Album of the day: Master Musicians of Bukkake – Totem Two

Praise for Master Musicians of Bukkake‘s Totem Two from San Francisco’s Aquarius Records: Sometimes seeing a band play live in the flesh surpasses the experience on record, but other times, there’s the danger of diminishing whatever mystique they’ve created for themselves, which remains safe when one listens at home with just the music (and record sleeve artwork) for one’s imagination feed upon. Seeing a bunch of dudes in jeans and baseball hats up on stage making musician faces and fiddling with gear has bummed us out a bit about bands we’ve liked before, when we wanted gods and monsters and supermen.

And the ominously, exotically evocative music of the Master Musicians Of Bukkake, along with their colorful album cover imagery, provides a LOT of mystique to live up to (despite their irreverent / gross / jokey monicker). So when Allan here got the chance to see ‘em recently at the Roadburn Festival in Holland, he was full of anticipation, but also a bit trepidatious about it. Turns out he had nothing to worry about. Do go see the Master Musicians Of Bukkake if you get the chance, their mystique will remain intact, never fear!

Led by a dramatic robed figure wearing a wooden demon mask, the rest of the large ensemble wore white sombrero-like hats, their faces shrouded in black netting, and rocked out like dervishes, looking like they stepped out of scene in a Jodorowsky movie. One of most memorable performances at Roadburn for sure (and despite being, ah, so different from a lot of the other bands, they got a great response). Witnessing that definitely got Allan excited about this impending new album, Totem Two. Plus we loved Totem One.

The sequel raises the Master Musicians’ mystic monolith still higher to the heavens. Once again to describe their sound, we could use the usual shorthand of the Sun City Girls meet latter-day Earth (which has some basis in this band’s hybrid heavy drone exotica as well as their actual membership / friendship connections to those two legendary Seattle outfits). Other references: Ghost, Grails, Acid Mothers Temple, Secret Chiefs, Tangerine Dream! Thus, Totem Two has certainly been getting played a lot in the store, the MMoB’s particular / pecuilar synthesis of sounds appealing to all of us here.

Psychedelic, pretty, sinister, cinematic, steeped in ancient, Third World folk music and mythology… they’re a mysterious moody mix of a lot of stuff we love, electronic drone filtered through faux-ethno ceremony, part SUNNO))), part Sublime Frequencies! Also, we’re almost surprised this isn’t on Ipecac, they ought to be Mike Patton’s favorite band, in some ways bringing to life Mike Patton’s Ennio Morricone compilation Crime & Dissonance (which was actually compiled by Alan Bishop, who of course is one of the Sun City Girls, and a mentor of  /  inspiration for / occasional collaborator with these guys).

The album begins with what sounds like a ghost train a-comin’… field recordings and tinkling percussion, hushed drone and the far-off foggy bellowings of Tibetan horns… you know you’re in for a far ranging journey, off the beaten track. Gorgeous lonely flute dominates the second song, floating o’er a ritual processional, like Djivan Gasparyan sitting in on a sombre Amon Duul or International Harvester jam… the middle of the album brings in more buzzing synths, majestic and melancholic, getting spacey like Klaus Schulze, playing sentimental cinematic themes, dark and melodic….
The distortion ramps up briefly as a segue into the album’s final eleven minute piece, a calm and psychedelic epic like Six Organs with extra synth squiggle… Beautiful! Almost makes us think of Japan’s Far East Family Band from the ’70s, that one. That’s just a short surface summary, you could fall into this album’s depths though, and come back changed, as if from a dream / drug quest…

Both CD and LP formats, like Totem One, feature feverish psychedelic jungle Seldon Hunt artwork, the vinyl version also comes wrapped in an obi.

At 40 years old, Aquarius is the oldest independent record store in San Francisco. We try to only carry music we love, and we’re always searching for more new, cool, weird and wonderful music. All of which we then share with you, our loyal customers.

Tags: album of the day, Aquarius Records, Conspiracy Records, Important Records, master musicians of bukkake, psychedelica, Randall Dunn, Sun City Girls, Totem Two

This entry was posted on Monday, June 7th, 2010 at 6:12 am and is filed under 2010, Album of the Day, Roadburn Recommended . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.