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DEMO OF THE WEEK
THE ORIENTALISTS – Raucously slick in a ragged demanding messed up in your face wired and raw as hell sonic assault kind of way. They're from New York (unless I've mislead, are they based in the UK now?) and they're powered by a filthy steaming overdriven Farfisa organ and a stream of even more demanding attention seeking consciousness. They do sound like they're flat broke and working two jobs and not getting any sleep unless they sleep in cars or with heads in kick drums. Wired and wonderful and way out on some kind of edge. This is good! They sound like no one, well nothing obvious that anyone around here ca n pin on them. They big and huge and they drone and drench it in fuzz and somehow hold it together and make it all about the songs. If I were to try and pin them down then I'd mention Liars and Dearhunter (and maybe Acid Mother Temple) – only in spirit though, that and the way they defy convention and still make it about the songs. Heavy psychedelic rock'n roll that will whip you in to a fury and then seduce with their almost-dub and Underworld meet Richard Hell vibes – see, impossible to pin down! The sound is dense, six tracks that never stop with their way with words – "culinarists might call it a bouillabaisse or gumbo" (or a call to some kind of arms), a mesh of twisted sense and maybe a hint of Bowie and twenty-first century schizoidness and live wires cause fires huge and distorted and blistering and then the silky silent raw bit and the curse - see... cement friendship with and their frenzy of fuzzed garage attack www.orientalists.co.uk
http://www.organart.demon.co.uk/neworgan230.htm - Organ UK
Discography
Orientalists - Dec 2006
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Bio
Brought together by an interest in the esoteric, enigmatic and eastern, this fearless foursome has assembled 6 songs in their first self-titled and prophetic manifesto. Their meaning is clear, but the message is veiled in the garb of heavy rock-n-roll. Like a caravan of gypsies invading your town or heavy rock sheikhs out on a raid, their style is both angry and uplifting, accusatory and full of praise, serenely lucid yet obscenely delirious. It is an absolutely delicious concoction.
Front and center, the Farfisa organ is delivered hot and steamy... yet quite palatable. It is a classic Rock sound somehow not overly retro, in this case forward looking, almost futuristic. This is flavor not used sparingly when sprinkled throughout this dish. It is a sound for the ears of those adepts in the upper echelons of the Mysteries.
The Orientalists meticulously weave a thick rug of sound. The guitar and bass, with purpose yet not in unison, seem to mesh as they twist and intertwine. They create a matrix of streaming consciousness. Culinarists might call it a bouillabaisse or gumbo.
Driving the backbone, the asynchronous, illusive beat is more like a call to arms, whipping the masses into a fanatical fury. Rhythmically, the listener is pounded with a backbeat as solid as the backbone of a dinosaur. (This is feeding time). This band is dynamic as well. We're talking M80's and K88's.
The Orientalists are a wrecker of engines. A sonic assault on your oppressive, decrepit regimes. A proclamation calling for the return to the old rites and mysteries of the ancients. A feast fit for the farewell of kings.
When the Orientalists are cool, they deliver Bowie style disco or prom-rock in the fashion of King Crimson. Not stylistically punk, fashion conscious or TV approved... a sort of dead guy in the trunk. They found their droning carpet sound at a furniture store in the Bronx. The Orientalists lionize the Lo-Fi and shun the pre-packaged. Like a trumpet of modernity blasting down the Walls of your Rock paradigm. Listen to this band not on your iPod, but rather on an old Walkman or a Denon stereo, or better yet a Victrola.
Regardless, you will find the sounds are frequently raw, yet suddenly quiet and Sphinx-like. Don't be surprised when you are suddenly engulfed by their blistering storm. It is all part of their subtle ruse to leave you helpless when they attack like marauding hordes with an army of Rock volume.
Orientalist songs are both well crafted and intense. The Orientalists cook with flavorings of stray lyrics from Rock heroes and enigmatic references to ancient occult formulas. At first listen, you might miss the passing omens, the apocalyptic visions of disdain. Later, you find yourself humming the lyrics to yourself and in a moment of realization note, I knew there was more to this life than whoring and vain jangling.¡× They're jingling baby.
Are you prepared to brawl with this group? Then prepare for the day when the earth is rent asunder (40) and all you're left with is the taste of blood in your mouth from the kick drum.
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