35007 – Especially For You

1. Zandbak
2. Cosmic Messenger
3. Basiculo Ad Cunnum
4. Suave
5. Bad Altitude
6. The Elephant Song
7. U:mu:m’nu:
8. Water
9. Slide

“Their earliest work. “” only barely represents the ground would cover and break in their time together. There are flashes of the progressive fluidity their heavy psychedelia would later accomplish on the late instrumental “Water”, which appears here on side C, leaving the second half of the second record to “Slide”, but much of ‘s first outing got its personality from its crunching riffs, and while they’d gain a reputation afterward as an instrumental unit, songs here are often distinguished by vocals, and that begins on opener “Zandbak”, which takes an early stoner rock nod and build off it with keys and samples in an nascent showing of experimentalism. The subsequent “Basiculo Ad Cunnum” is more indicative of the atmospherics and blend of Krautrock texturing, tonal heft and patience that would develop in their sound, but it too has a younger intensity to it, figuring out their where their place is even as they come do define it, keyboards factoring in heavily throughout, even as side B’s “Bad Altitude” starts out all riff and swagger en route to one of the LP’s most satisfying blissouts.”
“Space funk joins heavy rock impulses on the later “U:mu:m’nu:” and “Cosmic Messenger”, hinting at some of the territory ‘s countrymen in Astrosoniq would cover in the years to come, and “Slide” closes “” with prog-metal chugging ‘ it was 1994, so Tool’s “Undertow” might’ve been a factor in the rhythm and vocal shouts ‘ and a kitchen-sink finale of noise, swirl and sampling. If anything’s a giveaway of the 20 years that have passed since its initial release, it’s the production, since the adventurousness and will toward progression at its heart is still very much evident in what they accomplish. It’s a hard record to dig into without thinking of what did afterwards, but that doesn’t makes the space-rocking “The Elephant Song” any less enjoyable as the centerpiece of side B, its wanderings both engaging and righteously trippy, buried-deep semi-spoken vocals calling throaty shots atop a deep swirl of lead guitar echo. There are bands out there today, more than a few, who are trying to sound like this and haven’t yet caught up to what did their first time out two decades ago. That sounds like hyperbole, but its also true.”
The Obelisk

2LP album (Color)