Mamuthones
Fear On The Corner

THE REVIEW

Originating from the prolific foundry of Boring Machines, where they released their first LP (the enigmatic and faithful to the label's aesthetic of Onga, "Sator") in 2009, Mamuthones have already, for the past three to four years, entered the orbit of the essential psychedelic label Rocket Recordings. They've already released an EP and a split with those madmen of Evil Blizzard (Preston, UK), with whom they share a certain eccentric and tribal, almost carnival-like aesthetic. The "Mamuthones" (as well as the "Issohadores") are practically typical masks from Mamoiada in Sardinia, whose origin dates back to ancient pagan rites. Given all these premises, an immediate association with Goat is inevitable and is confirmed by the sound of this first LP on Rocket Rec., released last February 23 and titled "Fear On The Corner," which, with the necessary differences, nevertheless proposes a schizophrenic psychedelia and world music contaminations.

It must be said that the main figure who "masks" (literally) behind this project is a name already known in the Italian and international psychedelic scene for at least fifteen years: he is Alessio Gastaldello from Jennifer Gentle, a pop-psychedelic band that gained much more than the classic 15 minutes of fame, even releasing on Sub Pop that essential album of the last decade's psychedelia, which would be "Valende." But here, Gastaldello and his companions propose sounds different from those Syd Barrett-like psychedelic references typical of Jennifer Gentle and according to patterns that escape any traditional compositional rules, they revisit abstract wave forms and that world-music inspiration in the style of Talking Heads ("Cars," "Fear on the Corner") or "My Life in the Bush of Ghosts" ("Simone Choule"), tribal hypnotisms ("Here We Are"), clearly Jaki Liebezeit-inspired percussion and a certain free-form derived from Red Krayola ("The Wrong Side," "Alone").

The album has a definitely engaging and easy-listening sound composed of hypnotic loops, acid-psychedelic trips, and the UK '80s typical funk groove "Metal Box" ("Show Me"), and as such, it constitutes a definitely peculiar and noteworthy episode. Indeed, precisely because of its peculiar and eccentric character and—despite the various references—a certain freshness and originality in sounds, "Fear On The Corner" is a record that will surely impress and will appeal to a diverse audience of listeners.