Bandcamp Reviews: Naxatras, Günter Schlienz & Loula Yorke
Every Friday, I plan to buy one or two "new to me" releases on Bandcamp. ”New to me” is something I just now discovered or finally bought. Whether it be from 1972 of 2025. I will then listen to these releases for a couple of days and then post my unfiltered thoughts*. So, at the very least there should be a post a week (with some exceptions of course).
*there is no such thing as bad music – just music you dislike. So you won't ever see me saying something is bad etc – just why it didn't work for me.
V by Naxatras
Just to get it out of the way, this is not a drone album. Quite a bit different actually but the aims are similar. IE to provide a hypnotic experience – in that this is best classified as a modern 70's prog rock album.
Some albums just work right off the bat but that does not apply here. It somehow sounds flat - there isn't anything wrong with it, it just is. However, something curious happens upon repeated listens – it starts to click and things that didn't sound right (or even cliche) no longer do. And for some reason, you felt compelled to listen again – so clearly some small part imprinted itself. Eventually, it becomes an album that is on constant rotation. Whatever feelings of flatness are long gone and if pressed, you wouldn't be able to explain why you felt that way at the time.
This is the kind of band/album I like to discover – as it requires you to put in a little work and I like to believe that this is good for your brain. It needs to be challenged - either by sound or other means.
So what about the music? Picture this:
It is 1975, you have just gotten back from the record store, with a new album that you purchased because of the art (which kind of reminds you of Hawkwind). You place the record on the turntable and drop the needle while you roll a joint on the album cover. The music fills the room with electronic sounds/synths, driving drum work swirls about, bass fills the room and guitars solo in and out - something akin to hard rock. The vocals kick in with a mysterious sound that expand the music into something that feels like the unfolding of an ancient secret. The vocals are such that even if the lyrics were about making a fantastic tomato salad they would still sound like directions to the Lost Ark of the Covenant. As I noted above, this is rooted in prog but it is much tighter than your average prog. One could make the argument that this more akin to space rock mixed with psychedelia. Sort of in the same vein as Lord Buffalo.
Very much recommended.
Zeitmaschine by Günter Schlienz
Many many years ago I used to contribute reviews to the fantastic online music magazine, Foxy Digitalis and as part of that, the purveyors of that website would send me promos to review. The music tended to be experimental, folk influenced, drone or left field electronic. In one of those packages, there was a tape by Günter Schlienz that caught my eye. I wish I could recall the name but I do remember there was something compelling about the art work. So it rose to the top of the pile and I placed it into a cheap portable cassette player. For next however long minutes I was lost in the electronic sounds. My impression was that the artist was genuine/passionate about their art. From there, I started collecting their work and prolific does not even begin to describe their output.
Which brings us to Günter Schlienz's latest, Zeitmaschine. This release has surprisingly kicked off an internal debate about what is drone and what isn't. The two roughly hour long tracks are firmly ambient and evoke emotions of broad landscapes and the American west at dusk (at least for me – It likely wasn't composed with this in mind). But underneath it all, there is a drone – sometimes hard to distinguish because of the other sounds generated by guitar, field recordings, minimal synth work etc. None the less, it is there and without I think the music would lose its hypnotic quality/its ability to suspend time. Even though this album clocks in at ~2 hours it does not feel like it and it is easy to get lost / consumed by the music. So why the debate? Because the drone is not the focal point or at least it seems that it isn't. Perhaps at a subconscious level, it is what our brain hooks into and the rest of the sounds shape the journey. I have listened several times (and will several more) and I still cannot decide if this is a drone album. But really, does it matter?
Essential
Unstet by Günter Schlienz
Now this is definitely not drone – not that there aren't drones. They are just a small part of a larger picture. These songs are electronic lullabies that can fill a room and brighten them. Maybe another way to say it is this Kosmische Musik with its heart on its sleeve. I want to stress that lullabies does not equate to simple. The music is quite complex and requires deep listening to get the full effect.
Very much recommend
Speak, thou vast and venerable head by Loula Yorke
What a wonderful release and I wouldn't have found it without the great online magazine, The Quietus. Drones abound through this release but this is electronic music in the truest sense. This is oneness with electronic instruments and is masterful in its execution. In short, Loula Yorke shines bright with these electronic compositions and takes her place as a synth virtuoso. This is music that belongs next to the great works of Klaus Schulze and Tangerine Dream.
Essential
Photo by Daniel De Los Santos - Galveston, TX