MOOLAH

"Crystal Waters" ends with water sounds but the bulk of it is mellow electronics, piano and percussion. "Terror Is Real" opens with experimental sounds as theatrical spoken words join in spelling doom to his listeners. Percussion to the fore when the words stop. Electronics dominate to the end. "Courage" has this buzzing sound in atmosphere to start as stark piano lines come and go. It will then sort of plod along with piano over top. "The Hard Hit" has beats and atmosphere along with piano. A calm before 6 minutes with vocal sounds and atmosphere. "Mirror's" builds quickly and it's quite noisy. Not melodic at all. Twittering sounds 6 minutes in change it up some. "Redemption" is mostly piano and atmosphere. Some spacey winds too.

A pretty good little album but it's a rarity for a reason.

Recorded by 'never to be heard of again' reprobates Walter Burns and Maurice Robertson, they utilize backwards phasing and other morphing gadgets to make this recording one of a kind. 'Woe Ye Demons Possessed' is nearly entirely instrumental and full of massive echo and re- verb throughout without a single guitar in sight.

The production and recording itself isn't that good if played at loud volume. The bizarre and erratic nature of the song structures are, however - excellent if somewhat directionless. Moolah are another of those obscure bands whom the likes of 'Throbbing Gristle' and in particular 'Zoviet France' owe a debt. In particular the latter who virtually stole entire piano sections for 'Cirice' for their excellent album 'Eostre' from '84.

Having owned and heard this numerous times since 2006 I have to admit that it's a bit hit and miss. The quieter messed up and atmospheric piano parts are excellent. They reveal an entirely original sound, unlike anything I've heard before. The drums have a bit of a tinny quality which detracts however. Although when everything starts playing in reverse on 'Mirrors' I have a grin on my face like a Cheshire Cat.

A very unAmerican recording, out of time and out of place considering it was an entirely USA affair.

Filing the group under the Krautrock sub-label seems like a necessary compromise for such undefinable music, but it makes sense: the Moolah duo was exploring similar terrain, half a world away. What the album lacks is the same historical / cultural urgency that made Krautrock so essential in its own country and specific era: post-war Germany in the turbulent late 1960s. This album, in contrast, seems to have been created in a vacuum: all part of its enigmatic charm.

But what about the music itself? Here I defer to the accidental poetry of DamoXt7942's April 2012 review, which in its faulty syntax and imperfect grammar actually captures the elusive essence of Moolah better than a native English speaker ever could (his is currently the only rating here, written or otherwise). Evocative phrases like "cheap electronic earache" and "another dimensional nausea" are like fractal carrots dangled in front of a hungry Krauthead: it's hard to resist music described so vividly.

Even better is the band's own sales talk, on the back cover of the original vinyl: "A Cosmic Rock Relaxation Creation...to elevate sensory awareness to include the Aura of intuitive perception of higher realms of Human / Divine consciousness using the Astral Body Projection Experience Vehicle to pierce time / space / logic dimension barriers on the return voyage to The Ultimate Concept, - THE ORIGIN."

Clearly either a sly satirical statement was being made, or else a lot of serious drugs were available in Greenwich Village at the time.

Background information on the band is scarce, but I'm assuming the two-man team, identified in the LP sleeve notes only as Maurice the Archer and Walter the Lion (presumably in reference to their astrological signs) play keyboards and drums, respectively. The primary instrument is a cheap acoustic piano, cascading through the album opener "Crystal Waters" and filtered through an array of effects, with a ghostly shimmer of lo-fi electronics floating just overhead (imagine Harold Budd, adrift in deep space). The drumming meanwhile hardly resembles any traditional time-keeping, at one point recalling a heavy freight train rolling slowly over its switches. In the song "Mirror's" the rhythm section was appropriately reversed, adding yet another dimension of weirdness.

The whole eerie, otherworldly "paranormal concertwork" (again, in the band's own words) flows together like a single-six-part suite. But the back-to-back movements "Terror is Real" and "Courage" deserve special mention, if only for their complimentary titles, summing up the entire human condition in twelve trippy minutes.

The album will always be too obscure to earn more than three enthusiastic stars. But there's plenty here to discover for connoisseurs of musical esoterica.

Mysterious, creepy and cranky atmosphere around them indeed. Guess they could not have been appreciated so easily by rock freaks in those days. Perverse, sticky drumming like "Wall Of Sounds" with cheap electronic earache from the beginning of "Crystal Waters" reminds me another dimensional nausea. Such an infernal human shouts, inner psychedelic sound space, and some tribal percussive kicks upon a rough animal planet in the following "Terror Is Real" (that is really a terror-vision!) can let a sorrowful piano solo "Courage" quite peaceful one, which can encourage us in such a tough real world.

Another strategy of fantastic Krautrock representation should be "The Hard Hit" we may say uh? We can hear just pretty simple riff depths filled with hard drumming, inorganic piano punches, and unstable rhythm snakes all around, and feel glad to touch the hard hits, very tough to follow though. Can we say it be their masterpiece? This hardness may let us forget remarkable experiments (really Kraut-ish!) in "Mirror's", built with quirky electronic and dark voice / tape effects simply. Oh the pioneer of Acid Mothers Temple? Neat one. Their final product is the last unrefined mixture "Redemption". This final answer veiled with eccentricity squeezed here and there around itself cannot relieve nor relax your neck stiffness, let me say.

At any rate, this obscure creation can be considered as one of transcendental meditative Krautrock gems in mid 1970s, we Krautrock mania can say really.

P. S.: This project have been recommended by a Krautrock researcher Pierre (hellogoodbye) a while before ... thanks Pierre for your brilliant recommendation!