Label: Eskaton Format: 2CD,2LP
Presentation is important. This is an element that Thighpaulsandra understands very well indeed. This double album is packaged in a lavish sleeve which folds out to reveal a epic photograph of the man himself standing by the seaside dressed in really groovy Druid gown, throwing a spell with his magic wand. On the inside sleeve there is a picture of Thighpaulsandra floating a few inches above the ground, and this whole package would Roger Dean very proud and that is a very good thing, you know.
Thighpaulsandra started his career of collaborating with Julian Cope on his records, and he later also got involved with Spiritualized and Coil. All these figures contribute to this work: Thighpaulsandra has got the whole British psychonaut elite on his side… But what about the music? Well its verily goodly. Most of the compositions work, though others don’t, for me at least. But considering that this is Thighpaulsandra’s full-length debut (he did the Some Head EP last year), we can be assured that the future looks very bright indeed.
Due to the extremely non-linear nature of this recording I will proceed to go for a divide and conquer strategy in trying to describe the album, and do it track by track:
Disc I
* Lycraland
This is a 15 minute piece that starts off Beefheartian guitar noodlin’ and mixed with spooky operatic singing courtesy of Thighpaulsandra’s mum. It then goes into space, led by guitars, treated and not treated and it ends with a peaceful electronic soundscape.
– Lycralicious* The Angelica Declaration
Horn led rocker with Thighpaulsandra ranting on about being worshipped by rural-folk. Ends in a Free Jazz freakout; yes!
– Rocks a Komodo dragon’s ass* Optical Black
Very electronic collaboration with Coil. Trippy computers etc… Brilliant hyper-speed spoken word performance by John Balance. – Groovy Coily
* Abuse Foundation IV
Twiddly piece with the Maureen Wilson Quartet. Lotsa annoying acoustic strings and horns. The name suits the song.
– A fly buzzing in my ear* Michel Publicity Window
Almost 27 minutes long… fuck! Essentially a pretty straight forward Kraut-rocker of a song with a 10 min ambient intro and a 12 min outro which is also Ambient spacey kinda goo with a really cool sample of a scream that sometimes hits the listener, a bit more intense than the intro.
– Whoopin’ NiceDisc II
* Terrible
Starts out with Thighpaulsandra playing a harpsichord, and after a few minutes he starts crooning. This is all wrapped up in a weird sonic blanket, naturally. It all ends up in a brilliant improv led by Thighpaulsandra on the Fender Rhodes. Reminds me of when Herbie Hancock would tear it up with Miles Davis.
– The opposite of terrible* We,The Descending
Weak attempt at writing a catchy tune. Reminds me of Happy Mondays. Rubbish!
– Synonymous with terrible* Limping Across The Sky
Very quiet Ambient track. Doesn’t really go anywhere, just sort of sits there.
– Sedative* Home Butt Club
A wake up call! Bass-heavy instrumental scorcher with loads of razor sharp noises. Nice and loud, could do with some vocals though. Ends in a total noise blow out of mammoth proportions.
– Decent abuse* Celine and Julie Go Boating
Short free-Jazzy instrumental. Nice and abstract.
– Kinda there* Beneath The Frozen Lake of Stars
Epic, epic, epic….did I say epic? A bonafide mind melt, I mean just look at the title and the running length (32 minutes). This is where it’s at.
– Speechless
So here we go, I have tamed the beast we call I,Thighpaulsandra, phew… At the end of the day this is a disc I will keep coming back to time and time again, to seek and explore.
-Dag Luterek-
