|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
LP
|
|
FTR 820LP
|
Since 2003, Philadelphia-based improv ensemble Kohoutek -- founded and directed by percussionist Scott Verrastro -- has forged a dynamic, visceral range of sound, consisting of textural drone, atmospheric rock, abstract harsh noise freak-outs, clattering percussion, guitar heroics and alien electronics, all congealing to form a multihued psychedelic extravaganza. Inspired by such varied musical entities as Can, Amon Duul 2, Trad Gras Och Stenar, Dead C, Sun City Girls, Hawkwind, This Heat, Sun Ra, Art Ensemble of Chicago, and King Crimson, they inhabit a world of murky terrain where drone, musique concrete, and noise coalesce with cosmic folk, where doom and sludge metal merge with fiery jazzoid polyrhythms. All Kohoutek performances are rituals channeling untapped energy transmogrified through pure expression and response to the immediate environment. Akvoturo was recorded in April 2022 at Strange and New Sounds in Richmond VA with JK Kassalow (Cough/Caves Caverns), and unveils the band as a sextet featuring longtime core members Verrastro (Bitter Wish/Heavy Lidders/Henbane), bassist Craig Garrett, guitarists John Stanton (The Redeemers/Kuschty Rye Ergot), and Jeff Barsky (Insect Factory/Time Is Fire/Bed Maker) and electronics wizard John Simler (Cash Slave Clique). Kassalow augmented the ensemble with violin and analog electronics and edited and mixed the album with Verrastro. The unparalleled James Plotkin did the mastering. With Akvoturo, Kohoutek is delving into a more experimental form of their brand of US psych/space jams, a loose concept album sonically examining the consequential role that water has played in nascent civilizations, starting from our ancestral habitats. The title is in Esperanto, in theory a language as universal to humanity as water is to its diet, as well as an homage to the label ESP which is a substantial inspiration on the Kohoutek ethos, informed by revolutionary free jazz and outsider psychedelia. This release consists of four tracks. Side A starts out with "Pluvobaro," a combination of Eastern inspired components, including repetitive gamelan-esque marimba and other rhythmic work, with an insect-like drone. The side continues with "Inundo," a more traditional sounding American psych jammer. "Disfalo" starts side B, sparse and loose, like rain drops falling on various ephemera in a scrap yard, while the hum of machinery drones and squeals in the background. "Irigacio" returns to classic Kohoutek form, starting from a spacey/slide guitar based, mid-tempo head- nodding jam. It eventually builds into an ecstatic and faster single-note (almost surf) melodic guitar journey, before finally returning to the slow-head-nod tempo from the start of the song.
|
|
|
Artist |
Title |
Format |
Label |
Catalog # |
|
|
LP
|
|
FTR 595LP
|
"While they have released a decent number of cassettes & CDs, Jurad is only the fourth vinyl album released by this long-running DC-to-Philly-based space-juggernaut. Recorded by a quartet iteration of the always mutating ensemble, the music on this one veers between the kind of psych-prog wallow for which Kohoutek is most often celebrated, and the less formally rockoid improvisational proclivities they sometimes display. The session for Jurad went down at Philadelphia's Sex Dungeon studio in 2012 and resulted in three long tracks. The shortest one, 'Cosmic Grease,' opens the B side in classic Kohoutek style. John Stanton's guitar balances on the cusp of scum and space, spewing fat raw gobs of string-urk across a thick steady surge of circular bass/drum/synth hunch. A pretty nice way to fire it up. 'Double Star' follows with electro-squigglage sluiced amidst much more delicate guitar filigree, a lighter rhythm section pulse and drones of presumed synthetic origin. It has a bit of Germanic feel, along the lines of UA-era Popol Vuh or something. Like taking a deep breath of night air during an electrical storm. The first side is comprised of 'Tidal Disruption,' a rather different kettle of sonic chub. From the first notes of synth buck and string buzz, this one slides sideways with reckless abandon, before diving into a pool of tranquil long tone improvisation, with what sounds like small tractors demolishing a farm house in the distance. As the piece progresses, this far-off destruction resolves itself into a slow drum pulse, fluid bass lines and a wash of synth abstraction. The pace slowly increases and then slows again as 'Tidal Disruption' slowly fades into dream time, wrapping up like a beautiful trip, well taken. Very sweet smoke, we're sure you'll agree." --Byron Coley, 2021
|
|
|
Artist |
Title |
Format |
Label |
Catalog # |
|
|
LP
|
|
MIE 034LP
|
"The comet Kohoutek was first seen near earth by a Czech astronomer in March of 1973. David Berg, founder of religious cult Children of God, predicted its passing would cause armageddon the following year. A more welcoming family, the Sun Ra Arkestra, performed a concert dedicated to Kohoutek on December 12th, just two weeks before it came as close to our globe as it ever would. All of this could be insignificant trivia surrounding the name that Philly-by-way-of-D.C. band Kohoutek chose for itself. But somewhere in between all those early-'70s deductions, interactions, and overreactions might just live the keys to this group's expanding music. Inside their open, winding, slow-burning soundscapes lies the hard-edged reality of cosmic science, the hypnotic magic of mass-mind superstition, and the infinite paths of Saturn-bound outer spaceways. On Curious Aroma, that solar-seeking mix manifests as two spacious, patiently-developing LP sides. The music has the everything-works spirit of improvisation, but Kohoutek are just as curious about shapes and forms, equally interested in seeing which lines they can color inside and which they can bend and break apart. Guitars pick through the thickly-textured sonic space built by electronics and percussion, unafraid to knot or tangle, yet nimble enough to find gaps where others might blur. The rhythmic curves traced by bass and drums prove as apt for psych-drenched heaviness as they are for cloudier foundations. One side floats forward and backward and sideways until it wraps around space-time; the other melds sparks of feedback and distortion into metal lumber so hard you can touch it through your speakers. Along the way, Kohoutek conjure the ghost of their daunting live shows, which trek through so much aural territory it's a wonder you can still make out the band by the end. To call these two fully-realized explorations 'journeys' would be fair but insufficient. There are paths here that Kohoutek gradually move through, but that motion has the rare, intangible quality of sounding both spontaneous and guided, both new and determined. In other words, throughout the spaces which they travel on Curious Aroma, Kohoutek might not necessarily know where they're going, but they sure do know how to get there." --Marc Masters, Washington, DC, July 2015. Edition of 350.
|
|
|
Artist |
Title |
Format |
Label |
Catalog # |
|
|
LP
|
|
PM 9990LP
|
"LosslessLoss, the second studio album from Mid-Atlantic improv collective Kohoutek, covers most of the dynamic stylistic range Kohoutek is known for: abstract and textural sound, atmospheric rock, harsh noise freakouts, clattering percussion, guitar heroics, and alien electronics congealing to form a multihued psychedelic extravaganza. Recorded deep in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia in September 2007, the five members embarked on a psilocybic twilight journey, and this 44-minute aural excursion is the result. No overdubs and minimal editing create an experience as close as possible to a Kohoutek performance. With longtime core members Scott Verrastro (percussion, flute), Craig Garrett (bass) and Scott Allison (electronics) augmented by Vic Salazar (electric guitar) and Damian Languell (vocals, harmonica, clarinet, didgeridoo, Space Echo), Kohoutek forge their own path in the improv universe, and Lossless Loss is another burning fragment of this fleeting sonic comet." White & orange-colored vinyl housed in a deluxe, full-color gatefold sleeve.
|
|
|
|