Zeitgeist Reviews -HAWKWIND +, ARIAPHONICS, THE CLUMSY LOVERS, TROY LUKKARILA

CD OF THE WEEK

Hawkwind / Various Artists - Hawkfest 2002

TRACKLIST:
Disc 1: 1. Hawkwind - Night of the Hawks 2. Proteus - Evenstar/Cloud City 3. Tribe of Cro - I Have No Life 4. Spacehead - Fire Dragons 5. Astralasia - Uncle Sam's on Mars 6. Jez Huggett's Band of Gold - Kansas City Blues
Disc 2: 1. Bruise - Miss Bigfish 2. Connecting Routes - Intro 3. Mr Quimby's Beard - Mystery 4. Bedouin - LSD 5. Litmus - Invader 6. Huw Lloyd-Langton - Cardboard City 7. One Eyed Bishops - Hurry on Sundown

Unlike previous Hawkfests which were US based Coleman Hawkins tributes, this double CD was recorded at the first Hawkwind Hawkfest in 2002, that as well as featuring an all star line up of Hawkwind (with many past members) also includes many of the bands satellite bands.

As an audio record of the private festival, this serves its purpose to great effect. Barring a lengthy version of "Night Of The Hawks" from the hosts, this is an excellent trip through the current spacerock universe with fabulous contributions from Proteus, Astralasia, Mr Quimbys Beard and Litmus amongst others. So if you're looking for an introduction to the genre, this is a good place to start.

There are a couple of sidetracks down skiffle and blues alleyways from Jez Huggett's Band of Gold and the One Eyed Bishops, reflecting the origins of the many layered beast that came Hawkwind.

As with previous Voiceprint products a couple of provisos. There is one batch going round with a poor quality booklet pressing, and one with some audible clicks on the tracks. Complaints to Rob at Voiceprint.

HAWKWIND

Hawkfest

ARIAPHONICS

THE CLUMSY LOVERS

TROY LUKKARILA

Ariaphonics - same

Now I have, finally, heard it all. For this is the worlds first space-rock-opera! I kid you not. And by space-rock-opera I do not mean the clumsy 60s / 70s model, nor do I mean a Sarah Brightman type classical crossover, rather something unique and new.

Dmitri Silnitsky , the project’s producer, composer and arranger has combined arias and operatic singing with the sounds and moods of the concept albums of the 1970s by taking vintage 1970s synthesisers and mellotrons, to further capture the aura of the progressive bands in the 1970s. Which makes it retro rather than progressive, but what the hey.

"Divine Light" , the opening piece leaves you in no doubt where you are heading, a bass riff leads you into a quote from Genesis (the bible, not the band), "Let There Be Light" before an opera style vocal kicks in. Remarkable. Dmitri Silnitsky is also taking hints of modern artists such as Air and Zero 7 to draw in the kids, and it could work.

"Summer Moon" could easily come from the Pink Floyd canon, "Sposa son disprezata" is based on a Vivaldi riff and "Lullaby 2030" mixes up gypsy rhythms, R&B and pop-funk guitars, vocoders and a violin. Which makes no sense, especially with an Italian opera singer wailing over the top. This should not work. But does.

I doubt very much whether you have ever heard anything quite like this, but you really should.

The Clumsy Lovers - After The Flood

The Clumsy Lovers have been called many things - celtic, punkish, speedfolk (which I must admit I do like the sound of) and even hillbilly. In fact, they are all of these things and a few more besides.

Yes, there are fiddles and banjos, but without a hint of Deliverance in sight. The Clumsy Lovers have been on the go for over 10 years now, which explains their manual dexterity as well as their instrumental prowess, especially violinist Andrea Lewis who has obviously done a whole "Devil Went Down To Georgia" deal.

Most of the material is on the standard topics of boy-meets-girl-boy-loses-girl-and-buys-a-fiddle, with singer Trevor Rogers having the required rough edges to make you feel like he knows what he's singing about.

Their sound wanders all over the folk format picking up influences from around the world, and melding them into a fascinating mix. "Playera" has Middle Eastern overtones, "Highland Skip", well you can have a guess at that one. The undoubted peaks are "Amen", a tragic lament of a poor farmer and the simple love song, "Miss You Much".

Troy Lukkarila - Every Day Is Garbage Day

A salutary reminder of why Zeitgeist operates from the anonymity of a PO Box. After all, you wouldn't want Troy to come chapping at your door, with this headless dogs, kiddie porn, used tampons. All items the near title track refer to amongst his tales of collecting trash. Nice.

There's "Guys in Ties" getting involved in gang rape (and why the bastards / soccer players get away with it) and "Friends", a beautiful ballad about how we have to put aside our desires for dismembering our nearest and dearest. Madder than a very mad thing, replete with Casio keyboard, Troy is a poet for our times, a Daniel Johnston you can actually listen to.

Alternately, you may want to make an anonymous phone call to a social services department, with a history of enforced medication liabiity law suits, and see if you can drop some sugar on them. You know you want to.

Troy also tell us why we should hire him for your next corporate black tie dinner. Amongst the reasons given are;

Troy has never incinerated his fans.
As long as he's not in jail, Troy is very reliable.
Troy has above average personal hygiene.
Troy has a cute ass, or so his girlfriend says.
Troy will not have sex with your underage daughter- unless she really begs and she's cute and his girlfriend is not around.

That should be enough to have you buying this CD now.

PS - Troy is not me operating under a pseudonym.