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13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
one for the ages., February 2, 2004
"Marathon" opens with a splatter of cymbals and oddly-tuned guitar being forcefully strummed. Then melancholy French horn wisps over strange tape effects, until heavily distorted electric guitars crash through this brief tranquility with gurgling, incomprehensible vocals and screaming, underlain with bright, pulsing Ligeti-like tone clusters. A long instrumental stretch follows, with Rhodes and echoic guitar spreading like shimmering liquid crystal flowing out of a decanter, colored with quiet jazzy drumming distantly heard in the background. Some quietly spoken vocals appear like a ghost lost amidst the lush tapestry of sound, accompanied by humming electronics. It is a tremendously beautiful series of sound evolutions and, at the 10-minute mark when it ends, you can't help but feel that you're being taken somewhere that is musically very different from that which has come before.This is pretty, well, DIFFERENT, even when you consider Kayo Dot's previous incarnation, maudlin of the Well, was a pretty "out there" band. On the one hand is feels like a natural extension of motW's progressions, but this is thoroughly more compositional and elaborate. But perhaps we could do with some more explanation. Maudlin of the Well was a startlingly original band that released three albums on the Dark Symphonies label, and even after all this time, I struggle to describe their music. It was rooted in metal, but with an ear for arrangement and complexity that transcended above the rest. Various influences from psychedelic rock, jazz, and classical music could be deciphered but the musical qualities were so well integrated that you wouldn't call it a "mix" of anything. It was simply maudlin of the Well (Toby Driver adopted the term "astral metal" to describe the band), mostly beyond reference to other groups and styles just because any comparison would be unfair and inaccurate. Now, to Kayo Dot. motW came to feel that their future course in music was no longer suited to Dark Symphonies, and they wound up changing their name and signing to John Zorn's label, Tzadik (!). Compared to motW, the _Choirs of the Eye_ is different and similar at once. Like motW, it is epic, eclectic, carefully composed and completely unlike anything else. Unlike motW, it is not song-based (except "A Pitcher of Summer"), and it is denser, more complex, and abstract. Kayo Dot is basically a locus between the world of modern composition and rock & metal, although metal itself is a dubious title. The music is not riff-based and lacks much visceral drive. So, I guess, this cannot be described as anything but Kayo Dot. They have created their own little world in the grand scheme of music. There is one important thing to keep in mind: Tzadik's catalogue is incredibly diverse and one should not take the association with John Zorn to mean anything in particular, other than the fact that this band's creative freedom is completely unfurled. I think I would quickly go over Amazon's word limit if I were to describe each piece. Only "A Pitcher of Summer" is under six minutes, while each of the other tracks range from 10 to 15 minutes. Each one is a sprawling epic, full of changes and meticulous compositional attention -- the realization of Toby Driver's musical vision is so successful it saddens me that this is will only appeal to a niche audience (motW fans and... um...). And the diversity is nothing short of remarkable: "A Pitcher of Summer" is a delicate ballad with Toby Driver's voice sounding curiously like Jeff Buckley, at least until his scream at the end with the blaring horns and booming din of distorted guitars -- "The Antique" has a section of roaring doom metal onslaught, with growling vocals that sound a soul trapped in the frigid breath of winter, until the clamor breaks down, replaced by scintillating piano and gritty, sustained guitar wailing over it -- there are romantic string and woodwind figures in "Wayfarer" and also a flesh-rending guitar solo -- a ravishing clarinet solo soars over the other instruments on "The Manifold Curiosity", a song that eventually reaches a stunningly powerful climax of metal fury that would leave most metal bands trembling (it's not necessarily the most heavy music, but it's incredibly *powerful*). Time and time again, listening to this album since its release back in October 2003 reveals new things -- internally and externally -- and I believe this is a very special masterpiece from a very special group of musicians. Very very highly recommended.
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10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Unique, December 1, 2003
By A Customer
I've been a huge fan of Maudlin of the Well for awhile now and have been anticipating on this release ever since I heard Maudlin of The Well would become Kayo Dot. When I first listened to this album, it was a lot to swallow on my first listen. The music is unpredictable and that's exactly why I think it's brilliant. With only five tracks, the band accomplishes more musically than any other band with ten or twentey songs in a CD. I'm sure a lot of metal elitists or anybody else that's impatient would say the music is kinda slow moving. This slow motion creates a rich lucious doomy atmosphere that settles in your head then later hits you with something you didn't expect, similar to the band Isis but more diverse, using different genres. The first track, "Marathon", gets heavy after two minutes, then goes back to its slow moving music that eases your nerves, then all of a sudden, BAM!, it hits you with more heavyier music again and beautiful singing. Second, there's, "A Pitcher of Summer", the shortest song at five minutes, a calm song with no real sense of structure, when the instruments are starting to pick up, they start trailing away in the begining, then it inevitably builds up with a haunting chorus. The song gets louder towards the closing. There's a good measure of where to put hard or soft parts in the music. This song kind of reminded me of Radiohead's song, "High and Dry" cause of the style of singing. "The Manifold Curiosity" is the third song, with a lot to discover each time you listen, such as different instruments or vocal passages. In about four minutes into the song, there's an explosion of melody using numerous instruments, I don't think any other band is even capable of creating something that sounds like it cause of the variety of instruments being used. At the end of this song, the band creates an intense chaotic blizzard of sound similar to what you'd hear in Strapping Young Lad's album, City, and the singer screams with a burning rage, like the singer in the Metalcore/Grindcore band, Converge, very heavy and reminds us that this band does use metal in their art. Track four, "Wayfarer", is a song that transforms from eerie to lovely, with screeching violins that sound like they're being used for a horror movie and dramatic singing. There's a really good solo in this song too. And now for the last track, "Antique", the song that gets as heavy as Dillinger Escape Plan and also ends up being kind of like a piano ballad song at the end. One thing I've noticed in Kayo Dot compared to Maudlin of the Well is there wasn't that mush jazz elements, Maudlin of the Well was very jazzy. This new stuff is like Prog/Art rock, Doom Metal, Easy Listening, and Indie Rock, all with the band's own unique twist. I think everybody should give the album a shot and not judge it on the first listen since there's something new to find and appreciate in the music with each listen.
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8 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Absolutely Incredible, September 1, 2004
I don't even know how to write a review for this album. First of all, if you're looking at this, and you haven't checked out maudlin of the Well yet, check them out. They were an amazing progressive metal (loosely) band whose compositions continue to amaze me with their creativity and excellence. Also, the members of motW formed the new project, Kayo Dot, and though it has a different sound and some new members, slight similarities can be heard here and there. Like motW, the compositions are incredible, but as other reviewers have said, it's much more abstract. That's why I suggest getting some motW first (unfortunately not sold on amazon, and even hard to find otherwise...but try, damn you!).
This album has 5 compositions, all over 10 minutes except for "A Pitcher of Summer". Each one has to be given repeated listenings, because they're all pretty complex, and you notice new things about each one each time (especially in headphones). "Marathon" begins with a guitar chord hit repeatedly with a free-ish jazz rhythmic feel, and electronic sample, and implications of atonality. Then it quiets down to a beautifully composed French horn melody. After this it explodes into chaotic, atonal, free metal with screaming and gurgling vocals. It goes into a quick riff based section, and then quiets down for the rest of the song in a keyboards and guitar jazzy outro. The poetry at the end is really nice too.
That's just one song, and I didn't describe it that well either. "A Pitcher of Summer" somewhat resembles a normal song, but then again, not really. There's some really pretty guitar playing in this one, as well as some beautiful, Buckley-esque singing from Toby (until the end where it explodes into a loud part). "The Manifold Curiosity" is possibly my favorite from this album. There are many explosions of melody on several different instruments at once, which can be harsh at first, but now I find it pretty powerful. There's also pretty slow sections, gorgeous violins, and a chaotic, Converge-esque ending. The end of this song is one of the heaviest, loudest, craziest things I've heard in awhile.
Kayo Dot are true musical pioneers. They're really thinking outside the box with this album. If you want a band that has a really unique approach to music, I think you've found it. I don't listen to much classical, but the description of the album said that they've taken a classical compositional approach, but used elements more common to rock and metal. That sounds about right too me, but I hear elements of folk, jazz, and indie rock as well.
It blows me away every time I hear it.
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~ Kayo Dot
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~ Godspeed You! Black Emperor
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by Kayo Dot 
