PROJEKCT TWO: SPACE GROOVE

The first of the ProjeKcts to record in the studio was ProjeKct Two, consisting of Fripp on guitar, Trey Gunn on touch guitar and guitar synth, and Belew on electronic percussion. Their sole album, Space Groove, was released in 1998.

Space Groove is a goddamn monster of an album. A 90-minute double album, disc one (subtitled Space Groove) consists solely of the three-part title track. Starting off, curiously, with the 19-minute "Space Groove II", it's a fitting title. There's a decent groove, and it's quite spacey. In a way, it reminds me a lot of vaporwave aesthetics. It's glossy and airy and bears some similarities to Japanese jazz from the '80s. It absolutely drags on for longer than it needs to, but it's not as punishing as I expected an improv-heavy instrumental cut would be. This probably could have been trimmed down to a pretty solid seven-to-ten minute song. "Space Groove III" follows and is a weird, atonal piece that centers guitar synth. It's mercifully short.

Disc one ends with the 17-minute "Space Groove I". Its opening mood is darker and more dissonant, but it still fits well into the overall atmosphere. This song absolutely feels its length, and it's a much less fun listen than Part II, which opened the album. A lot of this movement reminds me of a worse, longer, more aimless, and less satisfying rendition of "The Sheltering Sky".

Disc two, subtitled Vector Patrol, has more manageable song lengths. It's got 14 songs across 51 minutes. That's a lot of music, but there's not going to be such egregious bloat.

"Happy Hour on Planet Zarg" has a peppier beat but comparable sound palette to the last song on Space Groove. The percussion is sort of interesting, but the guitars come off as purposeless. "Is There Life on Zarg?" follows. It's got some nice, warm bass soloing, but this short piece also lacks focus.

This sort of music is very hard for me to write about. It's all instrumental, the structures are loose, the overall sound is similar song-to-song, and I just don't find it that engaging. That's not to say there isn't good music here. "Sector Patrol" is a nice change of pace when it starts, but its quality is reliant on context. On its own, I doubt it'd grab my attention. The playing is all skillful, but it's just not particularly engaging or intentional.

The two-part, 13-minute "Deserts of Arcadia" is a mind-numbing experience that reminds me of "Space Groove". It has some flashes of good ideas, but nothing to maintain its integrity across its runtime. 

After a brief interlude, another long cut follows: the eleven-minute "Escape from Sagittarius A". It starts off fairly heavy (or, the guitars do, at least; the percussion doesn't pack enough weight), and it almost reminds me of moments on Starless and Bible Black. It soon returns to this record's usual ambiance, and it keeps ping-ponging between distorted and airy noodling.

"Return to Station B" marks the end of Vector Patrol, and it's probably my favorite song here (not just because it ends the album). It's got a steady pulse, and this song feels like it might have had a bit of thought put into it regarding structure and drama.

Space Groove is an unfun slog. It's the convergence of several recurring threads in King Crimson's music, and they're all my least favorite ones. It's a wandering, self-indulgent musical masturbation session. None of the music here in isolation is bad, but when taken as a whole, this double album is exhausting and unsatisfying.

Review originally posted here: theeliteextremophile.com/2024/04/15/deep-dive-king-crimson/