The Big Mango is a glorious mess, a true sonic jumble mixing all sorts of sounds that titillate the senses; at one turn it could be a Moondog record, at another it tries to convince you it’s a Soft Machine outtake.
The Big Mango is a glorious mess, a true sonic jumble mixing all sorts of sounds that titillate the senses; at one turn it could be a Moondog record, at another it tries to convince you it’s a Soft Machine outtake.
http://www.konkurrent.nl Constellation Records
Incendiary does love a bit of sonic free for all. Luckily we get that in spades with Land of Kush’s newwie. But saying we love it is not enough, so how to describe this? Well, initially you hear very little, apatr from some suggestive moans.. and even then it’s a preposterously low key start. But eventually, an island setting is magicked up by the sound of waves and some more sensual breathing; for all we know, we could be supine, lolling, sated; caressed into some Neverland by a truckload of dusky skinned nymphs smelling of sandalwood and jasmine. Stuff gets a bit more rickety and various through the LP’s lifespan; you do need to stick about if you want some rocking out; but when it does it manages to negotiate itself into real Hapshash territory. And then, just as you think you have a handle on these loose buggers, they turn about and reinvent everything before you have time to think. There’s even a bit when they go all jazz on your arse.
Oh sod it. I’m a useless guide to this record. Let’s just listen to the sax blurts, throbbing keys and loose beats.
But there again, I’ll try to say something more. This is what you get with Land of Kush records. I love them, not because they do anything that instantly makes you think they’ve found a new path through the psychedelic jungle, not because they use even more instruments than your average freak out chin-strokers; rather I love their stuff because they make experimental music sound like such fun. The Big Mango is a glorious mess, a true sonic jumble mixing all sorts of sounds that titillate the senses; at one turn it could be a Moondog record, at another it tries to convince you it’s a Soft Machine outtake. There are some cracking pop tunes on here as well. Two come to mind, showing off the band’s “wither now, my lady” side; I think they are called Mobil Nil and The Pit, Part 1, if not fine, they are called something else, but seek the “bits” where female vocals coo over a sort of ISB-style folksy raga that could also be construed as inspiring, Baroque takes on Keith and Candice Marie’s awful songs about Froggy “going a wooing” in Nuts in May. Yowsers.
There’s not much else to say except I’ve been getting really loose listening to this mother. And so will you. TTFN.