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High Castle Teleorkestra — The Egg That Never Opened
(Bandcamp Art as Catharsis, 2022, CD / 2LP / DL)

by Jon Davis, Published 2022-08-06

The Egg That Never Opened Cover art

Checking the resumes of the people involved in High Castle Teleokestra, one can get a pretty good idea what to expect — Mr. Bungle, Estradasphere, and Secret Chiefs 3 are the most well-known, but there’s also Doc Booger (a Chet Atkins tribute) and Farmers Market (Balkan klezmer rock), and that doesn’t even cover all the regular “members” of this remote music ensemble — which is schizophrenic music where absolutely nothing is out of bounds stylistically. We’ve already covered the two singles they released in 2021, and all four of those tracks are present here. The six new tracks are very much in the same non-vein. When a band’s calling card is constant change, it’s hard to think of that as a vein of any kind. I’m sure other writers have had a blast coming up with metaphors to describe the experience of listening to The Egg That Never Opened, perhaps involving a radio that randomly changes stations in the middle of songs, or being stuck on a merry-go-round that’s passing by doors which open to reveal different kinds of music. Certainly it can be a bit disorienting, when a speed metal riff interrupts a Balkan wedding dance only to be replaced by incidental music from a European film of the 70s followed by Beach Boys vocal harmonies. It’s pointless to analyze this music or even try to describe it in too much detail. Anyone who’s feeling disoriented by what I’ve written so far is probably not going to enjoy HCT, but those who are fond of the bands mentioned earlier will likely get just as much of a kick from this. With musicians scattered around the world contributing, it’s hard to imagine how this came together, though upon further thought, maybe it’s actually easier to do it that way — if musicians had to gather in a room and learn how to play this stuff, it would be quite challenging just getting from one instrument to another in time for the rapid jump-cuts. Just check out the link below and see if it’s your cup of tea / coffee / bourbon / aquavit / ouzo.

Filed under: New releases, 2022 releases

Related artist(s): High Castle Teleorkestra

More info
http://highcastleteleorkestra.bandcamp.com/album/the-egg-that-never-opened

 

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