Alla's latest six song blast of chaos entitled Digs is a brilliant peek into the world of this crazed band of Mexican-Americans. This three piece unit don't exactly play music as much as they make it up and abuse it as they go. Digs highlights their abilities to do this over the course of 26+ minutes and is made up of one new Alla song and five covers that cover the prog rock/psychedelic spectrum.
Digsveers from being something like a Stereolab single into a roller coaster ride of musicians losing control of their minds and playing free form interpretations of other bands songs for an eternity. Digsis frenetic crazy stuff that's uptempo one moment and then down the next, something that should come as no surprise when you're covering psychedelic pop, hip hop, krautrock, and the Residents. This EP is so all over the place and is so rough and raw that it sounds as though it's going to fall apart at the seems, but miraculously the band manages to keep it all together with a plodding set of rhythms that hold it in place. If you can imagine a psychedelic prog rock jam session that lasts for 30 minutes and could descend into insanity at any second, then you can kind of picture what listening to Alla is all about.
From the drone-like pop of "Si Si Puede," to the Terry Riley and John Cale instrumental workout that is, "Church of Anthrax," Alla is a band that keeps you guessing and keeps your ears transfixed no matter if it's an original song or a cover. After hearing DigsI can't help but wonder what this band would sound like on it's own given 80 minutes to kill and a sound board. I would imagine my brain might have a hard time handling it. Until that album is made and I can take enough Tylenol to prepare for such an event, anyone who loves intense musical workouts and chaos theory will find Digs an absolute head rush.
No comments:
Post a Comment