PENETRATION - AN AQUARIAN SYMPHONY

Ya Ho Wha 13 is the musical vehicle for the teachings of a spiritual guru known as Father Yod. Father Yod headed a commune in California, & later in Hawaii, during the 1970's that focused on brotherhood, vegetarianism, yoga, & living in T.E.N. (The Eternal Now). He & his followers, collectively known as 'The Source Family', would rise before dawn & chant 'Yod Heh Vau Heh' for 2 -3 hours before Father Yod & his three 'Savage Sons' (guitarist Djin, drummer Octavius, & bassist Sunflower) would enter into their studio (a converted garage that was donated to them) & record hours of unrestrained, psychedelic, improvised music with Father Yod alternately pounding a kettle drum & a gong (often using the gong as a ride & the kettle drum as a tom) while chanting or wailing out whatever it was he wanted to say at that particular moment. 'Penetration: An Aquarian Symphony' was intended to be Ya Ho Wha 13's masterwork, acting as a Merkabah of sorts to elevate its listeners to a heightened state of consciousness - & I must say, it does the trick!

'Penetration: An Aquarian Symphony' is highly recommended for fans of Amon Düül II or Ash Ra Tempel.

What a shiny, slimy instrumental perforation. Let me say this album "Penetration - An Aquarian Symphony" is a kind of Bible for us Krautrock believers.

From the beginning Father Yod's Orientally spiritual, meditative voice cloud and Djin's funkadelic, hypnotic guitar discussion shower, both have been squeezed into our right brain via ears. Echoic shadow with their instrumental moonshine we can feel directly, and mysterious, scattered guitar solos and tribal beats bind our body strictly. Although their soundscape has Kraut-ish rumple and fuzz indeed, their strong commune conscience we cannot avoid at all. Guess Guru can unify them as a spiritual community with his mind altering canon and especially with his musical rebellion. Not so difficult for us too but fine to leave our body and soul as we like.

The third track "Journey Thru An Elemental Kingdom" notifies us this way, with quiet bell ringing and dry, desert string-based shouts of pleasure and freakout. Some heavy tricky tips are kinda killer, whilst we can feel that complete calmness, stillness make sense for us. Heavy, hijacking madness can be heard in the last part, that launches tough meditation and medication into us. The eponymous track, that looks like they (especially Father) have penetrated remarkable enthusiasm, has two brilliant scenes - the first is like under a calm circumstance before the storm, along with whistle and percussion seasoned with eccentric synth noises, and the latter part is a real heavy, deep ritual for The Spirit named Ya Ho Wha, constructed with loud, metallic guitar sadness and wacky drum / percussion madness.

This mixture strategy is superb, and their creativity for such a short while (until Father Yod's tragic death) is really surprising, amazing.

A shoddy psychedelic rock band with front man Father Yod taking centre stage with his big kettle drum in an almost Jesus like manner. The last time I saw that much hair on a face I fed it a banana.

'Ya Ho Wha' without the vowels and spaces reduces to YHWH, the Tetragrammaton. That's spooky Aleister Crowley territory in case you're unaware. 'Penetration - An Aquarian Symphony' is full of tribal drums and distorted guitars and is another of those albums that just sounds like a stoned jam by a bunch of hippies with too much time on their hands.

Supposedly they recorded this after meditation between 3.00am and 6,00am in a soundproofed garage. With no overdubs and being completely unrehearsed this should be enough to let you know what you're letting yourself in for. Joyfully, this is the only album I've heard of 'Ya Ho Wha 13' and apparently it's their highlight. Phew, I dodged a few bullets there!

Without even having to consider the possibility, this is clearly influenced by drugs, consumed wholesale by all members of this Los Angeles commune as they fuzz guitar and chant themselves into a state of stupor. Everything is very Lo-Fi and crude without any productional dynamics at all.

Happily there's some nice whistling on the last track where everything else is more subdued which lets the quietly played and tasteful guitar come to the fore. It's still a dreadful album by today's standards and sounds hopelessly lost in time.

In 1974 I would probably have loved this. As it stands today in 2015, it sounds amateurish, poorly recorded and without any thought of how it may be received in future decades .