ONDA

Some of the most extraordinarily different prog rock that I've heard since I first heard Yoshimi P-W's OOIOO. This is Post Rock from Korea with its musicians proudly integrating the traditional instruments of their homeland with those of the rock'n'roll world.

1. "Sawtooth" (7:39) powerful Post Rock that opens with traditional Korean instruments, wind and stringed. These are joined, eventually, in the third minute, by drums and electric instruments from the more familiar realms of rock'n'roll, providing not one but two very impressive rise and falls over the course of the remaining five minutes. Despite this addition of full drum kit, electric bass, and aggressive electric guitar, it is the Korean instruments that remain the attention-grabbers, expressing very powerful emotions. Dynamic and refreshing Post Rock. A top three song. (14/15)

2. "Square Wave" (5:05) rock and traditional instruments are mixed from the start of this one as is the gorgeous, powerful DAM KAT-like voice of Bo-mi Kim. This is so good! Smooth chorus section at the end of the second minute and then a quiet, spacious, section, latent with potential energy, that is followed by an even more powerful instrumental section in the third and fourth minutes before the final crescendo of sound and ending verse in the final minute. The interplay of the electric rock instruments with the Korean acoustics is incredible! Awesome song! Definitely a top three for me. (9.5/10)

3. "사상의 지평선 (Event Horizon)" (3:55) opens in fifth gear with everybody strumming, beating, and screeching at their fastest and then, equally as suddenly, at the 1:00 mark, everything cuts out save for a bowed berimbau-like haegeum and hand drum/hand percussion. By the end of the second minute vocalist Eun-yong Sim (or Bo-mi Kim) is adding her voice to the weave until 2:41 when the electric contingent rejoins and it plays out like a Death Metal song. (8.75/10)

4. "검은 빛은 붉은 빛으로 (Sun. Tears. Red.)" (5:51) single note played syncopatedly from an electric guitar- or bass-like instrument opens this song before being joined by a choir of voices singing quietly in an almost prayer-like chant- kind of way. Amazing! At 1:35 all hell breaks loose as a heavy LEPROUS-like sound breaks out with vocal and Korean instrumental screeches over the top. Just before the two minute mark, this cuts out and a percussion-supported multi-voice, polylyric, polyrhythm section ensues. Wow! In the fourth minute the heavy walls of sound return for a bit but it is then broken up by alternating quick passages of multi-voice shouting and chanting (and intentionally not in unison). In the fifth minute the music steadies itself, not quite as heavy, as Korean violin solos, but then just before the 5:00 mark, the soundscape thickens and weighs down as a male voice screams his lyrics in two-syllable bursts to the end. Wow! I'm not sure how to judge this one! Unlike anything I've ever heard before! Amazing! Another top three song! (9.5/10)

5. "나무의 대화 (In the Woods)" (13:16) opens like a HYPNO5E song with delicate, spacious, almost folk instrumental inputs from all musicians. Even into the meat of the song, at the 3:30 mark, as Il-woo's saenghwang takes center stage and then gets replicated with several other tracks, the music still feels totally folk-traditional. Wild vocals enter in the sixth minute and then oboes. Drums and bass slowly climb in during the second half of the seventh minute, but then there is a calming break in which the saenghwang leads over haegeum, geomungo, and electric bass. Electric guitar joins in the eighth minute just before the pace and density ramps up. This is definitely Post Rock! At the ten minute mark heavily distorted electric guitars and bass begin providing typhoon-like wind noises as the drummer really starts to go crazy. "ooo" vocals repeat a melody from here to end. Nice song with a stunning beginning five minutes that becomes a little long and drawn out. (21.75/25)

6. "작은 위로가 있는 곳에 (Small Consolation)" (5:18) a single note from an oddly tuned electric guitar signals the start of Ilwoo Lee's almost-whispered voice. Over and over this occurs, like a Tibetan prayer cycle, until at 1:15 Bo-mi Kim's haegeum and Eun-yong Sim's geomungo begin to add their sounds behind and round the guitar and vocal/chanter. At 2:25 the full electric band comes crashing in with heavily strumming guitar, bass, and flailing cymbals and pulsing drums. The Korean strings continue their screechy soloing over and within until things go even fuller-dark at the end of the fourth minute. Then, suddenly, at 4:23, everything stops except for the original three plucked/bowed instruments, which then slowly fizzle and exit. (9/10)

7. "그대가 지내온 아픔들이 빛나는 축복의 별이 되어 (ONDA Prelude)" (2:18) drone of a single sustained electric bass note opens while traditional Korean mouth organ (saenghwang) plays a dirge-like tune over the top. Amazing instrument the way it can project two controlled notes at one time! (5/5)

8. 온다 (ONDA) (7:07) launches straight out of the "Prelude" with lots of hard-driving percussion and haegeum provide initial support for the slow, religious-sounding singing of Bomi Kim. Gorgeous! And powerful! Kim is then joined in chorus form by Ilwoo Lee. The music here reminds me of Middle Eastern prog like Ofra Haza. At 3:15, Bomi Kim switches to haegeum and Ilwoo to his bamboo oboe (pim) as the rhythm section continues to drive on at breakneck speed. The full metal impact of electric instruments reaches full strength at the five minute mark just as choral-singing of earlier slow religious lyric and melody ensue. This is, then, what plays out until cymbal crash at 6:35 and ensuing long decay of the feedback from the final strums of the electric guitar and bass. Amazing. I am numb and in humble shock with the power and beauty of this music. (15/15)

Total Time: 50:29

I feel so excited, so humbled and privileged, to have heard this music--to have continued access to it. Some of the instruments, sounds, stylings, and even melodies sound similar to Mongolian band ANDA UNION--though my untrained ear is most likely lumping all Sino-Korean sounds and melodies together.

A/five stars; a masterpiece of mind-blowing progressive rock music in which the band fuses the traditional instruments and melodies of its native cultural traditions with the best and most powerful of Post Rock techniques better that any other band that I've ever heard.