In the psych-krauto-revival tsunami that has hit us in recent years, it's hard to fish out something original,
drowning in pure mannerism, slavish reinterpretations that collapse on themselves, and freeform that are not so free, tied with a double thread to a past too important to be forgotten.
The Oscillation (from Silver Apples? Who knows.), a pseudonym behind which hides the one-man-band Demian Castellanos,
is certainly not immune to the above. Nevertheless, what seduces most in the personal musical vision of this producer and multi-instrumentalist is - forgive the banality - the class.
If the structure of this album confesses, without hiding too much, that the rhythm beats on the paths
of the most kosmische electronics you can imagine (think of Neu! without lingering on it too much though) -
the perpetually filtered voice, the cheeky bass lines, and the spatial and dark flow of synthesized sounds
compose a sort of "ordered" psychedelia you wouldn't expect. A contradiction in terms, given the album's title.
"Liquid Memoryman," "Violations," "Comatone (Part One)," "Respond In Silence," and "Gamelan Mindspace" are all of this: the mind travels but the ass also moves. Pelvic oscillations and the brain out of phase.
There's also time for a tribute (as if the rest of the album weren't) to Julian Cope with a cover of
"Head Hang Low," unfortunately not much reworked and a bit too similar to the original. Perhaps the respect for the artist prevailed.
But don't hold it against Mr. Castellanos if then he delights you with a narcoleptic touch like "Hear Your Sadness"
to make the same Cope envious, and closes up shop with "Visitation (Exit)": a Space Odyssey condensed into 10 minutes. And here comes the applause.
In conclusion, amidst winks to the kraut masters and nods of understanding with the most experimental rock, a psychedelic gem.
Loading comments slowly