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Reviews

Various Artists — Floralia Vol. 3
(Mizmaze WoT4CD99003, 1999, CD)

by Jon Davis, Published 2002-09-01

Floralia Vol. 3 Cover art

This is quite a mixed bag of generally psychedelic bands from all around the world. It starts off with Cosmic Gardeners doing a nice sitar-accented tune and borderline irritating vocals. A track by Amp is really annoying, with tuneless singing and droning distortion. Hungary’s Korai Öröm bumps up the quality level considerably with “Welcome to the Hippie Future,” with some great drumming and spacey effects. Australian Tom Kazas (formerly of The Moffs) offers up a well-written neo-psych-pop gem that suffers from tinny production. Ohm comes from the more electronic side; In the Labyrinth contributes a lovely Indian-inflected piece that builds slowly over five minutes. Smoking the Century Away provides a scattered and amorphous pieces with lots of squonking from bass clarinet. “Joni’s Sweet Echo” by This Fluid from Greece is a diverting piece based on a groove reminiscent of Peter Gabriel’s Security. Acid Mothers Temple and the Melting Paraiso UFO sound even sillier than their name and are best avoided, as are Le Forbici di Maintú and Ectogram. Tombstone Valentine is a little better, though “The Web” is a little too long and could use some percussion to provide a little energy. Mexican-born electronic and vocal experimentalist Alquimia finishes the collection off with an interesting (if slightly New Agey) work for percussion, keyboards, and voice.

Filed under: New releases, Issue 25, 1999 releases

Related artist(s): Acid Mothers Temple, Alquimia, Tombstone Valentine, In the Labyrinth, Makoto Kawabata

 

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