OCRB: Maserati.

Apparently, I buy too many records

My wife Helen, like every other woman i've ever lived with, believes that I buy too many records.

Which, as every record-buying man knows, is a ridiculous belief.

I will concede, however, that I do indeed buy a lot of records and that I don't afford them the same amount of listens and attention that I did 20 or 30 years ago.

To this end, I have decided to blog about the records that I buy, in order to help my appreciation of them - and perhaps to show Helen that I don't buy that many records after all.

Because i'm crap with deadlines the blog posts will be sporadic and probably be about a month or 2 behind but that's just the way i am! The posts will not necessarily be actual reviews (most likely comments, at best) and will generally be pretty damn short due to the reasons outlined above. As a writer in a previous existence i have decided not to worry about writing as art in the pieces but, instead, to attempt to convey feeling over semantic (and often grammatic) perfection.

And 'OCRB'? It stands for 'Obsessive Compulsive Record Buying' - a little known mental health affliction that is potentially damaging to the bank account but ultimately life-affirming. It is sad.......but a nice form of sad.

Showing posts with label Maserati.. Show all posts

Tuesday, 22 November 2011

Maserati - Inventions for the New Season (Temporary Residence)

Remastered, repackaged and reissued in splendid multicoloured vinyl, this 2007 album absolutely kicks it in terms of driving hard instrumental rock music. Starting off slow, first track 'Inventions' ushers in proceedings and then the motherfucker really takes off and continues rocking for the duration.

As previously mentioned in my last Maserati review, this band produce such exciting music that it's really difficult to merely listen to it passively - it makes you want to do stuff whilst it's playing. I downloaded the free mp3 and burnt it so that i could listen to it whilst driving and found it really hard to stop myself flooring it to keep up with the inducement of the music.

It goes 'bang bang bang bang dugga dugga dugga dugga wah wah wah wah' for about 45 minutes.....and then you play it again. And again.

It's THAT good.

Really.

Saturday, 14 May 2011

Maserati: Pyramid Of The sun (Temporary Residence Limited)

Maserati have come on hugely since their earliest recordings, when they were a decent enough psych rock band but, ultimately, nothing very special. Various line up changes have brought us to this place - a driving piece of progressive psychedelia with occasional nods to the twin worlds of disco and early 80s soundtracks. Steve Moore co wrote a couple of tracks here and, stylistically, he is all over this album - to such an extent that i'm not sure what they'll do next if he's not involved next time. Like Moore's band Zombi, the key to this album's overall power is the drummer. Jerry Fuchs sadly died in an accident whilst making this album but his solid dependable motorik drumming is what leads this album into being an absolutely fucking wonderful piece of music. The life affirming nature of the sounds within make it doubly tragic, although I hear A E Paterra from Zombi/Majeure is now playing with Maserati - possibly the only drummer capable of taking Maserati even further forward. I didn't want this piece to be merely about the drumming but it really is the keystone that holds the sound together - when the beat is so full of power and energy, yet so subtle in places (think Steve Reid with discipline) then the other guys can push their own individual envelopes outwards into new territories.

Brilliant. Really, really brilliant.

Wednesday, 30 March 2011

Maserati: Pyramid Of The Moon (Temporary Residence Limited)

The bass rumbles, the bass drum kicks in and then it's off on a 9 minute workout of sludgy riffs, thumping drumming and high end guitar flourishes. The bass is ever present and the nine minutes fly by and end far too soon. I love the way it has a sense of self propulsion that is relentless and one that would make me put my foot down if i was listening whilst driving. Like tortoise if they'd listened to psych as opposed to jazz. The remix on the other side loses the sludge, mixes down the drums and creates a meditative piece that seems to mix Steve Reich, acid house and Klaus Schulze. Both sides are essential listening in their own distinct ways. Brilliant. Now to order the new album...