SONIC CELLULOID

DJAM KARET have been making music for some 35 years or so. They really deserve some lifetime achievement award for being so consistent with their releases over that time, and yes a ton of great music. I think 5 years is the longest gap between studio albums over that time. "Sonic Celluloid" is a fairly ambient album overall with a significant amount of electronics and mellotron. Mellotron-flute seems to be the go-to sound when it comes to the mellotron. This is headphone music people! There's so much going on when you really listen to this album though, I'm very impressed.

"Saul Says So" opens with atmosphere, and get used to it(haha). Yes a spacey intro with electronics and eventually sequencers surprisingly around 1 1/2 minutes. Keys follow as that spacey atmosphere continues. Drums and bass after 2 1/2 minutes. Great sound here. Guitar a minute later and check out the bass 4 minutes in. Some excellent sounding mellotron in this one as well.

"Forced Perspective" opens with a beat, bass, guitar and synths. The guitar does come to the fore in a tasteful manner and then the sound turns fuller after 2 minutes but it settles back again quickly. "Long Shot" is dark and spacey to start as a sample of spoken words and static arrive. An electronic melody arrives and continues after the sample ends. Mellotron follows and what a majestic sound after 2 minutes. So good! Drums after 2 1/2 minutes and I like the organ before 3 minutes as electronics continue. It kicks into gear with some nice guitar but not for long.

"No Narration Needed" opens with mellotron as a horn blasts. This is spacey with background sounds. The guitar starts to make some noise. Nice. A change 3 minutes in as a solo bass line takes over then the mellotron returns. Picked guitar will eventually take over in atmosphere. "Numerous Mechanical Circles" has a spacey beginning as the mellotron rolls in along with some spoken words and nature sounds.

"Oceanside Exterior" is laid back and melancholic. This sounds really good especially when the sounds of the ocean arrive. One of my favourites. "Au Revoir Au Reve" opens with atmosphere and a beat. Sounds like vocal melodies of the female variety before 1 1/2 minutes. Guitar a minute later.

"Flashback" is mellow with intricate sounds and guitar. "Lower" features sounds that drift as some sparse piano comes and goes. Suddenly background voices can be heard and the build to a crescendo. "The Denouncement Device" ends it on a high. Intricate guitar, bass and atmosphere early. Love that bass in that spacey atmosphere. Mellotron-flute before 2 minutes and later after 3 minutes. It turns powerful with guitar after 3 1/2 minutes. Nice!

Another quality release from these Californians. What a discography though, such an impressive band and it's so cool that in 2017 they continue to impress. A solid 4 stars.

Psych rock, space rock, jam/improv, electronic, prog-rock, ambient - American group Djam Karet can be all of these things (often in the space of a single track!), but those tags don't quite do this eclectic instrumental band enough justice! The last few years in particular have been a very fruitful period for core members Gayle Ellett, Mike Henderson, Henry J Osborne and Chuck Oken Jnr and others with a number of standout releases, including the single forty-seven minute ambient space-rock journey `The Trip' in 2013, the retro-tastic `Regenerator 3017' a year later and a superior compilation of odds n' ends `Swamp of Dreams' after that, but `Sonic Celluloid' is their first proper studio disc in three years, and it proves to be another diverse and unpredictable collection from the talented instrumentalists, and one that's a lot more electronic-heavy than their last few.

After a moody ambient intro, `Saul Says So' springs to life with eerie Mellotron, coursing bass and trickling electronics, and some ravishing acoustic guitar flourishes are almost joyful and infectious even! There's nicely slinking programmed electronic grooves and chilled guitar licks throughout `Forced Perspective', `Long Shot' is a spacey wavering prog-electronic theme that sounds like the soundtrack to an eerie Seventies sci-fi series before its frantic Hammond organ and scorching electric guitar climax. The mix of drifting synth washes, haunting 'Tron and darker acoustic guitar in the final minutes of `No Narration Needed' might have come from Italian prog-rockers Goblin, and the bleeding and twitching deep-space electronics of `Numerous Mechanical Circles' could almost be Tangerine Dream, with tasty little teases of heroic Mellotron themes emerging as well.

`Oceanside Exterior', `Au Revoir Au Rêve' and `Flashback' are all moodier and atmospheric spacy electronic rockers with reflective guitar soloing spots that call to mind Pink Floyd and Nineties onwards-era Hawkwind, with plenty of spectral synth choirs, Mellotron fire and ticking programming between them. Piano dreaminess and reaching drowsy guitars strains purr through the toasty-mellow `Lower', and the sublime murmuring bass soloing and acoustic/electric back-and-forth of album closer `The Denouement Device' takes a darker, more mysterious turn in the second half making for a very unpredictable finale to the disc.

With plenty of releases in their thirty-plus year career together and never delivering even a slightly average one (ha, you've know they're a great band when even their compilations are superb!), `Sonic Celluloid' keeps up the strong tradition, proving to have quite a liveliness and no shortage of laid-back vibes. Exciting for long-time fans of the group and even an ideal starting point for newcomers, `Sonic Celluloid' just might even be one of Djam Karet's best to date!

Four stars.

Context is everything. Timing is everything. OK, they can't both be everything. Let's say, one means a lot and the other is everything else. These cliches really came into play when discovering Djam Karet's eighteenth studio album, Sonic Celluloid. As it turns out, this would be my first full dive into a Djam Karet album. I was aware of their existence back in the late '90's when I first delved into the catalog of Wayside Music/Cuneiform Records. The sound did not sit well with me then, or in later happenstance listenings. Admittedly, this is probably because at the time I sought out the very heavy or the very complex at every turn. Djam Karet has never been either of those. In fact, when Sonic Celluloid first hit my ears I was inundating my brain with the artists featured in a Progarchives forum ultra-complex prog discussion. For some reason Sonic Celluloid was the right thing at the right time.

As prefaced, this is not an 'in your face' album. Its an album that invites you in and embraces your presence with astounding subtlety. First off, except for a few spoken word sections, the album is entirely instrumental. Rhythmically less than half of the album that uses a standard rock kit and beats. And where it is present, it does not shy away from the groove. However, large sections of Sonic Celluloid have a spacey, new age feel. But that space is never filler. It is always present and engaging. Much of the ambiance is very reminiscent of Tangerine Dream of the mid-1970's, if a bit more compositionally active and nowhere near as protracted. The electronic textures are complimented by acoustic instruments and the occasional Gilmour-esque warm electric guitar solos. And of course the Prog staple Mellotron is present, though again, subtlety is the key word. All too often it is used to excess in modern Prog. It is used on Sonic Celluloid to produce texture as it was intended.

I suppose there are those that will argue that Sonic Celluloid offers nothing new under the sun, and they are probably right. But what cannot be argued is that this is an album that is diverse and exists in full comfort of that diversity. And at the same time never takes that diversity to extremes. To risk overusing the chief descriptor here, subtle. It is that precise characteristic with the current context and timing of my own listening journey that makes Sonic Celluloid one of my favorite albums of 2017 and an easy recommendation as an essential part of any Progressive rock collection. Not to mention grounds for further exploration of the remaining Djam Karet discography that I have managed to ignore all these years.