Disengage - Bionika
This is the second time I get to review this Russian band called Disen Gage. As far as I can remember, the first one I reviewed was more of a post-rock and ambient-driven album...this one being something completely else, actually, I was quite surprised. Psychedelic space/industrial rock with heavy doses of dub, I mean real dub! A limited 100 copies of the CD album are out via the label (No Name). A very graphical 4-panel digipack, with about 47 minutes in total.
The first track is called Fibers Have Grown Together. There is an electronic hum that slows down with the added sound effects. Mind-warped sound effects tune in and out and go up and down. Thinking a bit about Coil´s Windowpane track here, the same kind of slowed-down psychedelics. And then the dub drums/rhythms are added, bass and guitars. And yeah, we´re pretty much onboard some spaceship... smoking weed with other aliens! I'm also getting back to this band called Dreadzone, Brian Eno... and offcourse The Orb, just a lot more instrumental. Really firm control on the instruments here, clearly these guys have been playing together for years. Especially the guitar work is sublime, and that cool thumbing echoed bass!
The second track Bionika takes the cover artwork as the conceptual idea for this track ( I think ). A child singing, some noisy industrial elements there, Tangerine Dream´ish organ-synth here... and the filtred psychedelic instrumental-played drums, really nice stuff here. Sure to get everyone, totally down! Pure space rock here! Like the thing that they don´t sound Russian at all, more like a... well interplanetary band.
The third track The Ghost Is the Shell floats like a... well ghost through the speakers. A wall of reverbed guitar effects, laidback psychedelic instrumental bass strings, drums, guitars, and a pulsating and bubbling sound push the intensity a bit further. The guitar is more harsh, giving the track a kind of industrial edge to it.
The fourth track Free Prize, is a lot more of an enigmatic track. Gone are the drums, pure instrumental psychedelic ambient. There are some kind of spoken words attached to it, or is it a random recording of some people having a conversation? Thinking bout that Throbbing Gristle where Slaezy and Cosey are having some sort of conversation over an improvised soundscape, that kind of stuff.
The fifth track The Tower Reverse is the (so far) most anti-feel-good track on the album. Some shimmering electronics melt in the acid, while a thumping and menacing bassline and electronic rhythms mark their approach. Interesting effects on the guitars and sound effects here, a bad trip in a good way so to speak. The idea of smoking weed with aliens is there!
The sixth (and last track) Clap Your Hands goes back to that classic psychedelic space-rock and dub sound. They get back to that pulsating sound, and again... the provided guitar work is amazing here, works in a kind of story-telling way. The track transforms into another track halfway through, minor elements of prog-rock and early Cabaret Voltaire´ish organ work. It all sounds like a crazy acid-drenched party, but hey! ... I'm still here, and it bloody works!
Bionoka by Disengage is bound to be a cult album if the album manages to find its listeners. It´s a pure psychedelic gem the whole way through, I ended up listening to this album... over 10 times before I reviewed it. There is a lot of messy stuff here, but everything has been organized by a band that has played so many times together, and you can hear that! It´s a pure pleasure with this, even the nasty stuff. I am quite sure that I will return to this album (Many Times), and so will other listeners. Do not ignore this one!
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