MAGMA - rfi

awesome! didn't realize this was coming out so soon.

any other impressions?

not as impressed by this as i was by KA.

but i'm only on my second listen.

I'm actually like this better than KA, though compositionally, it's some exhausting! I think the middle 30 mins of the CD is constant peaking ("Hhai" through "Zombies" to old Magma heads). Vander's drumming sounds a bit tighter to me than on KA, tho since I've been listening to the Retrospektiw tracks the last couple of weeks, everything else is going to pale in comparison. But I still think the singing, specifically the choral arrangements and production, are the best that I've heard on a Magma disc. Really precise arrangements, really beatiful blending-- haha, I feel like a choral director commenting on it, but it's just put together really well w/the band!

Also, the DVD is cool. Vander is a perfectionist, but often doesn't know *exactly* what he wants, so hats off to his poor bandmates doing their best to figure it out. I'm going to start saying things like "that take had more music in it" at rehearsals from now on.

*somewhat* exhausting, that is

v. excited to hear this.

personally, I'm usually OK with exhausting. probably even prefer koenjihyakkei to magma! (sacrilege?)

also love KA, btw. especially the hypnotic build of "KA II".

probably even prefer koenjihyakkei to magma! (sacrilege?)

I like some of their stuff better than some of Magma's, so you're not totally alone in your heresy.

good to know. :-D

obviously, they're each doing different things within the prog framework... I think I just prefer koneji's heaviosity.

De Futura is still "the jam" though.

as a bassist (and human with ears and a soul), I can only agree.

Coming around to this. There's just a lot more going on than on KA. Exhausting is the word.

Can't argue with Dominique's description above.

Picking this new one up tomorrow/today and have amazing reports from my very trustworthy (in terms of musical taste) friend. Excited.

Jade chante magma!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52vhtwuGjOA

wow. that's fantastic. I really must expose my daughter to more zeuhl.

Looks like she understands the lyrics - real feeling there!

Ha that Jade footage has been floating around for a couple of years now. I'd like to think that she's moved on to the likes of Mekanik Machinenow she's a bit older.

i like to think she'll form a baby eskaton cover band.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBaCum5V8Hc

hey dudes, i'm listening to "simples" - does anyone know if "klaus kombalad" is an excerpt of a longer song?

whoah, "muh," closing track on kobaia, is so so good

finally listened to emehntehtt-re. first thoughts: FUCKIN' MASTERPIECE.

will have to listen to this many, many more times. was taken back by the parts that sound like new arrangements of "hhai" and "de futura" (or is it one of the similar songs bookending it on udu wudu? can't remember.) but they sound great in the context of this album.

really liked K.A but this new one is just massive, and on first listen, it pales.

now I'm listening to kobaia and reading the liner notes. (the ones from the recent box set.) not sure how much of this is due to translation, but vander has some seriously great quotes in here:

There we were, a few crazy people stuck in a studio rehearsing the same thing over and over, saying: We're going to change everything! We're going to change everything! We're going to change everything!!.. We never stopped!... I remember eating a sandwich sometimes but it sat on top of my drums, that sandwich... I ate it playing the drums..."

and my fave:

When Magma came into being in 69, I considered the people who came to our concerts as enemies (we used to play mainly in clubs.) They'd listen a bit, then chat whilst they had a drink and I knew that it was because of people like this that Coltrane died.

really liked K.A but this new one is just massive, and on first listen, it pales.

k.a pales in comparison to emehntehtt-re, that is.

and now that I'm re-reading the thread, I see that dominique already ID'ed the track I was iffy on ("zombies") and hit on some similar points. cosmic consciousness, man...

the coltrane thing I quoted sounds like something herzog would say on a commentary track.

yeah - it does sound like Herzog, doesn't it?

Anyone else been following the absurd "ex Magma member outs Christian Vander as a N@zi" furore at the Kohntarkosz Magma blog? Here : http://kohntarkosz.blogspot.com/2009/11/some-words-about-recent-controversy.html

wow, had not heard about that. sounds like a lot of speculation and very little in the way of facts...

Crucial question: Does Christian Vander like or loathe Hogan's Heroes?

FACT: christian vander is indifferent towards hogan's heroes.

listening to live cover of Gamma Anteria ("allelujah" part of KA) by Eskaton....!

FACT: christian vander feels that apple strudel has been misunderstood

sort of surprised it's taken this long for the internet to spark this off, and so many of the comments after that post are a case study in witch hunting and self-righteousness. it's sad to see people so ready to turn their backs on music which they've loved for decades. and yeah, the internet is dangerous, we all consider ourselves media-savvy and critical and then we read a blogpost summary of a private facebook chat and civility evaporates

that being said, it's hard to miss the Nazi content being explored throughout the music & packaging once you see it. and the framing of it can definitely be ambiguous. to me I thought it was clear that the framework was critical -- on the cover of the first album, the corrupt Swastika'd world is being vengefully -destroyed- by the Space Talon, and the story involves humans fleeing into space to leave a culture not worth saving. (but then, the original gatefold cartoon of the band...).

And, as a poster way down on that thread in response to those paling in horror after someone pointed out the phonetic match for the 'Zir Hhäi' chant: The 'Zir Hhai' phrase comes at the moment in the narrative of the Theusz trilogy when the people have turned towards the tyrant.) But the fact that the chant is maniacally intense & uplifting part of the record is too much for some people. Or the monologues in 'Zess' or 'Stoah', too close for comfortable listening. The other symbols in the packaging, critical references or stealth advocacy? Any multi-album science-fiction opera about despotic alien warlords systematically conquering the galaxy is going to be this complex.

The comments are worth reading in full if you love the band and I'm writing this much because I'd hate for this to turn into a brainless viral meme about their music passed around by people who haven't engaged with it. Even after I heard the rumors a decade ago, I decided that the music has far too much going on inside it for it to be written off, and the comments helped me figure out why -- Vander's reverence of Coltrane and gospel, the woman he married, the diversity of the musicians he consistently chooses to work with -- in practice his life is more nuanced than any personal issues he has, and as a result far far more ends up in the music than any kind of secret, personal advocacy of an ideology. Which explains exactly why so many social progressives have found their way to, and love this music. Liner notes of 'Köhntark', 'The music of Magma is like a mirror where everyone can see a reflection of who he is'.

very thoughtful take on this, milton. great stuff.

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!

:(