Racc-ooo-oon are from Iowa City and from what I have read they have been around for quite a while. Behold Secret Kingdom has been my first introduction to them probably because it is their most widely distributed and easily accessible release. All their other albums and splits are on record or tape and a few have been re-released to CDR.
Racoo-ooo-oon concentrate on creating a world of musical discord and devastation through repeated construction/deconstruction of percussion and ambient noise. Through the progression of many tracks these two elements succumb to grinding, foaming, distorted guitars and are pierce by possessed moaning and yowling voices. Musical similarities have been drawn between Racoo-ooo-oon and Animal Collective. This is understandable in regards to the band’s psychedelic/trance like elements but the palate of sounds that the two bands use are vastly different. Rac-ooo-oon rely heavily on thick, pulsating guitars, synthetic noise, and progressive layering. Animal Collective on the other hand are more inclined to explore manipulation of found sound coupled with orchestrated intricacies.
On Behold Secret Kingdom the theme of the tainted forest and malicious nature is ever present. Names like Black Branches, Antler Mask and Fangs and Arrows compliment the use of distant bells and bestial guitars. On Tail at Prospect Peak a griping monstrous moan is followed by an intense, hunting party march. Voices and chants coalesce from a fog of noise and distortion and proceed to hack and destroy what was originally a brittle melody till all that is left is a slow and sloppy drum beat. Throughout the album the band plays with destroying what they create over and over until, through this repetition a sense of disorientation arises. The listener has no choice but to succumb to their omnipotent, grinding power as they are tantalised with distant promises of ethereal bells and whisps of lucid melodies.
Racoo-ooo-oon concentrate on creating a world of musical discord and devastation through repeated construction/deconstruction of percussion and ambient noise. Through the progression of many tracks these two elements succumb to grinding, foaming, distorted guitars and are pierce by possessed moaning and yowling voices. Musical similarities have been drawn between Racoo-ooo-oon and Animal Collective. This is understandable in regards to the band’s psychedelic/trance like elements but the palate of sounds that the two bands use are vastly different. Rac-ooo-oon rely heavily on thick, pulsating guitars, synthetic noise, and progressive layering. Animal Collective on the other hand are more inclined to explore manipulation of found sound coupled with orchestrated intricacies.
On Behold Secret Kingdom the theme of the tainted forest and malicious nature is ever present. Names like Black Branches, Antler Mask and Fangs and Arrows compliment the use of distant bells and bestial guitars. On Tail at Prospect Peak a griping monstrous moan is followed by an intense, hunting party march. Voices and chants coalesce from a fog of noise and distortion and proceed to hack and destroy what was originally a brittle melody till all that is left is a slow and sloppy drum beat. Throughout the album the band plays with destroying what they create over and over until, through this repetition a sense of disorientation arises. The listener has no choice but to succumb to their omnipotent, grinding power as they are tantalised with distant promises of ethereal bells and whisps of lucid melodies.
No comments:
Post a Comment