Love, Peace & Poetry: Turkish Psychedelic Music (2005)

Love, Peace & Poetry: Turkish Psychedelic Music (2005)

I didn't really notice how criminally absent Turkish music was from my collection until I heard this album; or how little I knew about Turkey as a country; about its history and its people. With the ninth installment of the Love, Peace, and Poetry compilation, which explores obscure world psychedelic music, Normal Records and QDK Media have opened my eyes. Does that mean that, thanks to this compilation, I can now give you a detailed synopsis on Turkish history, pop culture, and current events? Nope, but I can damn sure assume that their musicians in the 70's must've had some pretty potent drugs at their disposal.

Though the album is subtitled Turkish Psychedelic Music, the songs on here can more accurately be described as Anatolian rock, which was the name given to music that fused traditional Turkish folk with Western-style rock. Despite following in the footsteps of popular American and British psych bands, the songs on this compilation, with its infusion of traditional Eastern instruments, is actually more deeply representative of what most people today would classify as true psych rock. It's hard to argue this when listening to songs like "Yağmur" by Erkin Koray -- an artist that the liner notes calls "the most psychedelic rocker ever from Turkey" -- or the lead-off track "Bundan Sonra" by Selda, who contributes to two songs to the compilation. Her other song, "Ince Ince Bir Kar Yagar", is my favorite track on the album. It's a traditional türkü arrangement with strong political lyrics that I don't understand a word of, but the emotion of her often harsh delivery easily gives away the songs' urgent and deeply personal tone, which somehow allows me to look past the grating quality of the vocals.

Overall, this Love, Peace and Poetry collection should appeal to any fan of psychedelic music. It's a collection of music so strong that it's singlehandedly sparked my interest in the culture from which it came. Another demonstration of the power of music, I guess.


Score: 8.5/10


"Kara Yazi"


"Ince Ince Bir Kar Yagar"

The Watts Prophets - Things Gonna Get Greater (2005)

The Watts Prophets
Things Gonna Get Greater (2005)

It doesn't matter if you agree with the politics of the Watts Prophets. It really doesn't. Partly because they probably wouldn't care what you think, and mostly because nitpicking their politics is missing the point entirely. I could go on for days about the sense of paranoia or the contradictions of what they discuss (by their definition, the only truly black people on earth can be narrowed down to themselves and Malcolm X, and even adding themselves to the list raises some doubt in their minds). I could sit here and be offended about the fact that they have nothing good to say about me, my college education, my support of birth control, my natural hair, or especially my white wife, but I realize that none of that matters here.

Things Gonna Get Greater is a compilation of the Watts Prophets' first two albums: 1969's On the Street in Watts, and 1971's Rappin' Black in a White World. Both albums are excellent (for the record: I slightly favor the ladder, though the former seems to get more praise). Together they are almost overwhelming. Often complimented with a light backing of jazzy bass, bongos and trumpet grooves (with some piano and a Capella melodies), the Prophets deliver poems filled with emotion and frustration of the world around them; perfectly encapsulating the anger that must have existed in the time period leading up to, during, and following the Watts Riots of 1965. Regardless of the conclusions they've drawn, their anger is justified. It is as real as the poverty and brutality faced by the black community in 1960's Watts, and it makes for one of the most intense listening experiences of my life.

This is not just an album, it's a historical statement. It should be required listening to black history departments in liberal arts colleges nationwide. It does not matter if you agree with all of it. I don't agree with much of it. But taking offense to it isn't constructive because it clouds the very real frustration from which this was born. Enjoying this album is not an endorsement of everything the Watts Prophets stand for, it's simply evidence that you still have the ability to appreciate a work of art when presented with one.


Score: 10/10


"Dem Niggers Ain't Playing"


"Part-E, S"


"Black Pussy"

Nadja - Truth Becomes Death (2005)

Nadja - Truth Becomes Death (2005)

Screw it. I'm just going to try stream-of-consciousness writing for this one. The truth is that I've had this for a while but have been unable to find the words necessary to review it. I guess the easy way to do it would be to just say what I think about it. Well, it's awesome, like one of the best albums I've heard this year kind of awesome. And I suppose that's all that really needs to be said. The point of any review is basically to express how you feel about the album and why the reader should care. I've already taken care of the first part.

The second part I've already screwed up by admitting that I can't find the words for it. I've just outright admitted that I'm not a person who capable of reviewing this album, so there's no reason for the reader to stick around. But assuming that one does, I'll keep going.

Truth Becomes Death is one of those albums that makes you understand the potential of a genre. Drone doom metal had been around in some form for years before this album came around. Earth and Sunn O))) aren't exactly small names in the metal world. Neither is Justin Broadrick, who has made the sound a little more accessible with his Jesu project. But when I was getting my feet wet with the genre, it was hard to find the album that made me care about it; that made me see it as more than white noise. Truth Becomes Death is that album, for me. Just like Lightning Bolt's Hypermagic Mountain helped me see what can be made from noise rock, Truth Becomes Death has helped me understand what drone doom metal, in all it's heavy, suffocating glory, is capable of.

So if there's one thing to take out of that paragraph, it's that anyone interested in exploring drone doom would be doing themselves a favor by making this one of the first albums they check out. It's pretty much a modern classic.


Score: 9.5/10


"Bug/Golem"

The King Khan & BBQ Show - The King Khan & BBQ Show (2005)

The King Khan & BBQ Show - The King Khan & BBQ Show (2005)

During the whole garage rock revival era of the early twenty aughts, many elitists purists scoffed at the labeling of bands like The Strokes or The Vines as garage rock. Having not known jack shit about garage rock, I was not one of those purists. But when listening to this album, it's easy to understand the music nerd outrage. Though they would technically be thrown into the garage rock revival crowd with the rest of the The bands, The King Khan & BBQ Show stay much more true to the original idea of garage rock. Or should I say, seeing as I'm no aficionado, they stay much more true to what my idea of what the original idea of garage rock is. That being: lo-fi, terrible sounding production (as if it were actually recorded in a garage), washed-out guitars, raspy vocals, yet still somehow completely awesome.

And there is much awesomeness indeed. "Waddlin' Around" sounds so much like a hit rock song from the 50's that I'd think that was when it was recorded if I didn't know better. It more than just rocks, it's got soul, like old-school rhythm and blues-style soul. Setting the mood emphatically, King Khan maintain the quality for the entire album, from the surf rock riffage of "Fishfight" or "Bimbo's Theme" to the crooning of "Love You So" or balladry of "Am I The One" or the dancy "Shake Real Low". These songs are so damned old school-sounding you can almost smell McCarthyism in the air when listening to them.

One of the few albums I've heard that benefits from poor production, The King Khan & BBQ Show is pretty much an all killer affair that probably would've suffered slightly (songwriting ability should be taken into account, of course) had they been afforded the cleaner, major label production of their peers. Funny how that works out.


Score: 8.5/10


"Waddlin' Around"


"Love You So"

Capricorns - Ruder Forms Survive (2005)

Capricorns - Ruder Forms Survive (2005)

Who out there doesn't enjoy a pleasant, unexpected surprise? No one? LIARS! Well I certainly do, and while listening to Ruder Forms Survive, I got one. I was really digging this record until the third song came on. The first two tracks had established Capricorns' brand of instrumental sludgy post-rock rather powerfully, and I was happily anticipating an album full of more of the same. Then, on "The First Broken Promise", on an album that I believed to be completely instrumental, a familiar voice appears out of the darkness. It's Eugene Robinson.

See, Eugene Robinson is an artist and vocalist that I've made no secret that I quite admire, therefore I'm obviously a huge fan of his band, Oxbow, and pretty much anything that he touches (artistically, that is). So having his unique vocal stylings show up completely unexpectedly on an album that I randomly purchased used was kind of like running into a good friend in a place that you least expected but right where you needed him.

Given my admiration for Robinson, it shouldn't be surprising that this my favorite song on Ruder Forms Survive, but Capricorns aren't exactly slouches without him. As I said, the first two songs, as well as the following four, hit hard, and are excellent works of groovy, sludgy post-rock. Reminds me a little bit of Pelican's old stuff, back when they had balls.


Score: 8/10


"The First Broken Promise (featuring Eugene Robinson)"


"1440: Exit Wargasmatron"

Circulus - The Lick On The Tip Of An Envelope Yet To Be Sent (2005)

Circulus - The Lick On The Tip Of An Envelope Yet To Be Sent (2005)

It's embarrassingly easy to dismiss Circulus as a joke when you first hear them. In fact, throughout my first listen to this album, I thought of a number of snarky lines I could use to begin this review, including, but certainly not limited to:

• "Imagine a bunch of LARPer's got together and decided to record a theme song for themselves but accidentally started a band in the process..."

• "Imagine a group of people were eating at Denny's after the Renaissance Fair and thought to themselves: "There aren't enough flute-based bands out there. We should do something about that"..."

• "You know that group of D & D nerds that you went to high school with? Welp, here's what they've been up to lately..."
  

Then something interesting happens: you start to notice that they're actually good, and it throws a kink in that hilarious review you had in mind that had all but written itself before the album had even ended. The same song that made you laugh when it first started catches your attention later when you realize how beautifully arranged it is. Then you notice that the guitar solo on the next song is excellent. And then another song comes on later that sounds like it came straight out of a 1960's greatest hits collection. Then you start to silently curse Circulus for making themselves so difficult to pin down. It's as if they've come up to you personally, held up a middle finger and said "We care not for thou witty hyperboles, foul miscreant. Be gone." Except you don't get mad and instead start thinking that maybe you really are a foul miscreant. It's all very epiphanous, actually.

Seeing as this is a psychedelic freak-folk album, it would be easy for me to compare The Lick to Comus' eponymous 1971 album, First Utterance. Thankfully, I've never been known for my Puritan work ethic, so that's exactly what I'm going to do. All of the elements are there: the medieval atmosphere. The male/female vocal arrangements. The weird lyrical allegories. Cynics could probably argue that the only significant difference between the two albums is 34 years. With closer inspection, however, it's clear that Circulus is more than just a tribute band. They carve their own niche and have their own sound that, while similar to Comus, is all their own. Which is hard to do in such an obscure genre.

There's a lyric on the song "We Are Long Lost " that says "If we don't believe in fantasy, we are lost". Judging by the general weirdness of this album, along with the pictures in the booklet that show, among other images, the band jollily skipping along an open field in Renaissance outfits, I'd be surprised if this lyric were not directed at Circulus themselves. I couldn't imagine the members of this band existing comfortably in a modern Western world, but as long as they're giving us music like this while trapped in the fantasy world they've created, I'm not going to hate on how they choose to carry out their lives......the friggin' weirdos.


Score: 8/10

"My Body Is Made Of Sunlight"


"Swallow"