HASH JAR TEMPO

Bardo Pond members are collaborating with experimental guitarist Roy Montgomery from Christchurch/New Zealand here. The band name is derived from German krautrockers Ash Ra Tempel with Manuel Göttsching aboard, still a genre inspiring top musician. And no wonder, at least three electric guitars are interacting on this 6 improv songs which represent a blend of relaxed post and space rock coupled with a strong drone factor. This is dedicated to special moments - definitely not for the depressive ones. Hence somebody needs to be in a tempered mood ...and then this album may develop to something challenging.

It has been more than a temporary flirt, 'Under Glass' is their second effort from 1999 anyhow. The songs are made of a simplistic repetitive nature and live from the multiple guitar variations. The meandering Präludium und Fuge - D-Moll picks the listener up for an hypnotic excursion to a no-man's land ... or maybe even to foreign galaxies. An echo respectively feedback festival basically, however not plain fuss, the drones are put with sentiment and suspense. The following Labiomancy then points to the weird, less accessible album sections - sounds noisy, like they were on cold turkey at that time.

The relaxed Hymenoptera In Amber Crybab shows a collection of wonderful melancholic moments, crying and imploring guitars, 100% pure space rock according to my taste, the drone factor takes a backseat. So much emotion implemented - I love this one. Guitar walls all over, they are tenacious for sure. Isobel Sollenberg is credited too, but I could detect her only for a short episode. Could not make friends with every track - genre fans who are keen on weird experimental stuff though will put a higher rating probably - 3.5 stars really for this interesting effort.

This album is a result of a one day jam session, containing guitar dominated free playing from the dopey rock band's rehearsal room. I'm quite keen on improvisations, but this stuff wasn't the most innovative, adventurous or interesting I have heard. The tracks varying in length from few to eighteen minutes (bit over ten minutes being average) are built up from very simple passages, and there aren't many risks taken in the improvisations. Minimalistic repetitive music can be fun to listen, but then the sound aesthetics should be more pleasant, and there could be some subtle developing progressions or interesting polyrhythmic included. Here these elements weren't sadly much present, the atmospherics of the album also remaining distant, non-welcoming. Some tracks, for example the second song, are also clearly edited by fading in from their start, which probably didn't go very well. The dominance of three electric guitars build up also a bit dull sound wall for my taste, and some keyboards or acoustic instruments would have been a nice addition. But though all of these negative aspects, this is still a nice record to listen, and probably if the stylistic characteristics fit your tastes better than mine, you may appreciate this album more. All of the tracks have been left unnamed, interestingly underlining the spontaneous and abstract qualities of the music, but then with the dope-related name selections the musicians possibly direct their stuff towards a certain marginal group of listeners, or maybe it's instead a wonderful merchandising act.