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 Zaar - n/t [Cuneiform - 2005]The hurdygurdy is not much used in contemporary music, although it could be more logical than than one could suspect. It’s a common instrument in western European folkmusic where part of the current rocksound (the folkmusic of today) originates from as well. So for a French band to pick it up isn’t as strange as it may seem. A technical problem would be with the bourdon strings are on a hurdygurdy: they just drone on in one key, so you can't use them freely with all chords, particularly not in the area of progressive rock where it's quite common to play with tonal centres. This problem is tackled by not using them, which has as a downside that it takes away a little of the idiosyncratic sound of the instrument. The ‘rock’ that Zaar (formed by ex-members of Sotos plays is more in the tradition of King Crimson, Univers Zero and other members of the prog and chamber rock canon. Complex (instrumental) constructs played with the power and instrumentation of a rockband.On Zaar’s debut we find two epics of almost 20 minutes each named Sefir and Omk. The rest of the album has shorter songs, sometimes miniatures of less than 2 minutes even. These extremes are also found in what you hear: from very soft and friendly sounding parts to monumental psychedelic soundscapes. These are kept to minimum though, so it’s not like the listener is pummeled with ongoing outbursts of aggression. The most unique aspect of the quartet's sound is the hurdygurdy though, if you think away that the music sounds maybe a bit too familiar, if you’re used to the music of Henry Cow and such, that is.I expected a somewhat grittier sound, with both folkmusic and the more avantgarde use of the hurdygurdy by Haino Keiji in mind. I think they could build on that aspect some more, although this might be a result of the recording process that it sounds a bit too tidy and clean. I can imagine that this band in the live-environment sounds more gruff. I hope they’ll catch that on the next album, but for now this CD is a promising start.  
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|  | | Zaar - n/t | The hurdygurdy is not much used in contemporary music, although it could be more logical than than one could suspect. It’s a common instrument in western Eur...
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| | | The Music of Clay Ruby & Burial H... | Over the last couple of decades Wisconsin native, Clay Ruby has been creating some of the world’s finest dark electronic music under the Burial Hex mon...
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