After reading the list of best albums so far in 2016 it made me realise that the one I liked best was one I'd overlooked. Orchestra of Spheres are from Wellington New Zealand via outer space and their Brothers and Sisters of the Black Lagoon record is great... Here, try Rocket #9 on for size:
Sadly this isn’t a rework of the Sun Ra jam but maybe it’s a homage... The chances are good since they seem just as interested in Venus as Ra was.
Or maybe it isn’t. And maybe the track Cluster isn’t a tribute to the immense German band of the same name. Or maybe it is.
People talk about Orchestra like they are in some way a Talking Heads reincarnate, which would be a good thing but honestly they aren’t at all, although there is a bit of the jitter funk punk present that made Talking Heads interesting in what they do. But it's true to say there's a bit of post punk and some wirey African guitar lines on show and maybe a Gang Of Four influenced vocal or two.
They do look a bit like Empire Of The Sun but they seem more interesting and less mainstream (dress apart) than them.
With their strange names (Mos Iocoss, Baba Rossa, Jemi Hemi Mandala, Zye Soceles, EtonalE, Tooth, Woild Boi) and odd instruments (biscuit tin guitar, electric bass carillon and sexomouse marimba) which sound like echoes of Harry Partch and Moondog and other fellow space travellers.
There's even a bit of mental psych-folk-rock which could be off a crazy Pentangle or Henri Texier album (or a breakbeat for Daedulus): which despite being a seeming guitar jig is named after some crazy sort of Indonesian bamboo marimba.
It's got to be on here and we can't tell what it is …!
All this (for us) makes them a bit more interesting (for us) than fellow kiwi psych travellers the Unknown Mortal Orchestra. Who are also great but a bit more obvious and a bit less fun, if a little bit more woozy.
For those of you who like your psychedelic a bit different and are up to travel the spaceways maybe Brothers & Sisters of the Black Lagoon is a trip you might want to take...
Just before you dig into our own Venus II or No Zu... Brothers and sisters in soul and spirit from another planet.
-TH
