Maserati

Pyramid Of The Sun

Written by: PP on 11/01/2011 13:45:15

Maserati. What a wonderfully accurate name and descriptor for this Georgia, US band, who play a brand of instrumental rock characterized by its driving groove, a fast momentum preserved throughout their newest album "Pyramid Of The Sun" that makes for some damn sweet driving music for those long stretches of open road ahead of you. This goes a long way to describe the idea of this record, but falls somewhat short to painting the overall picture of what's really going on.

Instead, "Pyramid Of The Sun" could be branded as dance-enabled post-rock that feels oddly progressive and psychedelic at the same time. It's an amalgamation of ideas that shouldn't work together in practice, but two aspects of Maserati work together so magically well that the resulting sound is impressive and intriguing to say the least. One, the repetitive guitars and the multi-layered keyboards are used exceptionally creatively to help form the three key elements of "Pyramid of The Sun": texture, mood, and atmosphere. Two, the disco/electronica-influenced drumming from late Jerry Fuchs (!!!, LCD Soundsystem) is exuberant in nature, but differs vastly from your normal drumming as he masterfully orchestrates groovy atmosphere and mood through his incredibly versatile ability throughout. He's the one reason why the entire album consists of a very uniform sound throughout that forms a special, intriguing atmosphere.

It's safe to say, this atmosphere and soundscape is one unlike anything I've previously heard in my long career as a music critic. On one hand, it could be background music in some early to mid 90s PC games where midi-soundtracks were nothing short of brilliant cues for hair-raising atmospherics, but it's equally reminiscent, or rather, an interesting re-interpretation of the psychedelia that is Pink Floyd in a modern, electronic format. At the same time, the layering techniques used recall Zombi's astonishing "Spirit Animal" from 2009, but although similar, Maserati is designed for a long-winded, momentous, atmospheric drive along the Southern European roads, preferably high up on the hills on curvy, serpentine roads for maximum effect. It's something special, but is it one of the best albums of 2010 as claimed by a number of reviews I've come across? I'm not sure, but should you place instrumental rock, psychedelia, and electronica each into their own corner in a triangle, Maserati's sound would be located equidistant from all edges, smack down in the middle. This kind of perfect mixture of genres is incredibly rare.

8

Download: They'll No More Suffer From Hunger
For the fans of: Zombi, From Monument To Masses, Pink Floyd
Listen: Myspace

Release date 12.11.2010
Golden Antenna

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