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Reviews

Escapade — Searching for the Elusive Rainbow
(Mother West mwr030896, 1996, CD)

by Peter Thelen, Published 1997-05-01

Searching for the Elusive Rainbow Cover art

One wouldn't think that music this trippy could come from the USA in the 90s; indeed, the references in Escapade's music go back to the experimental Krautrock of the earliest 70s — Faust, Guru Guru, Cosmic Couriers, and Can. What with a totally instrumental improvisational five-piece lineup of drums, bass, guitars, samplers and noise generators, and heavily processed bass and guitars, they manage to create three lengthy free-form psychedelic jams, each topping the 16 minute mark, plus one condensed piece. The opener, "Immersion," explores the same fertile territory that Amon Düül II's "Marilyn Monroe Memorial Church" did; beginning with the second track, they begin to rock harder and go even deeper into experimental realms, combining driving rhythms with an industrial vengeance. Yes indeed, pass the sugarcubes, please. The ever-present electronics are purposely primitive, non-keyboard generated, and generally asynchronous, giving the music a decidedly free-form psychedelic feel, yet unlike so many of the modern neo-psychers who operate only a few beats away from the techno realm, Escapade revels in its rawness and energy, an affirmation of how far we need to go back to capture the true essence of space-rock. Recommended!

Filed under: New releases, Issue 12, 1996 releases

Related artist(s): Escapade, Hadley Kahn

 

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