A NIGHT FOR BAKU

Back in 2004 before I discovered this site, AOL radio's progressive station was my main source for discovering new prog music. Djam Karet was my first. As almost always seems to be the case, when I discover new prog, the artist has already established a decent catalog of albums. I thought this was my first of their music I added to my collection only to discover to my surprise, I had some already on a Salvador Dali tribute CD, that's been in my collection since the early '90's.

I think these guys might be better known, but they don't really tour. They went out of state once for the Nearfest, but that may have been it, as far as I know. I really like their mix of synthesizers and guitars. The two front men are great at both instruments, although Gayle usually handles the keyboards.

"Devourers of evil dreams and nightmares, the Baku are spirits of the dream world."

The album kicks off with the fairly mellow Dream Portal. The album then moves into higher gear with Hungry Ghost, nice spooky synthesizer work, lots of musical changes in this nine-minute number. This is the first time I've listened to this album on headphones and I just noticed Chimera Moon's opening synths have a great 2D presence, also ends with weird voices ala My Life In The Bush of Ghosts. DK gets really heavy with Heads of Ni-Oh, nothing like a good prog instrumental that goes places. More spooky synth stuff in Scary Circus, before the guitars kick in. The Falafel King oddly enough has a cool Middle Eastern flavor to it. Sexy Beast is hard to describe, kind of laid back like Dream Portal. Ukab Maerd, ok, I'm pretty sure they made that up, though Djam Karet is an Indonesian term that means something like "elastic time" or "the hour that stretches". And the album wraps it up with The Red Thread. This isn't the first time they've channeled King Crimson stylistically, although many parts of the song are totally their own. It's the longest track on the album, and they really end A Night For Baku with a big bang.

I don't mind going out on limb a little and ranking this one as essential. It's still my favorite from their discography. If you're going to stretch out an hour with Djam Karet, this is a great place to start. Really cool CD booklet and case artwork, too!