for 79+ minutes, and flows from one track to the next, which is always a nice touch. There is no stand-out track, because every song is, well, very similar to the previous one. Nonetheless, this album is incredible.

Now, onto the second part of my title. This was the first album I heard from Abunai!, and I fell in love with it. In fact, I thought I had fallen in love with the band, but I was mistaken. After owning Wound Round for a while, I decided to buy an older album, which was Universal Mind Decoder. After listening, I soon realized that the two albums sounded like two completely different bands. Once I heard nearly all of their recordings, I concluded that Wound Round was the black sheep in the bunch. Abunai! was an AMAZING band, but Wound Round is not their definitive album/sound, even though it is an amazing album as well.

If you're looking for a great album, go ahead and buy this. If you're looking to get into a great band, try Universal Mind Decoder and other earlier works.

4.0 out of 5 stars Mixing The Heavy With "The Light", September 26, 2011

By 

kabalabonga - See all my reviews

This review is from: Round Wound (Audio CD)

Savage and cyclonic , the raw, churning, aggressively modulated guitar work, the percussive force, and the heavily resonant basslines that propel the more ferocious cuts on "Abunai!'s double-length CD " `Round Wound " have a frenetic, abandoned energy to complement their almost circular directionality, and the CD itself was recorded in a manner that builds toward this sustained, furious, explosive release in phases without the universal features that are associated with conventional song structure, giving " `Round Wound" the feel of a continuous, 78-minute + track laid down improvisationally.

And while it is true that " ` Round Wound" is the product of improvisation, the liner notes indicate that the band spent hours editing the material together in a recording process so nearly seamless that the resulting tracks are referred to as the `Chart Of Dimensionless Numbers". And with good reason: when not searing the fretboard with explosive riffing ("Motorcycle Boots", ` Bwow Winds?", " Buzz Bombb", and "Drowning In Light"), the guitars can shift into leviatational, shimmering, spatially elongated phrasing with nearly the same menace ("LT TOP HVY BOTTOM" , "Altarian Excavation", "Overscan", and "Genetic Epdidemic"), while other cuts are hybrids of both, selected examples being "Rolling of The Stones", "Electric Reynolds", and "Barsoom ; even the fragments are overlayered with swirling guitar and organ, such as " Anti-Twilight Arch" and " Wound ` Round". The drumwork can be fierce and propulsive, and when synched in with the bassline provides a rhythmic framework heavier than the spine of an oversized cryptozoic creature.

Definitely mining a Krautrock influence and easily the most psychedelic of their releases, " `Round Wound" is also Abunai!'s most cohesive, though none of the tracks are composed in a fashion that matches up with universal features that characterize the format of a traditional song. Deep and reflective, it's definitely immersive, and best listened to all at once, especially with a pair of quality headphones or earbuds. Set aside some money and time to invest in a copy of " ` Round Wound". I can definitely recommend it.