magnasparagus
"Ulysses Molasses"(OE063)
1. Overlord --click for MP3
2. Dynamic Steel Cooperation
3. Below Sea Level --click for MP3
4. Sometimes I Wasn't Swimming
5. The Fox Eating A Tire
6. Counting To Six
all sounds by kerry jorgenson, steve zimmerman
now how about some reviews!
Bara namnet på den här gruppen får väl de flesta att inse att det inte är vilket band som helst vi har att göra med. Lägg sedan till titeln på skivan, att de två första spåren tillsammans inte är längre än 40 sekunder (och att sista spåret är en halvtimme) så förstår du nog att det här är ett hyfsat flummigt pundarband. Magnasparagus använder sej flitigt av audio generatorer, de har väl försökt att skapa ett mystiskt ljud, men allvarligt talat, vem fan orkar lyssna på det här?
Det här låter närmast som en korsning av fri-jazz-bandet Sun Ra, de flummigaste delarna av Hawkwind och den där reklamen med nån snubbe som sitter i ett badkar och trycker på en anka. I vissa stycken tror jag att det är ett gäng dagisbarn som fått tillgång till ett trumset, plus lite leksaker som de skramlar med. Hur som helst är jag inte helt hjärtlös, de är ju så pass orginella att de förtjänar ett plus i kanten.+
Recenserat av: Staffan
Betyg:
Staffan 1,5
Nisse 1
This second record from Magnasparagus is a bit more experimental than the previous one with the use of strange tronics mixed with their totally freaked out space noise.
"Ulysses molasses" starts with some strange short tracks ( just few seconds for some of them ) that seems to be some experimental interludes using droning tronics, distortion and cosmic noises ( "Overlord", " Dynamic steel cooperation " or "Below sea level" ). This kind of introduction is very astonishing but sticks very well to Magnasparagus' musical world. With these vibes, the band shows us another side of their normless personality. I think that longer tronic tracks could be a way that Magnasparagus should explore.
With "The fox eating a tire", we come back in a more well known soundscape using all the forces of Magnasparagus. A storm of free jazz noise is now surrounding your mind, with some outta space sounds. The next and last track "Counting to six" is the masterpiece of this album with its 30 minutes. It shows how Magnasparagus can be spacey, like a destroyed Subarachnoid space with an ethnic feeling on the drums. It's like a voyage into the cosmos, floating in a bubble to an unknown land. Sure you won't never come back. Let you take by these winds...
You always want to find a normless band with a device such as " We do what we really want " and that is always searching new ways to make experiments with sounds and noises in a total liberty : listen to Magnasparagus, i think you won't be dissapointed.
(Zoopaloop)
Magnasparagus - "Ulysses Molasses"
(Orange Entropy Records, OE 063)
From Aural Innovations #18 (January 2002)
The first 4 tracks of this 6-track album range in length from 18 seconds to just over a minute and a half and consist of random percussion, feedback, lo-fi bleeps, and noises that all scurry around each other searching for a song. The rest of the album is similar, but with track 5, The Fox Eating a Tire, clocking in at 5 ½ minutes, and the final track, Counting to Six running over the half hour mark, they give the band time to stretch out and try a few things. Well, in the case of Counting to Six, they try a lot of things. Lets just say this track definitely comes with extra noodles.
The Fox Eating a Tire sounds like a windstorm blowing through a cluttered garage, with some eerie, twisted guitar effects thrown into the mix. It almost morphs into a bit of a little jam number by the end, with psychedelic, bluesy overtones. And then comes the "epic" Counting to Six. Billy Corgan of the Smashing Pumpkins once took a whole bunch of little bits and pieces of unfinished studio songs from the Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness sessions and edited them together into one long piece. That's sort of what Counting to Six sounds like, except from a space rock launching point. We get loads of eerie, sci-fi movie sound effects, creepy electronic burps and bleeps, washes of lo-fi synths, crashing percussion, curious guitar and organ playing, toy trumpets, and some very Pink Floydian moments (the word "moments" is stressed here) reminiscent of that band's Umma Gumma period (especially the live version of Saucerful of Secrets).
I want to like this, I really do, but just as you start getting into it, it veers off on a totally different tangent from where it was going, which in the end, is a little frustrating. What it all ultimately amounts to is a band with a lot of intriguing ideas that could produce some great music with a little more focus. Admittedly, I haven't heard anything else by Magnasparagus (great band name, by the way!), but this work intrigued me enough to want to hear more.
Back To Magnasparagus
page designed and maintained by Orange Entropy Records
