I was torn on what album to pick this week. On one hand, I wanted to pick one of my favorite albums that I've listened to a lot over the past 6 or 7 years. On the other hand, this album by the now-defunct Macha has been in my head a lot lately. From Athens, Georgia, Macha was a quartet that...ah you know what, I'm just going to let Wikipedia do the description. Whoever wrote it did a fantastic job, although I'm not totally sold on the Mogwai reference:
"Macha's music combined the precision tension-and-release post-rock of Mogwai with the lush, hypnotic grind of My Bloody Valentine, along with elements of post-punk, kraut-rock and especially Indonesian Gamelan. The CMJ New Music Report opined that the band "may have invented a new genre - call it Indo-rock.
They incorporated a variety of instruments into their sets: Javanese zither, Balinesebamboo flute, hammered dulcimer, Hawaiian slide guitar, talempong nipple gongs and Nepalese shawms, vibraphone, and a '70s-era thrift-store organ called the Fun Machine."
Did someone say nipple gongs?
The gamelan in particular is a really nice addition to the sound of the album. It adds a totally unique quality but I appreciate that it's not overdone; it doesn't define the album in any way, but certainly adds a whole new layer to the music, which is already fairly complex.
I enjoy a good instrumental album opener - this one has a great one. Some of my favorite songs are The Short Life, Double Life, and Cat Wants to Be a Dog.
Curious to hear everyone's thoughts! Next week, perhaps, I'll choose an album closer to my heart, but I have a feeling one or two of you at least will really appreciate this record. It's excellent.
on the clock
Maz
current selection
Curtis Mayfield - Super Fly (1972)
past selections
- Elbow - Asleep in the Back (2001)
- Okkervil River - Black Sheep Boy (2005)
- Asobi Seksu - Citrus (2006)
- Brittle Brian - Verisune (2015)
- The Notwist - Neon Golden (2002)
- Solange - A Seat at the Table (2016)
- Younghusband - Dissolver (2015)
- Downtown Boys - Full Communism (2015)
- Cornelius - Point (2001)
- Katie Dey- Flood Network (2016)
- Mother Falcon - You Knew (2013)
- Poliça - Shulamith (2013)
- Alice Coltrane - Journey in Satchidananda (1971)
- Cibo Matto - Viva! La Woman (1996)
- Self - Breakfast With Girls (1999)
- This Town Needs Guns - Animals (2008)
who's on deck
- Erik
- Nora
- Parker
- Tyler
- Sam
- Maz
what we do, and how we do it
1. Rotate through members of the club - current member picks an album and completes a write up on the album.
2. Other members listen as many times as they can throughout the course of 7 days. When ready, other members write comments on the original post detailing how they feel about the album.
3. Repeat.
I'll start by saying while I think that a considerable amount of effort was put into this album, it just wasn't for me. There are some things I really appreciate on this album, though; the main one being the amount of experimentation. As a percussionist (ex-percussionist, really) I liked the gamelan and vibraphone integration on some of the songs. Some of the instruments weren't working for me (I kind of had an organ overload after listening to this).
ReplyDeleteThe instrumental tracks were actually some of my favorites due to the amount of emotion they evoked. "Light The Chinese Flower" was very pretty. While I liked a few individual songs, I couldn't really get into the overall feel of Macha. Reading your description of the album made me think I was going to love it, but I ended up only liking it a little.
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ReplyDeleteAlmost immediately it became clear why Sam likes this album. To me, this just screams Sam. I know how much you enjoy music that tries complexity and innovation, and those qualities can certainly be found here.
ReplyDeleteMacha definitely is not going for an average vibe with this album. Cleary they don’t want to sing a love song over a 1 4 5 and call it a day. There is a depth of sound here that can be hard to find. Their use of non-traditional instruments is quite interesting and it is fun trying to suss out what each one is. Their instrumentation has a wide range of influences, for example, like the album art suggests, there is an Eastern flair.
I do think at times they almost try to do too much and get in their own way. Sometimes less notes is better and some songs get cluttered. I felt “The Buddha Nature” was a good example of this. Seems like they have too much going on in this one and nothing really stands out because of it. This can be a hard line to toe, and they do a good job, but at times they find themselves on the wrong side.
Overall, I enjoyed this album. They do some very interesting and creative things and have a rich tapestry of sound on display. While sometimes that becomes blurred by overindulgence, the over arching experience is one that deserves praise.
I was instantly curious about this record because the album art features Ethiopian artwork and it's written in Amharic. I'm not great at reading Amharic, but I know it's not the band's name for sure, so I'm gonna try and figure out what it says.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I really really really enjoyed this record! I honestly didn't think I would because unlike you, I wasn't a fan of the first track, but the rest of the album was enjoyable. These guys are super talented and creative and it's refreshing to hear how all the various instruments blend together on each track. I will admit the first few instrumental tracks were my favorite, the vocals on the rest weren't bad at all, but I feel like I would've preferred to have this as a full on instrumental album without the distraction of vocals and lyrics.
That being said, I think my most favorite track is The Short Life. I love the reverb and the effect it gives to the overall vibe of the track. I was happy to hear a more percussion heavy track on the album, and whomever plays the drums in the band does a damn good job.
All in all, this was a cool pick Sam. I most likely would've never come across this on my own so nice job!
I'm really excited to listen to this album but I'm a shit person and didn't do it this week. I was like 10x busier this week than I usually am so that combined with it not being on spotify meant I didn't listen to it this week. But I really genuinely am excited to hear it.
ReplyDelete