MAGMA - rfi

So eMusic has tons of Magma now, and I presently own only Live (1CD version) and MDK. They don't have the original recording of Wurdah Itah but they do have the live Trilogie Trianon version. Is the Trianon one a good way for me to hear this music?

was listening to wurdah itah this morning and reading the liners. vander talks about a demo version that they recorded w/a slightly different/more stripped-down lineup. he says it was a much wilder performance then the one eventually released as his solo album and that those sessions were the ones featured in the Tristan et Iseult film.

anyone ever hear this demo? sounds cool.

Bits of it here :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePF056VfC5k

ah, thanks. doesn't sound wildly different but the raw quality lends it a darker quality that seems to work in its favor.

but maybe I'm just projecting bc of the visuals.

dig those big bass drum htis and shrieking.

I would happily watch 2 hours of absurdly dressed actors galloping around to the sounds of Magma tbh

So eMusic has tons of Magma now, and I presently own only Live (1CD version) and MDK. They don't have the original recording of Wurdah Itah but they do have the live Trilogie Trianon version. Is the Trianon one a good way for me to hear this music?

Yes! Not so sure about the version of MDK on that box set though

I would happily watch 2 hours of absurdly dressed actors galloping around to the sounds of Magma tbh

no doubt.

digging the image on the back of this sleeve:
http://www.discogs.com/viewimages?release=1749064

(the second one down - don't think discogs allows hotlinking)

(re: Kohntarkosz) Reportedly, when Vander seemed to notice other bands copping his style (most notablhy Mike Oldfied, who Vander accuses of having literaly stolen music from him for Tubular Bells), he changed his style a bit.

... by stealing the electric piano intro on "Kohntarkosz (Part Two)" from "Partial Belated Overture" by the Incredible String Band perhaps? I'm sure he didn't btw, but it does sound like it!

... on the other had "Troller Tanz" is uncannily like the Residents, particularly the *Mole Trilogy period, expect for the bits that sound like John Williams' music for "Star Wars"

*uh hold on... unless I'm much mistaken, the Mole Trilogy is a series of concept albums documenting an apocalyptic clash between competing cultures (sometimes) sung in a made-up language...

saw magma in nyc last night. absolutely great. I have some minor quibbles - would have liked a more varied set (emehntehtt-re was played in its entirety), felt like the blues jam at the end of the "kobaia" clashed with the magma aesthetic, and no "de futura"!

but seriously, this is small-time stuff. I'm a grouch that always wants bands to play shorter sets and they left me wanting more after playing about two hours. they were AMAZING and finally seeing them live was pretty special to me. plus, the stark, colorful lighting and dark prog combo made me feel like I'd walked into suspiria. awesome.

and the new song they opened with was SO GOOD. kills me that it probably won't show up on a proper recording for a few years. here's the best clip I found online:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlWwZwL4pwM

doesn't really do the massive sound justice. :-/

You can really hear strains of Magma in the new Foetus album.

I saw jg thirwell at that show!

they were kind of beyond belief. the entire two hours, I had to remind myself to keep breathing

yep, pretty much.

btw, here's the same tune from my little camera at the new york show:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMxcGtnXmgA

RIP Francois Cahen

oh wow RIP, where did you hear?

"Ki Ïahl Ö Lïahk" is a great track!

:(

r.i.p. :-(

there will be a seminar on Magma tomorrow night at MIT, with vintage live footage shown on a big screen

get in touch if you want to come with

Much as I love everything these guys are involved in, they really need a new graphic designer on board asap :

http://v2.seventhrecords.com/en/upload/041011_163041_PEEL_hAbNb2QK.jpg

good lord.

what is that, anyway? new album?

also, lol:
http://us.fotolia.com/id/5774703

goddamnit

It's a new Christian Vander & friends record, a tribute to Coltrane as is probably obvious. There's supposedly a new Magma album being recorded too, but it'll be this new piece they've been doing called Felicite Thosz, which is pretty awful tbh so I'm not really bothered about it.

yeah, i wouldn't say awful, but from what I remember, not as driving as some of their other epics (maybe more similar to Offering than Magma?)

However, if new record has "Slag Tanz" on it, I'd buy it for that alone

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elYKaEGlTCk

yea, was going to say exactly that. 'slag tanz' is incredible.

when this gets released, really think it's going to join the ranks of classic magma tracks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShPyiQEPGYM

and when did they start playing w/an orchestra???

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmJZxdt1hAs

agreed about the 1st track you posted. a serious highlight when I saw them last year. so heavy!

I still can't get past the first album (not to say it's incomprehensible or anything - I'm just fascinated with it to the point where I don't want to hear their later stuff yet)

oh man, you're in for a treat.

if you ever get the chance to see them live, jump on it. one of the best shows I've been to. the '75 live album is prob my favorite magma release too.

would love to regardless of how little I know of their music, but somehow I don't think Green Bay is on their list of U.S. cities to visit..

If you say they're good I'll d/l a few more discs off eMusic or something - I didn't like Autechre until you mentioned how brilliant you thought they were, then they suddenly clicked, so I'll take your word for it here

hah, nice.

definitely get live from 1975 (sometimes confusingly titled live kohntark or live hhai). the versions of 'hhai' and 'mekanik zain' on there are definite but the whole recording is fantastic.

I'm a big, big fan of their last studio release Ëmëhntëhtt-Ré too. essential.

if you're into the first lp, try 1001 degres centigrades. it's the closest in feel to that one though not as scattershot and already trending towards the hypnotic sound they would eventually land on and become obsessed with. unfortunately, not much else in their catalog sounds much like these early records aside from various rarities from that era.

obviously, these will not be on emusic, but the live dvds they released a few years ago are killer. check out this incredible version of 'de futura':

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzlMw8jqv4k

if you use spotify, an impressive amount of their material is on there as well.

or, if you decide to go that another route, I imagine it would fun to just dig through release by release. fascinating catalog imo.

so that's how they ended up sounding, eh?

I'll probably wind up just going in order, partially b/c I'm OCD about this (it's been awesome to do that for Ae and there are a lot of artists where I *wish* I had gone that way), partially because I really want to see how they arrived at the sound everyone talks about. Kobaia sounds like a neat little jazz-rock oddity, in fact outside of some of the more "out there" vocal parts, it's fairly straight, but totally addictive

yeah, kobaia is a weird one but mostly in the context of the rest of their stuff. I like it a lot as well.

New album out May 30th!

http://www.seventhrecords.com/indexuk.html

:) (but wtf, no slag tanz)

yeah thats too bad. esp since it looks like it will only run just over half an hr :-/

I got Udu Wudu on mp3 and it is great, very fresh for you alternative types! But there is something too ahistoric, un-seventies about owning it on mp3. I suspect it is worth the $30-40 the LP is going for on ebay...

Haven't seen mention of the remastered box set that came out like 3-4 years ago in the messages i've read on this thread, Sound seriously improved over the previous version of the cds.
I'm assuming that edition is currently available individually.
Was surprised that the end tone on MDK & Kohntarkhosz that I thought might be a glitch on the previous version was retained. i haven't heard the original vinyl so can't tell if it's on there too.

http://www.therocktologist.com/interview-with-christian-vander.html
Fear not, Slag Tanz will be on disc eventually

I'm really digging the Univeria Zekt disc, but was this really meant to be a Magma album? Anyway that 11 minute piece at the end "Africa Anteria" is such a crazy earworm, I just can't get enough of these guys.

huh. the way he phrases it makes it sounds like "slag tanz" will BE the next album. could just be a second language thing but I am kind of salivating thinking of that track stretched out emehntett-re style.

So, this new one... First listen and the piano on it is real pretty so far.

alright, I just heard MDK for the first time and, uh...yeah, that's got to be one of the most intense first listens to any album I can remember. like, if I was in an altered state of mind, I might have shed a tear or two

reason #lostcount I love this band: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRol2CJYwAM

longest and best version of "Slag Tanz" yet -- a track that has yet to be released, and has already evolved into a classic mini-epic. Magma pieces never remain static, even some of their most famous pieces from the 70s feature new twists when they play live. Inspiring.

thank you. love when this thread gets revived!

finally heard Felicite Thosz this weekend on a road trip to LA. it's short. we played it twice.

yeah, I usually play it twice too

John Quijada, creator of a hyper-precise invented language, was inspired as a kid by Magma's created language-

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/12/24/121224fa_fact_foer