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.
― original bgm, Saturday, 24 April 2010 17:20 (fourteen years ago) link
Bits of it here :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePF056VfC5k
― Matt #2, Saturday, 24 April 2010 17:34 (fourteen years ago) link
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.
― original bgm, Saturday, 24 April 2010 17:43 (fourteen years ago) link
I would happily watch 2 hours of absurdly dressed actors galloping around to the sounds of Magma tbh
― Matt #2, Saturday, 24 April 2010 17:55 (fourteen years ago) link
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
― Matt #2, Saturday, 24 April 2010 17:56 (fourteen years ago) link
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)
― original bgm, Saturday, 24 April 2010 18:54 (fourteen years ago) link
(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!
― Tom A. (Tom B.) (Tom C.) (Tom D.), Tuesday, 7 September 2010 10:27 (thirteen years ago) link
... 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...
― Tom A. (Tom B.) (Tom C.) (Tom D.), Monday, 13 September 2010 10:27 (thirteen years ago) link
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. :-/
― original bgm, Tuesday, 21 September 2010 16:21 (thirteen years ago) link
You can really hear strains of Magma in the new Foetus album.
― b-5-caps, Friday, 1 October 2010 00:19 (thirteen years ago) link
I saw jg thirwell at that show!
― Dominique, Friday, 1 October 2010 01:29 (thirteen years ago) link
they were kind of beyond belief. the entire two hours, I had to remind myself to keep breathing
― Milton Parker, Friday, 1 October 2010 03:03 (thirteen years ago) link
yep, pretty much.
― original bgm, Friday, 1 October 2010 14:16 (thirteen years ago) link
btw, here's the same tune from my little camera at the new york show:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMxcGtnXmgA
― Dominique, Friday, 1 October 2010 17:51 (thirteen years ago) link
RIP Francois Cahen
― 30 minute synth solo (Matt #2), Wednesday, 13 July 2011 21:34 (twelve years ago) link
oh wow RIP, where did you hear?
"Ki Ïahl Ö Lïahk" is a great track!
― Dominique, Wednesday, 13 July 2011 21:38 (twelve years ago) link
:(
― geeta, Wednesday, 13 July 2011 21:47 (twelve years ago) link
r.i.p. :-(
― original bgm, Wednesday, 13 July 2011 23:01 (twelve years ago) link
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
― geeta, Sunday, 9 October 2011 22:45 (twelve years ago) link
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
― |III|||II|||I|I||| (Matt #2), Tuesday, 11 October 2011 21:10 (twelve years ago) link
good lord.
what is that, anyway? new album?
also, lol:http://us.fotolia.com/id/5774703
― original bgm, Tuesday, 11 October 2011 21:24 (twelve years ago) link
goddamnit
― Dominique, Tuesday, 11 October 2011 21:32 (twelve years ago) link
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.
― |III|||II|||I|I||| (Matt #2), Tuesday, 11 October 2011 21:33 (twelve years ago) link
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
― Dominique, Tuesday, 11 October 2011 22:54 (twelve years ago) link
yea, was going to say exactly that. 'slag tanz' is incredible.
― original bgm, Wednesday, 12 October 2011 03:47 (twelve years ago) link
when this gets released, really think it's going to join the ranks of classic magma tracks
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ShPyiQEPGYM
― Dominique, Wednesday, 16 May 2012 15:48 (eleven years ago) link
and when did they start playing w/an orchestra???
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmJZxdt1hAs
― Dominique, Wednesday, 16 May 2012 15:53 (eleven years ago) link
agreed about the 1st track you posted. a serious highlight when I saw them last year. so heavy!
― original bgm, Wednesday, 16 May 2012 18:32 (eleven years ago) link
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)
― frogbs, Wednesday, 16 May 2012 18:33 (eleven years ago) link
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.
― original bgm, Wednesday, 16 May 2012 18:37 (eleven years ago) link
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
― frogbs, Wednesday, 16 May 2012 18:42 (eleven years ago) link
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.
― original bgm, Wednesday, 16 May 2012 19:01 (eleven years ago) link
or, if you decide to go that another route, I imagine it would fun to just dig through release by release. fascinating catalog imo.
― original bgm, Wednesday, 16 May 2012 19:03 (eleven years ago) link
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
― frogbs, Wednesday, 16 May 2012 19:43 (eleven years ago) link
yeah, kobaia is a weird one but mostly in the context of the rest of their stuff. I like it a lot as well.
― original bgm, Wednesday, 16 May 2012 22:13 (eleven years ago) link
New album out May 30th!
http://www.seventhrecords.com/indexuk.html
― A++++++ would deal with again (Matt #2), Friday, 18 May 2012 20:00 (eleven years ago) link
:) (but wtf, no slag tanz)
― Dominique, Friday, 18 May 2012 20:08 (eleven years ago) link
yeah thats too bad. esp since it looks like it will only run just over half an hr :-/
― original bgm, Saturday, 19 May 2012 13:30 (eleven years ago) link
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...
― โตเกียวเหมียวเหมียว aka Bulgarian Tourist Chamber (Mount Cleaners), Saturday, 19 May 2012 14:48 (eleven years ago) link
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.
― Stevolende, Saturday, 19 May 2012 22:48 (eleven years ago) link
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.
― frogbs, Wednesday, 8 August 2012 21:13 (eleven years ago) link
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.
― original bgm, Thursday, 9 August 2012 18:01 (eleven years ago) link
So, this new one... First listen and the piano on it is real pretty so far.
― original bgm, Friday, 7 September 2012 00:10 (eleven years ago) link
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
― frogbs, Saturday, 15 September 2012 04:13 (eleven years ago) link
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.
― Dominique, Monday, 24 December 2012 23:17 (eleven years ago) link
thank you. love when this thread gets revived!
― fit and working again, Tuesday, 25 December 2012 04:40 (eleven years ago) link
finally heard Felicite Thosz this weekend on a road trip to LA. it's short. we played it twice.
― Milton Parker, Tuesday, 25 December 2012 04:53 (eleven years ago) link
yeah, I usually play it twice too
― original bgm, Wednesday, 26 December 2012 23:32 (eleven years ago) link
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
― bendy, Friday, 28 December 2012 22:11 (eleven years ago) link
yeah, and now certain Russians are very inspired by him...excellent piece.
― dow, Friday, 28 December 2012 22:20 (eleven years ago) link