krautrock
Musical millipede Aidan Baker and his Caudal trio return with album number three. According to Aidan, this is their most "poppy" album to date. When I read that, I had no idea how a poppy Caudal album would sound. What did they do? Invite an autotune brunette? Have Dr Dré make the beats? Have DJ Khaled scream his name over all the songs?
So today I finally decided to dig into this (and several other) albums. Coincidentally, before this one I was listening to Red Snapper. I didn't realize how close Caudal and Red Snapper actually are. The transition between the two bands was seamless, apart from the fact that there's no sax in Caudal.
On 'Fight Cry Fight', Caudal delivers nine songs. The longest ('The Blue Meds') is eight minutes long while the others barely reach the maximum commercial airplay length. Perhaps that is the poppy part of this album, short tunes. Everything else is pure Caudal, which obviously is exciting. Their blend of krautrock, post rock and drone rock sounds rather lighthearted and joyful, in sheer contrast to the cover art. In fact, a track like 'Divisible' even reminds me of Alice In The Cities, another smile evoking post rock act.
'Flourish' takes on a more jazzy approach and adds a sense of space rock to the whole thing. It also seems to be one of the most complex tracks on this album, and again, Red Snapper comes to mind. 'Low Red' is an incredibly friendly tune, something that sounds like The Cure jamming on a beach in late summer. 'Sunwashed' does something similar, be it a bit faster. I guess this is the sound of Joy Division trying their hand on krautrock, something like that. Oh well, poppy or not, this is simply another highly enjoyable Caudal album, one every fan of krautrock should possess.
Serge
So today I finally decided to dig into this (and several other) albums. Coincidentally, before this one I was listening to Red Snapper. I didn't realize how close Caudal and Red Snapper actually are. The transition between the two bands was seamless, apart from the fact that there's no sax in Caudal.
On 'Fight Cry Fight', Caudal delivers nine songs. The longest ('The Blue Meds') is eight minutes long while the others barely reach the maximum commercial airplay length. Perhaps that is the poppy part of this album, short tunes. Everything else is pure Caudal, which obviously is exciting. Their blend of krautrock, post rock and drone rock sounds rather lighthearted and joyful, in sheer contrast to the cover art. In fact, a track like 'Divisible' even reminds me of Alice In The Cities, another smile evoking post rock act.
'Flourish' takes on a more jazzy approach and adds a sense of space rock to the whole thing. It also seems to be one of the most complex tracks on this album, and again, Red Snapper comes to mind. 'Low Red' is an incredibly friendly tune, something that sounds like The Cure jamming on a beach in late summer. 'Sunwashed' does something similar, be it a bit faster. I guess this is the sound of Joy Division trying their hand on krautrock, something like that. Oh well, poppy or not, this is simply another highly enjoyable Caudal album, one every fan of krautrock should possess.
Serge
