FÖLLAKZOID

Chile is my favourite South American country when it comes to adventerous music. I remember with fondness when I really delved into bands from this nation. And have you seen some of the scenery from this region, some of the most beautiful scenes in God's creation. FOLLAKZOID are a young 4 piece band who sort of stumbled into the style of music they now play. Having discovered Krautrock from the late sixties and early seventies it soon became their inspiration. The album cover recalls AMON DUUL II's debut somewhat and it is special. As much as I like this their debut from 2009 I understand the next two are even better, and I'm looking forward to hearing them both.

My favourite tracks of the five are the first two. "Sky Input I" opens with spacey synths before these motorik beats provide the backbone arriving a minute in. Such a trippy and contagious sound. Distant vocals pretty much repeat the same lines. They will come and go. A heavier sound after 3 1/2 minutes and when the vocals return they are more prominent. So good! Vocals stop again around 5 1/2 minutes and we get some distorted guitar here. Vocals are back and the tempo is faster until it calms right down after 7 minutes to end it.

"Sky Input II" is dark and trippy with picked guitar and a relaxed beat with bass. The guitar will become more aggressive and distorted as the sound becomes more powerful. This is much slower paced than the opener. It winds down late to end it. "El Humo" has some energy as drums and bass create an uptempo groove and guitar expressions arrive over top. Catchy stuff as the vocals join in. A heavy but melodic track with some excellent guitar.

"Loop" is another catchy tune with a heavy fuzzed out groove. Distant vocals join in as well. An experimental calm before 1 1/2 minutes then it kicks in again. Check it out at 2 1/2 minutes as the vocals step aside. Experimental with some unique guitar. Heavy and slow although some brief picked guitar 4 minutes in provides some light. It starts to wind down after 7 1/2 minutes but then kicks in again quickly to an uptempo groove with vocals.

"Directo Al Sol" opens with spacey sounds as loud drums beat and guitar expressions join in. Bass follows and I like the depth it provides. Heaviness just before 4 1/2 minutes and it's more uptempo with some almost extreme vocals surprisingly.

A modern take on Krautrock I suppose, very psychedelic regardless, and if your into these styles of music this is well worth checking out.