Detailed Reviews [D-zAkord - 2007 - "De Futura"]

Prolusion. When I saw the name of this outfit, D-ZAKORD, I was instantly reminded of DesAccordes, a French collective whose rendering of Terry Riley's "In C" from two years ago, well, has left an indelible trace in the memory of one of the friends of mine who haven't heard natural Minimalist music before then. To cut a long story short, the recording under review, "De Futura", is the effort of the very same project, though I have no idea why its founder, Erik Baron, has slightly changed its moniker.

Analysis. For those who are well acquainted with Magma, you're only half right if you consider the title of this CD to be directly linked with the work of that band. Indeed, "De Futura" depicts D-zAkord being occupied with interpreting the eponymous sidelong composition from Magma's "Udu Wudu" album (with no singing involved) and therefore finds them to be in their element, but not all the time this time around, in contrast to their previous release. Four of the six instrumentals on this disc, Pandora, La Musique des Spheres, Le Drone du Milieu and De Profundis, come from Erik Baron's pen (if it's possible to say so in this particular situation: continue reading, and you will know why), all being no less than radically different from the remainder. I can suppose that the first three each feature a couple of electric guitars, but even so, I would insist that the instruments are used there, instead of being played, since the pieces consist exclusively of processed sounds or loops, if you will. I would label this stuff as HypNoise where the noises are hypnotic, but are just noises, not music. Perhaps I could agree that the 'singing' of a rusty water pipe can also be perceived as music, especially when endlessly turning its tap hither and yond without stopping to think "for what?" One may find here something for his trance when traveling through, meaning via the pipes of marijuana, but should be aware that there is the danger of going crazy with those flights, especially with headphones, because the hypnotism of these noises is based exclusively on their terrible monotony. Unlike the 'semi-frozen' multi-layered drones that can be found in some of Robin Taylor's solo creations (and which I perceive in a way as the Moebius loops embodied in the music) there is nothing of that kind here. No eye in the darkness. I even doubt those sonic sculptures can be used as soundtracks for a horror movie. In any event, music must be composed, but not built up or designed, regardless of whether one calls it La Musique des Spheres (The Music of the Spheres) or in any other way.

Conclusion. First I wanted to describe the recording in its entirety, having noted that two different kinds of music are delivered within the same bag, which leaves a mixed feeling, but soon discovered that I have no desire to give the CD any more listens, as I can receive De Futura at first hand, in Magma's very own reading, especially since it is on all levels stronger than D-zAkord's version. You should have gotten a stronger drummer, Erik, before having big ideas about Christian Vander's legacy.

VM: November 3, 2007