DANAVA
"Where Beauty and Terror Dance -The title says it all... Every track on the album should wear this title really. It's basically the theme of Unonou. A pretty old tune we put away for awhile. Our shortest song ever. There's definetely a pop dynamic here, which has been hard for us to surrender to. There's a 7'coming for this one."
Hailing from Portland, Oregon, Danava harkens back to the mystical
prog-rock from the early '70's. For musical reference, think Black Sabbath meets Uriah Heep, think Hawkwind meets Led Zeppelin. Unlike many of the stalwarts from that era, Danava avoids the overlong 30 minute epics crammed with odd chopping time changes, or pompous concertos for group and orchestra. Instead the band favors a more direct and immediate approach, pairing classic rock riffs with hallucinatory fervor and delivering them with an odd pop structure.
The band's sophomore album, called "Unonou" throws the listener into a vortex of fuzz fueled riffs, synthesized keyboards
and Dusty Sparkles' cosmic wail, in a way so authentically satisfying as to make it the companion record to Sabbath's "Sabotage" or Led Zepeplin's "Houses of the Holy." In fact, if this album was subsequently unearthed by a fierce collector instead of being
released through Kemado Records, it certainly would go down a long
lost gem from 1975.
Words | Dusty Sparkles
The making of "Unonou", May 29,2007: It starts with 3/4 of the group rising at the asscrack of dawn only to somehow
arrive late enough to be denied our boarding passes... STANDBY! Luckily we only waited a few hours and arrived
that much later in NYC, where we found Alvaro waiting to take us on a hair raising drive to the studio to meet Abe.
Unload.
Drink.
The next morning we started and by the end of the day we laid the bare tracks for "Where Beauty And Terror Dance. "From then on I don't know what to say really...
A month went by and we now have our second record. For this one we wanted to try new things for some older songs, four of which are older than most of the first record. All in all we're enjoying the results and had a damn good time putting it together.
Sparing the gear lists and general tomfoolery [shitloads], we would like to thank Chris Ribando and Keith Abrahamsson for putting all that fucking time in with us and much more... along with Tom Clapp, Danny Bensi, the Ladybird, Matt Brown and the rest of
K Flamers for even having to look at us so much .And to Syd Mead, who has allowed us to proudly announce that "Ononou" is the VERY FIRST album jacket to display his unbelievable artwork.
Unonou > Heres a brief breakdown of tracks... Unonou
A song for all those things in your head while walking, set to similar rhythm. This is a newer one and is a,
sort of, shape of things to come for the group. Somebody called it the wankiest song after a show once.
Definetely the rawest tune on the record....
Where Beauty and Terror Dance
The title says it all... Every track on this record should wear this title really. It's basically the theme of Unonou. A pretty old tune we put away for awhile. Our shortest song ever. There's definetely a pop dynamic here, which has been
hard for us to surrender to. There's a 7'coming for this one.
The Emerald Snow of Sleep
Another oldie finally sees the light of day. This one's ICY! Loads of synthesizers for a bit, then Rock and a Brass finale. I find it to be the weirdest fucking song on here. Also our first tune to point fingers at history, politics and the media... but lightly.
A High Or A Low
This was the very first song we ever slapped together. The oldest in our book. Very push and pull pop dynamic, again.
Definetely inspired by the early Coop Group, and we dropped it years ago. But then we said Fuck It, why not?
It's funny because for all this time I could NEVER EVER find the lyrics or melody in my head and then when we decided to
cut this one out, I found it all, and it wasn't very far from how I realized it back when.
Danny Bensi came in with his cello for this one. We talked briefly and off he went --laid it all down very quickly.
Also another one with Brass, by Matt Brown,which is something I've always wanted for this one as well. I can't believe we
pulled it off.
Spinning Temple Shifting
The Newest Song in our book. Has a little rave up in it. Not much to say really. Kind of a chant
then a dance feel to it. A Heavier one. I'll tell you now to watch the first 20 seconds of this
track for your speakers' sake. We wanted to lay down the frequency at which the Earth's Core resonates at
and so we did...
Down From A Cloud
Oooooooowee this one's a moody fucker --all over the place with it. Another oldie which for
years was BORING as hell to rehearse as a power trio. An "ALBUM" track. The dramatic track... but there is a boogie
at the end.
One Mind Gone Seperate Ways
The trickiest song of the lot, but I gotta be honest; the intro didn't come out right at all.
Fuck that intro. This is our longest track to date and the fucker has damn near 100 tracks in parts.
Basically a small orchestra in one section thanks to Matt Brown and Buck Rothy... Another one aimed at the
Powers That Be....This is Side 3 of UNONOU, the last track, and BLAMMO... onto our 3rd album.
Lastly, though I was kindly asked to list 5 influential albums on Unonou, it's not possible.. In place of said list, I would like to acknowledge Fred Cole and Scott Weinrich for, above and beyond music, always doing what they do from the heart and how they want to do it... NO FUCKING COMPROMISE!!! NO FUCKING RULES!!!
