MAGMA - rfi

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

yeah, and now certain Russians are very inspired by him...excellent piece.

I've been pretty obsessed with Wurdah Itah lately. What an incredible piece of work that is. One of those albums that I just immediately have to play again whenever I listen to it. I don't even have the words for it, everything after about 4 minutes in is just stunning. I can definitely see why so many people have a religious connection with this music.

Holy cow, Live/Hhai is just amazing. This is like the music that Zappa should've made had he not, y'know, been Frank Zappa. What are the other live albums to check out??

What's Kobaian for goalkeeper?

BBC 1974 is very well recorded, with a pretty brooding version of Kohntarkosz.
Theater du Taur 1975 and Opera de Reims 1976 sound like they were recorded from the toilets, but capture the full crazed intensity they were cooking up back then.
Bobino 1981 is best avoided if you're not into their funky fusion phase, a lot of it's good though but sounds a bit more like their subsequent band Offering.
Theusz Hamtaahk Trilogie and the Mythes et Legendes DVDs feature the newer line-up, it's good but not as insane as they used to be.

The Retrospektiw discs are great -- you just have to put up with some (actually pretty classic) 80s synths. However, the version of "Theusz Hamtaahk" on it is definitive, and I love the extended version of "Hhai".

Oh yeah, those are on my list to get (Retrospektiw). Was wondering about the newer live albums since there seem to be a lot lately and I'll bet they're a lot better recorded than some of the earlier stuff. Are they all very different?

The newer records by Magma are pretty much all good (live or not) if you like the band. Matt#2 has a point in that they aren't quite the same ball of fire they were in the 70s, but on the other hand, they add new wrinkles to all the pieces, and the performances/recordings are ace. I saw Magma in New York a few years ago, and it's probably the best concert I've ever seen.

I may have been at the same show, and yeah, co-signed! one of the live sets I've ever caught.

For me the Retrospektiw discs are the best of all. I love the synths, always felt they should've have gone farther down that road!

Aside from that, my favs are the AKT Live at BBC and also the newer 1979 live thing which is beyond killer with energy levels going straight through the roof. I also have a bootleg called live in Bremen featuring Jannick Top which gets played a hell of a lot. It's the most apocalyptic of all their stuff! They play KMX twice and both takes are staggering. Top especially sounds like some ferocious Lovecraftian monster or something. Worth tracking down!!!

Another really underrated one is the AKT Les voix de Magma which has Wurdah Itah and Zess extracts performed with choir and pianos and nothing else... maybe their most beautiful album of all. But I also am a huge fan of everything Vander did in the 80s!

xp - Well I can hardly imagine anything with the same amount of fire as the last track on Hhai. I was kind of stunned by how stupidly fast it was - were there 2 drummers or was that all Vander?

I have seen some recent videos and felt like all the newer (younger) guys did a really good job. Like King Crimson I think the constant swapping in and out of band members makes for a lot of interesting live recordings.

liam - thanks for the suggestions. I'll certainly check those out. That Bremen gig sounds amazing. Haven't heard any of Vander's work in the 80's yet or beyond...he kinda went silent for a while didn't he?

if les voix is your bag definitely check out the very limited "live in tokyo" release... this one has them doing a reduction of the whole theusz hamtaahk trilogy in the same style as "les voix"

magma is a band where you can really get into the bootlegs... even though there are a lot of hoarders, there's still hundreds of hours of classic stuff out there- one needs well-seasoned ears, of course, but they tend to be on fire. sowiloi for instance was just an epic jam in '73, going on for like half an hour, and you can hear how k.a. literally turned into kohntarkosz from '73-'74. there's also the original version of "theusz hamtaahk" from dec '73 and jan '74 where they just kill it for eight minutes straight on the ending. there's also stuff like magma's first american concert, with the brecker brothers guesting on horns- shambolic but top is fabulous- the "great zombie" from '77, where the last half of emehntehtt-re was taken from- an amazing 38 minute kohntarkosz from beynes 1975- magma doing the most ear-curdling "otis" ever in a 1981 radio broadcast- the short-lived lineup with the late pierre moerlen on second drums- a '72 concert where they encore with "klaus kombalad"- some tremendously stoned takes on "om zanka" from '75 and '77- it's a major rabbit-hole.

offically some of the stuff on the "vandertop" cds (magma by another name) is worth hearing- stuff like "la musique des spheres" and a ten-minute version of "mekanik machine"... a lot of fans don't know of these

in the '80s vander transitioned magma into "offering" which was more of a jazzy thing, to some people's tastes but not as overtly apocalyptic. in '96 magma reformed and has been going strong ever since.

from ProgressiveEars:

anyone know when "Slag Tanz" is coming to the studio?

Slag Tanz, now called Axium, is being mastered as I write. Should be out in a few months, unless Offering live is released sooner.

so...new Magma this year???

nice

Slag Tanz sung by child

frogbs, who is that user? I forgot my progressiveears login, wondering what his source is. Trying to be a good obsessive Magma fan, but can't recall passwords in my old age

it was Dana5140, who writes for Sea of Tranquility. also posted this:

Originally Posted by Dana5140
I think the plan is to include a new version of MKD with Axium on the new CD.

that's a little disappointing. I love MDK as much as anyone but how many versions of it do we need?

from "unclemeat":

They did re-record "Riah Sahiltaahk", and, along with a couple of new pieces and "Axium", this is (apparently) going to be the next CD. Also in the pipeline : the Offering DVD (and - possibly - a Vander solo DVD and a tribute to Michel Graillier, all filmed at le Triton).

I see -- well, I guess it makes sense, because I don't know any other new Magma songs that are unreleased.

just noticed a recent update to the magma discography at wikipedia:

2014: Rïah Sahïltaahk

http://www.rythmes-croises.org/traversesmag/modules/news/article.php?storyid=540

As previously announced, several album releases MAGMA (new and reissues) will be spread in the fall.

Here is what would be the program:
September 23 will see the official release of the new version of Riah Sahïltaahk on CD and LP; and November 4 will that Axiom (ie Slag Tanz) 'd.

In between, Oct. 7, will be published in LP size the three volumes of the trilogy Ëmëhntett-Re, namely Könhtarkösz, Köhntarkösz Anteria and Ëmëhntett-Re. Incidentally, this is the first time that the last two albums cited benefit of vinyl media.

that's very good news, I'll be picking up all of that for sure

I've been playing "Attahk" an awful lot lately. Such a cool, one-of-a-kind disc, and I'll be damned if it doesn't sound like Vander is trying to invent drum n' bass a decade and a half early. Curious to hear the new stuff. I haven't actually heard a recording of "Slag Tanz" yet.

I think the 2 new releases are EPs rather than full albums? I still haven't heard Félicité Thösz, any opinions?

Félicité Thösz is... ok. Less rocking than many of their other records. It has yet to click with me like the previous two (amazing) albums.

I actually like Felicite Thosz very much, have listened to it more than any other Magma record pretty much since it came out. I love the vocals, and think it's a cohesive piece (working better on record than the live versions I'd heard beforehand). Energy-wise, it's not as intense as some of their other records -- and in that way, is maybe more similar to Offering. But form-wise, and certainly music-wise (ie the kinds of melodies, harmonies and rhythms I associate w Magma), it's totally in line with Vander's past stuff. As an added bonus, the final track, which isn't part of the title suite, is one of my favorite things he's written since the 70s.

Yeah that last track is lovely. I expect I'll come around to the album eventually, just need to spend more time absorbing it all.

I fucking love Félicité Thösz - it is very much like Wurdah Itah for me, composition and style wise. It does also have an Offering vibe but only because it's very clean sounding and the focus is on the singing - the more I listen to it, the more I think comparing it to Offering is a little misleading. It is actually pretty damn heavy for something so pretty. I have so much more time for it over the other recent albums.

The new ones are indeed almost certainly EPs but anything is possible. Slag Tanz is heavy as all get out - twisted guitar riffs, intensity and chanting. A cd of that is certain to be good. Riah Sahïltaahk on the EPOK 5 dvd is totally whatever, kind of uninspired, so that doesn't get me very excited... we already have a perfect version of it from 1971 is the way I feel.

At this point, I mostly just hope they get around to doing a definitive Zess someday...

Super belated response to the post above, I agree those VanderTop things are all terrific and actually all of them just got repressed on cd so they are now readily available after a few years of being hard to find. Essential, really.

yeah I'm not sure what a re-recorded "Riah Sahilttahk" would even be like, the original sounds great and it's a really tight composition, so I don't really know what can be done. but I'm glad they haven't forgotten about it

speaking of jannick top, anyone ever hear utopic sporadic orchestra? or his solo albums? seems like infernal machina and soleil d'ork are his 'zeuhl' releases?

and echoing the felicite thosz love, wurdah itah comparison is spot on.

Pretty much. Infernal Machine is newer and kinda like Zeuhl nu-metal... kinda gross but still cool. He sounds the same and the compositions are good! Just the production is questionable with lots of crunchy guitars.

Soleil D'ork is super good - an essential Magma single called Mekanik Machine combined with lots of demos of all his compositions from that time period if I remember right. Things like De Futura with Top playing every single instrument. Sound is a little rough but not bootleg-rough and it all hangs together pretty well, really! A lot of synth work. It's all very futuristic and sci fi. In case anyone has missed this monstrous little thing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8s0TwBJ8gf0

Utopic Sporadic Orchestra is like a Magma big band with most everyone from the Magma universe and is pretty cool. I think the one CD I have is live; a 20 minute version of De Futura and a 20 minute version of another song from Soleil D'ork. Overall it is not too different from the VanderTop live albums, just denser!

awesome, thank you. big fan of "makanik machine" so I might start with soleil

magma big band also sounds exciting!

lol "zeuhl nu-metal"

I've been playing Attahk a lot lately, there isn't anything else quite like this is there? Almost feels like Vander's playing drum n' bass back in 1978.

Slag Tanz out Jan 27, here's an excerpt:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ec1oFgi6hcU

oh wow

http://www.cadoganhall.com/event/magma-150508/

Live in London May 2015! Other UK dates happening too I think.