Recorded live in the studio over two nights, this is a double CD of jams by the ever wonderful Bardo Pond and Japan's equally loveable LSD March. The music tilts from sounding like outtakes from Bardo Pond's Selections CD-Rs to LSD March's heady live sound. All the descriptions and superlatives that have been attributed to either band apply just as well to this monster of an album that they have spawned.
The opening track of the first disc, "We are LSD Pond," fades in like the jamming has been going on for some time before we have been allowed to listen in. Based around a solid groove, the piece is like one long solo where everyone solos. It sounds self- indulgent (and sitting in a studio jamming all day is a fine way to indulge yourself) but it is fantastic nonetheless. There is only one way to describe the music and that is that it is white hot.
Amazingly, from such a high octane start the jams get wilder and better as the album progresses. Most of the pieces work so well thanks to the fantastic drumming on every track. Despite there being three people credited with drums and percussion, it never sounds over the top. On "Utuwa No Naka No Mizu," a Kraut inspired drum pattern allows for the rest of the band to go hog wild with some very exciting guitar with wah pedal solos going on.
On the second disc, the line up has been augmented slightly as it is from a second day of recording. The songs with this line up are substantially longer and unlike the instrumental first act, Isobel Sollenberger contributes vocals to the mix. It begins with a radically different "We are LSD Pond." Sollenberger's voice gets masked by the music, it sounds like she has a PA set up at monumental volumes in another building and it is bleeding through the walls over the maelstrom of LSD Pond's freakout. It works well with this and the subsequent tracks but it would have been nice to have some cleaner vocals too.
I cannot finish this review without mentioning the gorgeous presentation of this album. Archive always have attractive packaging for their releases and this is no exception. Designed by Keith Utech, this release has a textured outer sleeve with a design like old fashioned wallpaper contains a small booklet of photos from the sessions and the CDs (encased in simple black sleeves bound with more of the wallpaper-style card). The physical package matches the sounds heard on the disc perfectly.
Overall this is a phenomenal album, both bands have come together to form a glorious whole and a glorious din. This is a stand out album no matter which band's back catalogue you consider. It is one of the first new releases of 2008 and I would be very surprised if I was not still spinning it in December.
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