KALUTALIKSUAK

I reviewed the debut by this Russian band which was released the year before in 2007 but recorded in 1992/93 as a trio. Here they are a four piece and they've taken this freight train down the Avant highway making this a difficult and powerful listen. Sure you can tell it's the same band but this is much longer at 78 minutes and much more challenging. I like how the guy from the R.A.I.G. label describes this as being Igor Stravinsky but in the rock format or SHUB NIGGURATH meets the ORESUND SPACE COLLECTIVE. Agree with it sounding somewhat like that amazing french band.

Darkness pervades the album not so surprisingly given the title which at first made me think it was an apocalyptic title but then doing some research realized it's an actual event every year in the far northern reaches of Russia and other countries around the Arctic Circle who experience a couple of months of no sun. I'm sure the last day of the sun is circled on the calendar along with the day it returns along with perhaps some sort of celebration or ceremony.

The core of the album is the five part "Sun Phases" at around 50 minutes as one piece blends into the next and it's sub-titled "Sailing Into The Sunset To A New Night". Headphone music all the way. It's kind of funny how we get some light and bouncy music to open and close such a serious sounding record but I know these guys have a sense of humour from their debut. It's powerful and avant after 2 minutes and the trip has started. Angular guitar and some spoken words throughout this recording often sounding like an old shaman or something that they are into. Atmosphere is all over this album in spades and like the BREGENT-DIONNE debut I just reviewed I'm simply blown away with the ideas and compositions. This is all over my head to say the least, I just sit back in wonder with both of these recordings. Clavinet on that final section along with an urgent rhythm section angular guitar and as usual lots of powerful sounds.

After the suite we still get three tracks worth just under half an hour of the same style of music, nothing changes just the titles of the songs. Man that bass can be ground shaking at times, I'm just so drawn to this music even if the actual enjoyment level is a little in the wanting department, I don't know how you can't be blown away by this record. I prefer the debut having said all this and I will put this cd in my Avant section where it belongs.

4.5 stars. This was released in 2007 but the music was recorded live in their rehearsal space in 1992 and 1993. There has been no post-production alterations, what you hear is what they were doing live at the time. A trio out of Russia this was released on the R.A.I.G. label like country-mates VESPERO. So a bass/guitar/keyboard setup with electronics in spades. It reminded me of some of the "Ohms" album by TREES SPEAK where the beats are upfront and heavy at times plus the abundance of electronics. The similarities end there as these Russians are much more experimental. In fact their next album "Last Day Of Sun" I will put in my Avant section while this will go in my Psychedelic area. I prefer this one of the two I own. The clavinet is awesome on here, I'm such a fan of that sound plus we get piano at times but mostly a bass, beat base with guitar over top. Just some really inventive stuff happening here, they're always keeping it interesting over the 53 minutes. Some humour in the song titles and while we get some vocals this is almost all instrumental.

The most normal(haha) sounding track is the longest at 15 1/2 minutes and the closer "Put This Suckling Into Her Hood". It's more mellow and spacey, very drifting at times. The bass, light beats and guitar lead the way in this trippy soundscape. "Crow-Quill Clothing" is where the piano is featured along with experimental sounds and noises. Some nasty stuff here and I love it. Check out the guitar expressions too, so good. The opener is a favourite with those industrial sounding electronics along with heavy synths. Nasty and powerful and some beats just before 2 minutes as it starts to move and the heavy duty electronics step aside. Bass and beats as the synths blow over top then the guitar arrives just before 5 minutes with some interesting things the rest of the way. I'm really into the relentless beats and bass on this one.

More of that on "While He Sits In Ice Cracking A Whip Around" but also clavinet and it sounds amazing! Catchy and dark. Spacey synths take over as the heavy rhythm continues. Some vocal samples and insane guitar expressions. Love those spacey synths. "What Are Your Feet Eating?" is followed by "They Usually Eat Humans". The former is more relaxed and we get actual vocals here. I really like how spacey and mellow this is. Guitar replaces the vocals. The latter has this powerful atmosphere to start with beats and experimental sounds. Some creepy spoken words at one point like a soundtrack to a horror flick this one.

Man I'm so into this album and how it sounds. They will add a drummer for the next one but also create more challenging music in the process. This is for fans of dark, electronic, soundtrack styled music for the most part with a fair amount of psychedelia too. Highly recommended.

Oh! - this sound flows through my body like heavy dope. And drugs are dangerous - you know that? Don't try to listen when you are in a bad mood. In that case this music will knock somebody down for sure. Otherwise - when you are up to scratch and feel the necessity to hug the whole world this can carry you to a new dimension.

'Last Day Of Sun' is the second effort of a Moscow based band with an almost unspeakable name KALUTALIKSUAK. The album title points to the fact that in some russian territory the sun is remaining below the horizon for nearly 2 months in winter. This is taking effect on the people's mood where Shamanism and native rituals still have a special meaning.

Is it one entire freakout jam what I'm listening to? Or composed with well thought out ideas? Onlythe band members know the truth. I tend to the latter. Krautrock and psych/space fans watch out! This is hot hallucinatory stuff predominantly - but not familiar as you might expect because provided with a strong avantgarde approach. They don't stay and float in the orbit - it's a permanant up and down - you can't figure out the direction. Starting from a psychedelic fundament they are adding ambient and free jazz similar parts with roving guitars and keyboards presented by the two core members Vladimir Konovkin and Alexander Chuvakov.

You will detect native russian elements, flute, exceptional vocals with a Shamanic background I assume - walls of crashing instruments too sometimes. All this is alternating, swirling around, gripping, perplexing - I don't think according to the random principle. It's not chaotic - an experimental symphony though so to say - only the popular understanding of what melodic means takes a backseat here - or is simply assigned with a new sense. Astonishing!

Recommended to open-minded music listeners who are interested in exploring new (foreign) territories. As for my personal sentiment - it has left me quite nervous once before when I listened to the whole album at a single blow. As no other it depends on your mood how you are digesting this sort of music. Probably not surprising for the band - they know what they are doing, KALUTALIKSUAK define new boundaries, celebrating an atmosphere which is absolutely unique. Not everyone's cup of tea and as for all avantgarde stuff it grows I'm sure. 'Last Day Of Sun' gets an additional star from me because I never came across something like that before ...

In some sense, there is a good reason to label KALUTULIKSUAK as Psychedelic/Space Rock band considering that their first official, self-titled CD-release featured a sort of proto-space-rock (with programmed beats, swirling textured keyboards, swishing phased guitars, and groovy bass). Those obscure songs were recorded in 1992-1993 at rehearsals. Simultaneously, they also recorded very different and much more focused avant-rock songs (as GB) which you can download and taste from www.raig.ru/AT_kalutaliksuak.asp.

And here comes a new album "Last Day of Sun" recorded in 2008. Space-Rock? Psychedelic? In the sense of HAWKWIND or OZRIC TENTACLES music it is not. But if you take, for example, French SHUB- NIGGURATH, blend it with Danish-Swedish ORESUND SPACE COLLECTIVE, and add authentic Siberian Shamanic chanting (sang on self-invented language), you would get a picture of how KALUTALIKSUAK sounds this time. This is an associative description for "rock" generation. Though, if your musical interests spread to classical academic music, the better description would be "an adaptation of Igor Stravinsky, Dmitry Shostakovich, or Alfred Schnittke's music to the format of rock-quartet".

Yes, it's very uneasy listening. Yes, it might sound too chaotic and confused (like certain works of aforementioned academic composers). But it's very concentrated and loaded performance, which sometimes even lacks in this free-loose spirit of psychedelic jamming.

Psychedelic and spacey, eerie and quirky - such is the atmosphere in a land without sun; such is the mood prevalent in Kalutaliksuak's album, Last Day Of Sun, depicting this very phenomenon of two day-less months in northern regions of the globe. At times sounding like a long jam played over a pre-conceived theme, the long title track, divided into five parts, is an engulfing sonic voyage through weird and ominous soundscapes. It is not, however, developed into too high a plane as I would have liked it. Once it reaches its top levels it seems to linger there, though it does go wild, as the guitar and bass seem to be all over the place with their seemingly-aimless playing and the keyboards providing a "sheet" of smooth sound, serving as the quiet support for the rest of the instruments. But it feels more like a jam/improvisation session than a fully explorative and fully developed composition. Not that I dislike it, but then I would be more excited about it. As such it does provide a nice "freak-out" psych aural adventure which is best suited for late night listening and in the proper "wanting to get away" mood. The peaks the music gets to during the five parts are well done and would go well in any krautrock/space/psych-theme listening night. The sporadic use of vocals and flute serves to reinforce the mystical element of the music and the peculiar and even creepy nature of this piece, befitting the name of the band and its meaning ("a malicious ice-deity in Esquimaux mythology"). This title track, altogether clocking at around 50 minutes delivers very well the feeling of being stranded without a sun for a couple of months; the constant dark, the feeling of being "abandoned" in the cold northern winter; the yearning for the light to come back to the world. It is a powerful experience, fierce and trippy. The other 3 tracks on the album are not any different than what came before. Continuing the spacey and psychedelic journey, surrounded by a wall of sounds, they provide the same rather slow and grim style of before. Not only is the rhythm mostly slow or moderate, but the development of the music is done leisurely as well most of the time. The second track "She Who Knows" is a good example of this. If you're up for a freak-out session, if you're tired and need a good portion of psych-rock to gain back your strengths or if you're just the kind of person who likes the sorts of vibes the music I described above gives you, then you should check it out. As for me, I like it quite a lot, but I wish that in their future release they'll opt for a more focused and less jam-y style.