Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Raúl Baduel & The 48 Laws of Power



In Early Morning, Swedish (associates of ear-candy creators Studio) Fontan take the kraut-rock genre back its hidden roots, stripping the noodly elements of Hawkwind, while maintaining the genre's expansiveness into one tightly wrapped package of compact rock kosmisch. For all the avant-garde talk about Can, Cluster and their Germanic ilk, it's easy to forget that was a reaction to and celebration of rock. Damien Suzuki didn't take it all that seriously (I've been pushing for an archive of misheard Can lyrics for years now). I have an incredibly soft-spot for the Shout Out Louds and think they're also as adept at working with space and mood as Fontan (and more so than the XX - zzzzzzz), which is why it's delightful to hear Fontan's take on Walls, which takes it time teasing out the baroque elements from the original, surrounding it with richly produced psych elements, Eno-isms and a fabulous guitar lead. The Shout Out Louds will be here on May 7th, playing at Cabaret de Musee, tickets available from Greenland. (Fortuitously enough, I got an e-mail from Big Hassle with the Fontan rework in it just as I was writing this post up. Psychic PR agents.).

In the same vein, the Parisian group Turzi seemed to have lost the plot and ended up in the same deep, dark swamp of self-seriousness that produced Iron Butterfly's Innagadavida and Vangelis' more paranoid elements. Moderation in all things is key. Time & Space Machine show us that it's good to feel young and gifted again.

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