Brast Burn
There is a lot of mystery surrounding this japanese group who have released only one album (Debon) on Voice Records back in 1975. There is a lot of speculation about who the musicians on here are. I've heard they might be art school students or some more famous artist going under a pseudonym, some even say they are the exact same members as the equally obscure Karuna Khyal (who also released only one album on Voice Records), and some say they're not. Obviously, this is one of those ne plus ultra of obscurities in recording history and miraculously it was released on CD in 1998 by the people at Paradigm Discs. On the liner notes of the re-release, the label mentions they would like to be put in contact with anyone from the Voice Records label or members of the band for more information. It's just that much of a curious artifact.
This band (along with Karuna Khyal) sound "weird"... plain ole'weird. It's very psychedelic, the songs are long and cut up into shorter, repetitious parts and the voices have to be heard to be believed. When I play it at home, the usual reaction I get is that of laughter or complete annoyance. I think they sound one-of-a-kind and I wouldn't know where to start if I had to compare them to any other band.
I started listening to this group by chance. They were in the "outsider" section at my favorite music store in Montreal and I noticed this album and Karuna Khyal's Alomoni 1985 (whose cover art really fascinated me) were on the same label and I decided to give them a try. I can't say it struck me as anything special; the voices were weird, but that was pretty much it when it came to first impressions. I had money for only one of the two and after more listening, I went ahead and got the Brast Burn CD. I put it on again when I got home and listened to it in it's entirety. It was so trippy I felt like I had just aurally consumed a huge quantity of magic mushrooms. It is without a doubt (and still is) one of the most (if not the most) psychedelic recordings I have in my collection. I was stunned. The next day I went out and got the Karuna Khyal CD regardless of my limited budget.
DebonLabel: Paradigm Discs Release: 1975 Format: CD Cat. no: PD 07 |
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