To say that this is an unusual album must be one of the understatements of the year. Musically it is based around the Balinese gendér wayang (played by Nick Gray). This is an instrument constructed from a wood frame and ten rectangular, bronze keys suspended by string and composite hide and wood bridges over upright, tuned bamboo resonators. Although the core band is only four strong, they have brought in additional musicians and vocalists, combining strings, drums, electronics, and singers incorporating elements of trip-hop, psychedelic rock and dub.
Now, there are only a few things wrong with this, namely that I’m not a fan of trip-hop or dub, and consequently this album washed over me. In fact, so much so that I started to wonder if I needed to be on drugs to fully appreciate it, preferably with a psychedelic light show. It is well recorded, well produced, but is so far away from what I would normally listen to that I feel unqualified to say whether it is any good or not. Would I play it again? Probably not, but given that I was listening to Agoraphobic Nosebleed’s classic album ‘Frozen Corpse Stuffed With Dope’ earlier, possibly I’m not the right person to judge. It certainly is different though, and for that they deserve recognition, there are very few Western bands playing gamelan instruments, I normally only hear those with bands from Indonesia. For more details visit www.badelephant.co.uk
