Instant Drone Factory - "Live"
(Fuenfundvierzig 2007, 164)
Instant Drone Factory - "Live"
(Fuenfundvierzig 2007, 164)
From Aural Innovations #38 (January 2008)
The second outing from Instant Drone Factory (IDF) documents their performance at the 2006 Schiphorst Avantgarde Festival in Germany. The quartet consists of Frank Gingeleit on guitar & guitar synthesizer, Thomas Hinkel on synthesizer & flute, Rie Miyazaki (from Marble Sheep) on bass, Morihide Sawada on drums (also from Marble Sheep), and Andrea Tabacco on guitar & vocals. "Summer" opens the set with searing guitars, both hard edged droning and spaced out. Andrea Tabacco's vocals are aggressive and theatrically spoken word, very much like Damo Suzuki, but also have a Captain Beefheart flavor. When the rhythm section kicks in the band settle into a tribal groove, which makes for a great combination with the manic vocals and corrosive guitars There's lots of really cool guitar effects, and things build up to a noisy finale, making for a wild jamming avant-psychedelic-krautrock ride.
The nearly 20 minute "The Sweetest Flavour / Ghost Writer" is similar, but gets into a kind of avant-garde space rock territory. We've still got the caustic guitars and Tabacco's vocal rants, but electronics play a larger role. IDF do a great job of keeping a steady groove going, which is all the more impressive given all the detailed happenings within. And they do veer off into quieter transitional segments, which are both ambient and playful. And I really dig the part where some of the most acid-noise guitars on the album duel with flute, which itself gets pretty spaced out. "Rhapsodie Chaotique" is next and couldn't have a better title. It's a freeform experimental space jam with wailing synths and various other electronics, multiple competing rhythmic patterns, and the trademark IDF guitars. The keyboards get a bit jazzy at one point, which sounds pretty cool backed by the tumultuous rhythms and guitars. Finally, "Take A Look Around" closes the set and is a trippy avant-Reggae song.
IDF are difficult to describe in words, and that alone should attract the attention of adventurous music lovers. Can and Faust fans will find much to enjoy, as will those into heavy spaced out psychedelia who also have a taste for the avant-garde. Recommended.
For more information you can visit the Instant Drone Factory web site at: http://www.instantdronefactory.com.
Visit the Fuenfundvierzig web site at: http://www.fuenfundvierzig.com.
Reviewed by Jerry Kranitz