A-Austr - Musics from the Holy Ground

A very obscure British psych group who never got past the spine when searching the encyclopedia for a band name - just how does one pronounce this anyway? Musically they’re squarely in Pretty Things and Small Faces territory, in fact hints of S. F. Sorrow pop up here and there although subsumed fairly well by the group’s own vision. Like the Pretty Things, the band tends to incorporate some theatrical and cabaret styles into their music, however unlike the PT, A-Austr don’t seem to be quite as good pop writers and they’re clearly amateur instrumentalists, far closer to the original Amon Duul or Hapshash than the Beatles lineage they skirt the edges of. Where I go with this is a bit hard to say at this point because it entirely depends on how much the songs stick and I don’t really have high hopes for them, given their superior influences. But as an interesting listen, it’s quite entertaining in a lo-fi-ish way.

Wendy & Bonnie - Genesis

Wendy & Bonnie are kind of like the opposite of A-Austr in some ways both positive and negative. Clearly, even if Wendy and Bonnie were barely into their teens when they recorded this, they’re backed up by strong, professional musicians (Larry Carlton on guitar? I forget) and it makes all the difference with the cohesion. However one notices that from song to song there isn’t much diversity here past the sirensong of the vocals, which are almost impossible not to compare to the Mellow Candle, except that both have a similar style. Very lovely stuff of course, but definitely a bit samey, it’s fortunate it’s a fairly short one. 

Magma - L’Auditorium des Halles, Paris 12/11-12/96 (DVD)

I didn’t hold out high hopes for this DVD, which seems to be a split performance between a very nice professional broadcast and a very muddy quality MDK tagged on at the end. Apparently this was about a month after the band reformed and given how the new Magma seem like they roll from strength to strength, looking backwards I figured it would be a bit on the weak side. Was I ever wrong. Except for those intervening years that horrified us with Merci and the awful opening track from Enneade, Magma almost seem near perfect live every time, the way they cultivate the vibe has the ability to give me gooseflesh just thinking about it. I’m curious who the vocalist is here though, I was led to believe it’s Antoine Paganotti, but it seems to be someone entirely different. Anyway I can’t get enough of Magma DVDs, they bring a little of the divine to my living room every play.