Caudal are an international project by some very experienced musicians. On this album, the band consists of Canadian guitar player Aidan Baker, the guy behind Nadja, Whisper Room and many other acts, Colombian drummer Felipe Salazar (think: Muerte en Pereira) [note: both guys will work together soon again for a live event in Berlin, in co-operation with Milemarker’s Al Burian], and former Gout-bass player Gareth Sweeney from Ireland. Last year they recorded and released the vinyl-only album Forever In Another World (via Oaken Palace Records), and apparently all profits were donated at the Austrian Union For Nature Preservation in order to support a project to protect the ground squirrel. Since I am a real lover of animals (though I prefer my meat still red ;-) … No, seriously, being a nature-man, I think it’s honourable to have such intentions!
Anyway, the trio returns with their sophomore album, the three-tracker Ascension, this time released via the excellent Belgian label Consouling Sounds. It was recorded at the Berlin-based Golden Retriever Studio with Simon Berckelman, and mastered by nobody else but James Plotkin (think: P.H.O.B.O.S., Hypnodrone Ensemble, Stumm, Echoes Of Yul, Theologian and many others). And before actually reviewing the ‘Music’, first ‘a word’ about the artwork: great (that’s ‘a word’, as promised). Seriously once again, the cover artwork, done by young (I’d like to say that, because he’s my age…) Irish painter Eoin Llewellyn, is majestic! Is it levitation or a lift to some heavenly afterworld (the blooded shoes might betray a hint of death…); never mind, it’s astonishing!
First song is Uprise, which lasts for about twenty minutes. It is an imaginative propulsive-rhythmic song with a quasi-funky basement, mingling Krautrock, Space-rock and Psychedelic Rock into a consistent hybrid that cannot be labelled otherwise than Caudal. The psychedelic, even moody and gloomy tunes sound like a post-rocked form of Stoner. The loungy character of repetitive and droning psychedelica is of a quality only masterminds like Aidan can create, without falling into boredom or ennui. And on top of it I deeply appreciate the organic continuation / atmosphere / production, which is rare seen the length and approach. In Caudal’s case, however, it fits. Slow Bow is the second trip, lasting for seventeen minutes, and more intimate than Uprise. Once again repetition and integrity go smoothly hand in hand, without forgetting to impress by both integrity and creativity. Third track is the six-minute composition 45152, which is much more Ambient-directed, with energetically-driven percussions and spacy floats, and at the same time the most Nadja-influenced composition (though…!) on Ascension.
If you can appreciate the likes of Bardo Pond, Blond Redhead, Neu, Fugazi, Amon Duul etc…, then you will appreciate this newest Consouling Sounds-effort too. Those comparisons, it’s just an idea to know what you’re dealing with right here, but so you are informed…
Final notes: Consouling Sounds release a collaboration in between Aidan Baker and thisquitearmy, called Hypnodrone Ensemble, at the very same moment as this album; the review will be posted very soon. Also the newest Nadja-album, which was recorded live at the Inhumate event, will follow soon.