On this trip, a little Asian Fantasy will do the trick, courtesy of fellow travelers, Ganja Gourmet
Cloaked in ominous clouds and a sense of inevitability, the
moon, of late, has sent shudders down my spine.
This type of environment is appropriate for many different forms of
music. Sometimes a little Dave Bixby or
Ben Chasny will do the trick; maybe some heavy psych riffage from Comets on Fire; other
times, the senses can be elevated by the minimalism of Robert Turman.
The other night I decided to give my spine the shake that it
desperately required. It was time to
harvest one of the finest nugs from thee tree: Avorio, from Cannibal Movie,
recently re-issued on vinyl by Sound of Cobra Records and Avorio Dischi. The mysterious and beautiful artwork is just one pillar of this excellent release. Cannibal films, initially popular during the
1970’s and 80’s, are a subset of exploitation films made by Italian
filmmakers. According to a few sources,
these movies are generally gory graphically and depict cannibalism along with
acts of violence by primitive denizens, deep in the Asian and South American
rainforests. While the music refers to the
films, I am not going to infer the robustness of the connection.
Cannibal Movie
is the organ and drums duo comprised of Donato Epiro and Gaspare Sammartano. The sound can be characterized as a type of
psychedelia, infused with organ and hypnotic, tribal drums. These late night,
ritualistic, rocking zoners will make you make you thrash uninhibitedly one
moment, and then contemplate the unknown in the next – the approaching second,
shrouded in an organ treated with heavy effects and opaque. Only a
few seconds into “Teste Mozzate” and already one can feel the buzz within the
music: An organ that echoes into the night, treated with heavy effects and
bursts of tribal percussion, pierced with intermittent cymbal crashes. “Fame” spins through your head with hypnotic
drumming and glowing, fried tones emanating from the organ - as the chords
bellow into the night, they seem fray into the mysterious air. The organ sounds distorted and drums
unrelenting, until a really nice transition occurs nearly midway through. “Mangiati Vivi!” has a much different feel
from the previous tracks – feels like being present at a ritual. The flip starts off with, “Django”. Donato’s work with the organ on this track is
sublime. The drumming –some of the best
from the album - combines with an eerie tones and other notes – it has that
feel of walking alone in the dark.
Several times during the track, Donato’s organ hangs heavy in the air,
producing a hazy effect inculcated with mysticism. “Schiave Bianche” closes out
the flipside properly, with its relatively tranquil, calming effect and shades
of Sun Araw.
Cheers to Sound of Cobra and Avorio Dischi; and to more
music from this project in the near future!
Once you have caught your breath, buy this limited lp directly from the
band or through Experimedia.
