Saturnia - "Muzak"
"L'imagination est la seule arme dans la guerre contre la realite."
For those of us who have not fully embraced the French language, this quote by the French philosopher Jules de Gaultier translates into, "Imagination is the one weapon in the war against reality." A very fitting quote when realizing the imagination involved on this disk.
To be frank, upon first listen I thought that this is not heavy enough for Monolith. Upon second listen I thought that this is great music so heaviness can go for a ride once there so much psychedelia concentrated in a single CD. Then i kept on listening. Many times. Nevertheless, be forewarned, there is not even a single heavy guitar riff in it. Its all about the travel.
On first track, Mindarama, Pink Floyd of Umagumma era comes to mind almost immediately, and especially Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun. The similarities are so obvious that it gets a bit funny. And even the singer sounds like David Gilmour.. Alot! But as a matter of fact, this only adds to the overall experience. If you're a Floyd lover that is. The spirit of Pink Floyd and Hawkwind is alive and kicking throughout this whole thing. Second track, Organza, features Nik Turner (of Hawkwind fame of course) and its probably the best song of the record. But what the heck, there is no need to make such a comment, all track are great. A great psychedelic jamming based upon a wonderful platform of sounds and the echo of the voice being just excellent. Drink Into Forgetfulness. By the way, the production is top notch from start to end. Kite follows, its actually a psych pop (oh, yes!) composition, containing repetitive la la la's and a slide guitar that brings tears to the eye. And after that ,its time for hammond, keys and psychedelic bzzzz ntrrr ntounounoun once again. Drummin a-la Can's Vitamin C into the lead. Just perfect for the tokers.. Roll one up! Did i say that Organza is the best track? I changed my mind, that is Aqua. Thank you people for this. Mindblowing. Living in the 70's is nice!
Talkin about music is like talking about food, what are the words to define a specific taste, tastes like mayonnaise or chicken, anyway this tastes like LSD. And in words of the late hero Bill Hicks, if you thing that drugs are bad, go home and burn all your records. Cause most of the musicians were reaaaally high on drugs when performing there music. Yeah well you get the meaning, it continues exactly like this till the last note, the last track maybe my favourite!!!. It features Daevid Allen on the vocals (www.daevidallen.net) of the beatnik generation and Soft Machine/Gong fame!
I'm telling you this is great, pizza just arrived, see you around!
Monolith 02/2007
