ZodiacsGone
(2007, Holy Mountain)
8.0/10
Instrumental rock music can be quite a drag sometimes. The prospect of songs whose minutes span into the double digits that features only rock based instrumentation (guitar, bass and drums) can be a dauntingly at the least. The structured, crescendo filled bands usually keep my attention the longest but their formula as been depressingly overplayed in the instrumental post rock world. It is with rarity that the improvisational side of such strikes anything more than apathetic boredom. This is why I was so surprised with Zodiacs! Eschewing the crescendos and going straight for the jugular, Zodiacs have created a series of four scorching psych skronk freak outs bent on improvisation. The idea of the album makes me think that I could be fully understanding of what they have dished up with a 30 second sample from Amazon, but on Gone, Zodiacs have proved me feebly wrong. Sharing members with Hush Arbors, Sunburned Hand of the Man and Wooden Wand and the Vanishing Voice, Zodiacs sound is inspired from the guitar solos of Zepplin and Hendrix combined with the avant-garde leanings of bands like Lightning Bolt and the previously reviewed Comets On Fire. The delicious recordings are mind-blowing in the most positive way and somehow are not laboring to listen to. Gone is noisy psychedelia sent down from the gods of rock.
-Mr. Thistle
Zodiacs - "Road Star Blues"
1 comment:
I found out about Zodiac via the George Brigman station on Pandora. Brigman's album "I Can Hear The Ants Dancing" , which is mostly instrumental, is another reference point for what this group is doing.
Post a Comment