It is tough to find originality in music anymore. And I mean true originality.
It happens that you’re looking in the right place. Magma is a French Progressive Rock Zheul band established in 1969 when Christian Vander, the genius behind the project, had a vision of music. He worked on this music and a language developed with it. Then he had a crazy idea that all the music he wrote would be in this language. Then he decided to turn it all into a weird space opera with existentialist ideals, and call the style of music Zheul, a word from his language.
In summary, Christian Vander did a lot of LSD.
Whether drugs were involved or not is not the case though. We care about the music.
Kohntarkosz Anteria, or KA, as we will call it is not for anyone.
The music sounds like music from another planet. Really. It isnt laced with generic space sounds or anything, but it sounds like another species made it. Mix church hymm music, progressive rock, blues, avant-garde, Gregorian chant, and jazz together. Most of the music is chanted repeatedly, possibly making Magma one of the underground influences on hip-hop, as this style of music originated before any rap.
KA starts out with KA I, which is simply two or three different chants done over and over again for 11:12. While the repetition is overdone a little on this track, the drums are unbelievable, and the guitar is easily overlooked, but extremely well-thought out. You might feel the urge to skip ahead at parts, but I urge you back. This album is definitely too repetitive, but on first listen, it is worth listening to every little section to hear the changes.
KA II begins with chanting, and that chanting will continuously change and repeat for the next 12 minutes. The track gets interesting at the 13 minute mark, and the last minute is an epic section that sets the tone for the grand-finale track, KA III.
The next track, KA III, is similar in style to the other tracks, but still completely different, which I’m finding is what every Zhuel song is like. The vocals are beautiful, and more sung than chanted. KA III continuously builds up while throwing in some AMAZING drumming (Zach Hill, a drumming legend in my book, states Christian Vander as his favorite drummer of all time, and I can see why). While listening, remember to listen hard for everything going on. It is easy to get caught up in a chant and almost miss some insane guitar fill. At 5:30, the keyboard solo comes in. No, its not some four measure solo repeated a couple times like a normal song. You forgot this was Magma. The solo goes on until 8:30, without repeating any phrase. How these people remember this stuff live is beyond me.
Crazy Frenchies…
KA is a continuous track separated, as sections from part I and II are repeated in part III, but not over and over again like you would expect.
The highlight of KA is the entire part III with the last 2 minutes of part II. (The last 6 minutes of III being the best 6 minutes on the album). I’d say the low point is part I, as it repeats only a couple sections. This CD is recommended to fans of the weird. It really was maybe one of the hardest albums to review for me, as I have nothing else in the genre to compare it to. Although I hear if you really get into Zheul, there are a whole slew of bands that tried to evolve the style besides Magma.
Give this a listen, but I would understand if anyone didn’t like it. These guys are about as accessible as The Locust.
As anyone from the Planet Kobaia could tell you, there are numerous chants in Part I. Here, just in the opening you have this:
Wï wï siwili dö rï
Siwï dö woh wëhrë sëhn dëwëloï
Hël hël
Wï wï lï wëhrë dö rï
Wï wëhlë dö rï wëhrë
Sëhn dëh wëhrë dö rï
Wëhrë sëhn dëwëloï
Hël hël – hël hël
Wëhrë sünd/ë wëhrë sünd/ë wëloï (x7)
Wëhrë sünd/ë wëhrë sünd/ë wëloï!
Hëlëh sünd/ë wëhrë sünd/ë wëloï (x3)
Hëlëh sünd/ë wëhrë sünd/ë wëloï
Dö rï!
Wëhrë sünd/ë wëhrë sünd/ë wëloï (x8)
Hörr Hërr wi wi loï
Wëhrë sünd/ë wëhrë sünd/ë wëloï (x8)
Hörr Hërr wi wi loï
[2nd voice]
Wëhrë sünd/ë wëhrë sünd/ë wëloï …
[1st voice]
Wï sün wï sün
Wï sün wï sün
Wï sün rï sün
Rï sün dëhndi
Dowëh rï sün
Dowëh rïn dïi
Wï sün wï sün
Wï sün deï
Rï sün rï sün
Rï sün deï
Dowëh rïn dïi
Dowëh rïn dïi
Döh wisëhn döh wisëhn
Döh wisëhn döh wisëhn
Döh wisëhn döh wisëhn
Döh wisëhn döh wisëhn
Your site is very cute
Interestingly Vander stated in the liner notes for the Studio Zund box that he has never taken acid!