Three Lobed
The seventh and final trackwas originally available only as an excerpt, and is here presented inits full, epic 31-minute length. All of these tracks were recordedaround the time of 1999's Set and Settingalbum, and thus reflect the band's sound during that time. The BardoPond sound has not changed all that much over the course of theirprolific career: a heavy, atonal rock sound characterized by mountainsof hypnotic feedback, reverb and drone. Typical of bands comprisedlargely of non-musicians, they focus more on the textural quality ofsound and less on melody and dynamism. Though their lyrical imagery andsong titles often reference psychedelics, their sound is much closer toSonic Youth or My Bloody Valentine: more artsy noise rock than spacerock. One of the problems with Bardo Pond is that their liveperformances have always been vastly superior to their recorded output,much of which sounds stiflingly uniform. And these tracks are noexception, playing up the band's tendency towards churning rock pushedinto the red zone of distortion, with singer Isobel Sollenbergerproviding indecipherable, vaguely bluesy vocal moaning. There are a fewmoments scattered across this collection where Bardo Pond goes outsideof their usual repertoire, notably with the sparse, subtle ambience of"Nomad" and "Quiet Tristin," which seem to be drawn from freeimprovisations, providing some quietly hypnotic moments that stand outon an otherwise routine album. "YaYaYaYa" is an interestinglydeconstructed funk track, which is a study in layered chaos, butdoesn't really go anywhere. "Black Turban" begins with a verytraditional-sounding blues-rock riff that could have been lifted fromany number of Jimi Hendrix albums and repeats it ad nauseum whiletaking several tangential trips into aimless improvisation. "From theSky" is the album's behemoth final track, a slow burning epic thatmakes the most of the interplay between dual guitars and drums,endlessly riffing as the noisy sediment compounds and buriedalmost-melodies bubble to the surface and fade away into the heavy,oppressive hash smoke once again. As could be expected from materialthat is nearly six years old, nothing here is earth shattering, andBardo Pond continue to be in no danger of igniting any trends. Instead,they rather relentlessly pound away at their same signature sound,which is this current market of trendspotting and postmodernchameleonism, has got to be worth something.
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