YURT

This big rock n roll world always had those weirdos that play music with their middle fingers raised against the industry, without impressive photo shootings and expensive videos, with no sponsored ads or fancy tours. Those weird musicians that don't think in the obvious way, they don't play music in the obvious way, they don't even communicate with others in the obvious ways and that certainly they don't behave as they possess some kind of artistic authority. If you feel attracted by bands of such profile, keep reading.

After my relocation in Ireland 15 months ago, it took me only some hours of research to realise that progressive rock is not particularly strong here, to put it mildly. At first, this came as a surprise but after spending some months observing the endless green of the land and the endless grey of the skies, it made sense that music follows the same patterns. The wild Irish landscape seems like leaving you the option of two different wide paths, that of lyrical folk storytelling or that of heavy, heavy and gloomy music, especially if guitars are being used. Well, Yurt use them and I can assure you, there is nothing eerie or dreamy within their dusty, psychedelic world.

The band was formed back in 2006 and IV: The Obstacle is everything is the fourth step of a route that seems to be very consistent since day one. The fact that they chose to be part of a sophisticated rock genre, prog/psych in their case, doesn't reduce anything from their primitive and almost mockingly noise-making music. Few seconds of their music are enough to realise that Yurt are genuine descendants of the long Hawkwind tradition: Heavy space sound, super lengthy compositions, otherworldly effects and electronics, abstract atmospheres. Nevertheless, spending time with their music will eventually make the listener focus on the elements that make them differentiate.

Riffs. To be precise, extremely rough edged riffs of ultra-heaviness that resemble mid '80s underground metal or even proto-doom bands. If it wasn't for those improvisational parts where guitars step back to create empty spaces for the electronic textures, it would probably be fair to regard Yurt as proper metal.

Their tempo. Despite the fact that this album includes 5 tracks of 53 minutes of total running time, there are only few pauses, melodic or slow parts. On the contrary, the uncontrollable and unstoppable rhythm section keeps time to hyper-energetic fast tempos, guitars constantly trip from heavy to experimental parts and the really weird vocals, where they appear, always remind a very twisted version of ''Astronomy Domine''.

Compositional style. If one combines all these details, he/she may realise that Yurt actually sound and behave as a kraut rock band. Their compositions never look back, never move in circles but always keep adding things up. It is quite impressive that they never get boring though, as the album progresses it becomes growingly addictive instead, to the final point where the music and the listener are somehow perfectly synchronised in a cosmos ruled by strange laws.

The dominating thought in my mind is that Yurt's music is ultimately a product of instinct and not of intellectuality. Everything here remains intensively stretched, under a "there is no tomorrow" philosophy that dictates music to be annoying and highly entertaining at the same time. Yurt achieve this easily with their noisy experimentations and their eccentricity.

Yurt won't change the progressive world, still they are one of these bands that you are delighted to meet, get to know and write some words about. Boz Mugabe, Steven Anderson and Andrew Bushe are three true gents that keep themselves away from syndromes of false fame and political correctness, three guys that have nothing to lose and eventually have a great time. We raise our voices with them, that sweet is the taste of obscurity, especially when it is not a matter of luck but a choice.

Somewhere between 3.5 and 4 stars.

Originally written for againstthesilence.com

"III - Molluskkepokk" comes across for me at least as a more metal-oriented variety of Hawkwind style music, a tad simpler in approach and execution and with an obviously harder drive and edge. To my mind a band that sounds best when they are closer rather than further away from Hawkwind-sounding territories, and where the vocals for me becomes a slightly detrimental element. Hawkwind fans with a taste for metal and metal fans with a taste for Hawkwind appears to me to be the prime candidates to check this one out.