IN THE ACRUX OF THE UPSILON KING

UPSILON ACRUX was one of the early bands that now falls under the modern tag of brutal prog following in the footsteps of early Japanese noisemakers like Ruins and Bondage Fruit as well as with American noisemakers such as The Flying Luttenbachers and Cheer-Accident. This band got its start in Vista, CA just north of San Diego before ultimately moving to Los Angeles and first appeared on the 1998 compilation "Trumerflora 2." While reduced to a trio later on, at this stage the band consisted of Paul Lai (guitars, Moog), Cameron Presley (guitars), Muir Tennerstet (bass, Moog) and Jesse Klecker (drums, percussion).

These ambitious lads wasted no time conjuring up an album's worth of jittery brutal prog that took jagged math rock rhythms that spiraled out into avant-prog angularities and added touches of avant-garde jazz and noise rock as well as electronica. IN THE ACRUX OF THE UPSILON KING debuted in 1999 and showed a band that was hell bent in crafting a very strange mix of sounds that sounded like no other and i must say that these guys succeeded in that endeavor. While starting out with guitar heavy math rock fortified by noisy distortion and King Crimson jazz sensibilities, the album finds its way into bizarre industrial Krautrock sounding electronic soundscapes such as on tracks like "Modulation 1" with pulsating bloops and bleeps accompanied by subtle jazzy backgrounds.

With a mission to expand beyond expectations and blow down any barriers that remain somehow UPSILON ACRUX transcended their original tribute endeavors to King Crimson and became a bizarre union of KC, Frank Zappa and the noisy math rock band Gore. Focusing on rhythmic textures and bizarre atmospheric counterpoints, the focus is less on melodic constructs but rather processions of sound that evolve much in the way of 70s German bands involved in both the world of Krautrock as well as Klaus Schulze infused progressive electronic only UPSILON ACRUX utilizes guitar and bass sounds that design bizarre freakouts while lavish atmospheric cloud covers drift by.

"Ornette On Cactus" seems to channel the avant-jazz of John Zorn with brutal math rock time signature jitteriness and Mr Bungle A.D.D. This noisy track maintains a nice hard bop bass line but the guitar and drums flail around like loose electric wires dropped into a swimming pool as if Godzilla has ripped down the power station and dragged it into the sea. A veritable tribute to Ornette Coleman for sure, this track channels his inner insane asylum escapee and puts it on steroids however the track shifts gears and drifts into Luttenbacher turf. "Kayak Is A Stupor" follows suit with the jazzy horn sounds by guest musician Glenn Galaxy of Truman's Water. There are also reed sounds to be heard on this album by both Lai and Presley that occasionally flare up.

After the freaky electronic "Modulation 2" and the jittery avant-prog math rock of "The Most Unspectacular Pirate Show," the album ends with the extraordinary lengthy closer "Farbenkland Seven" which at over 22 minutes in length constitutes one of those "Now That's REAL Prog" moments! Despite the lengthy time this one is like a mutating virus that ratchets up really slow and incrementally over a lengthy time span and is more like a math rock version of zeuhl as the bubbly jagged rhythms slowly gain in tempo adding on new features especially in the Moog department. It begins hypnotically but towards the end becomes quite agitating and aggressive but a perfect way to end this bizarre album.

UPSILON ACRUX crafted a very unique sound on this debut IN THE ACRUX OF THE UPSILON KING. While the album is rooted in King Crimson dissonance from the "Red" era and accented with brutal math rock time signatures, the steady hypnotic rhythms soften the relentless blows as the lengthy rhythmic drives percolate into the consciousness and only ratchet up slowly and predictable for the most part with only a few unexpected turns. This is the perfect kind of prog that is simultaneously relaxing and exhilarating, a rare tightrope act indeed. The brilliance of this album is that it mixes things up just enough to keep things humming along and the jazzy touches are nice without being intrusive. A great balanced example of a brutal prog album for sure.