These last couple of days I've been sorting out through all the submission I got in physical format, as well as finally replying to a bunch of late e-mails. I have also been writing and preparing a rather important post which I want to publish for quite some time now, since the need for it is pretty urgent. What makes me so slow at times is my overall perfectionism, so the blog always comes to a grinding halt until everything is done the way I imagined it in my head.
On today's repertoire we have something that is quite rare and out-of-the-box when it comes to genres posted on this blog. "Ludovik Material", a trio from Slovenia, is a carrier of a strange mixture of sound. Add an ex-trance producer, a drummer, a female singer and what you get is a a weird experimental stew. The band is still very young, initially forming in May 2011, and they already have a turbulent biography. Quick tour of their home country, a demo and just one year later they managed to release nine songs in the form of "Passion For Red".
Most probably I would never stumble upon this band by myself, but "Kapa Records" showed up once again to lead the way. In case you forgot, this label is responsible for two bands already featured on this blog, those being "The Canyon Observer" and "Coma Stereo". Both of those reviews you can read here and here.
What first came to mind while listening to this band was "The Animatrix" soundtrack, in the sense of having as much different sounds as there are songs. All three parts of the band twist and convulse throughout the nine featured tracks, ranging from being moody, slow, repetitive, heavy, inarticulate, exploding and everything in between. The intro song caught my attention instantly, lashing out with truly mesmerizing drum playing, gloomy electronics and rending, yet melancholic, strings. An excellently placed song, which as an opening lures you into the album with its near post rock feel. Soon enough comes track number two, which has the same name as the release itself, carrying a sort of tribal-like atmosphere that features interesting drumming and lots of crackles and noise. "Made In" comes third, lashing out with provocative vocals and savage electronic sounds, in general being aggressively catchy and body moving. And later on during the album you are faced with a song like "Come", a really slow and easy going tune with extremely gentle electronic work. So as you can see, song construction and the very style of execution varies with each song. Each song manages to stand out from the rest and, although this seems like a neat feature of an experimental album, in the midst of that variety resides a tiny flaw in my mind when I think about this band.
My one and only complaint would be the vocals, since I found a certain dose of inconsistency in that field. The spectrum of sounds produced goes from singing, screaming, wailing, talking and even moaning, which I think somewhat shatters the overall feel of the album. When the instrumental section is so diverse, the vocals need to be a strong chord which will bind the band together otherwise you end up being all over the place. I can absolutely see the desire to introduce extreme amounts of variety on the album, but there is also a need to tie it all in a solid package. Sadly, it fell on the vocals to be the wrapping paper, since the album viciously opens in an instrumental manner. At times I got myself lost into thinking that I'm listening to more than one band, which again makes me think of the above mentioned soundtrack. That being said, my preference goes toward the more coarse and aggressive form of the singing and screaming as heard on certain instances in "Made In" or the more plain, megaphone imbued talking style from "Almighty". This is more of a personal opinion and I stick to my guns, but I assume that the vastness of sounds coming from the throat will definitely find its crowd.
My one and only complaint would be the vocals, since I found a certain dose of inconsistency in that field. The spectrum of sounds produced goes from singing, screaming, wailing, talking and even moaning, which I think somewhat shatters the overall feel of the album. When the instrumental section is so diverse, the vocals need to be a strong chord which will bind the band together otherwise you end up being all over the place. I can absolutely see the desire to introduce extreme amounts of variety on the album, but there is also a need to tie it all in a solid package. Sadly, it fell on the vocals to be the wrapping paper, since the album viciously opens in an instrumental manner. At times I got myself lost into thinking that I'm listening to more than one band, which again makes me think of the above mentioned soundtrack. That being said, my preference goes toward the more coarse and aggressive form of the singing and screaming as heard on certain instances in "Made In" or the more plain, megaphone imbued talking style from "Almighty". This is more of a personal opinion and I stick to my guns, but I assume that the vastness of sounds coming from the throat will definitely find its crowd.
"Passion For Red" comes in either digital download or CD format, both available on the bandcamp page found here. The CD has the standard plastic packaging, but it features a really nice and thick booklet with lyrics and artwork. Each right page is filled with lyrics while the left pages are decorated with appropriate drawings corresponding with the words. There's definitely nothing nicer than opening an album and finding lyrics and other information inside, so many thumbs up for this.
Once again Slovenia managed to spew out something interesting on the scene. If we put the small album inconsistency aside, which isn't a true flaw at all, this is a really catchy release and definitely something with which you can take a break from your other daily bands. The band is still pretty much alive, so maybe soon we will be able to hear something new coming from their practice room. Hope you enjoyed the read.
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