Swahili

Portland’s rising psychedelic stars Swahili, despite their short career and being virtually unknown in the blogosphere, have already turned a few heads during their live performances, sharing the stage with, among others, the psych rockers Eternal Tapestry. Apparently one of the turned heads was Pete Swanson (of Yellow Swans fame) himself, who agreed to master Swahili’s s/t debut for vinyl. Released on the ever-quality label Translinguistic Other (responsible for the stellar Fungal Abyss tape) Read more on Last.fm …read full bio

Portland’s rising psychedelic stars Swahili, despite their short career and being virtually unknown in the blogosphere, have already turned a few heads during their live performances, sharing the stage with, among others, the psych rockers Eternal Tapestry. Apparently one of the turned heads was Pete Swanson (of Yellow Swans fame) himself, who agreed to master Swahili’s s/t debut for vinyl. Released on the ever-quality label Translinguistic Other (responsible for the stellar Fungal Abyss tape), Swahili escapes attempts at quick, neat pigeonholing. It’s droning, yes, but it’s too rhythmical and varied to be drone. It’s psychedelic, but it’s not enough guitar based or freak out focused to be considered psychedelic rock. It often uses traditional instruments, but it’s too detached and futuristic to be considered folk of any kind. Tracks on the LP all have an eerie, post-apocalyptic feel to them, being rather brooding and minimalistic heathen hymns sung by the followers of some made-up, neo-pagan religion singing the sparse words to cold, rudimentary synths and repetitive tribal drumming - exemplified here by the aptly named “Fallout", which sounds like the soundtrack to a black mass sung in a cave, among the remnants of the old civilization. There are moments, where the female moans and chanted lyrics set to booming percussions and cosmic electronics that make Swahili sound like a downer, more alienated and oppressive version of Prince Rama. However, Swahili take cues from many artists and genres - “Into One" sounds like a stripped down Can’s “Oh Yeah", “Ascher J2000" is an experimental, glitchy affair, “Kirghiz" is a wall of shimmering, silky drone, “Agni" is a maniacal, amphetamine fueled noisy jam not unlike the wildest moments of Amon Düül II’s “Phallus Dei" and the nearly 2 minute “Surrender" is downright disturbing, with voices, moans and conversations reduced to a mere distant, reverbed pulp with no discernible words. Swahili’s self-titled debut is bleak and somewhat hopeless. It may be unwelcoming and discouraging at first, but the better look we take into this post-apoc gathering of weirdos, this bleak soundscape becomes hypnotic and incredibly psychedelic. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.

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…shrink me down again