VAK

Budo is a lot to swallow. It's 59 minutes of music spread out over three songs, 51 of which comprise the first two. The title track leads off the album, beginning with an immediate, bouncy, jazzy bassline before quickly adding layers of synthesizer and electric piano. The vocals enter around the two-minute mark and are yet another trademark of the genre: operatic, dramatic, and ritualistic. As far as I can tell, the vocalist doesn't sing in French, but it's unclear if it's just scat-style organized gibberish or if the band has some sort of Kobaïan-style art language.

The intensity of "Budo" does ebb eventually, turning into a more meditative piece of gradually-building tension. The song then slides into a chaotic series of solos, trading off between guitar, electric piano, and some rather Van der Graaf Generator-inspired saxophone. As the solos end, the song drifts to a spacier place, with the keys lending an expansive atmosphere. As the song nears its end, intensity builds briefly, only to dissipate once more.

"Hquark", the second song on the album, is a little less immediately inviting. It quickly dives into strange chords and warbling, high-pitched synth lines. Before long, the song is lurching into a flurry of jazzy piano and pounding drums. However, this musical storm eventually breaks onto gentler shores. As happens multiple times in these suites, the song builds to big, irregular riffs before crashing back to earth and repeating the cycle. This is not repetitious music, but there is definitely a pattern to VAK's songwriting. "Hquark" ultimately builds to a more satisfying climax than "Budo", but the path to get there is a bit bumpier.

The closing "Au Fond des Creuses" is a relatively brief eight minutes long, but it's a nice encapsulation of the band's sound. A flautist is enlisted to play on this slow burn of a track, as the music gradually escalates from gentle murmurs to something which wouldn't sound terribly out of place on an early King Crimson record.

This review does drop a lot of old bands' names, but that's meant more as a framing device than a direct comparison. VAK sound modern, but their influences are not difficult to suss out.

Review originally posted here: theeliteextremophile.com/2019/01/10/album-review-vak-budo/

The sophomore effort from one of the new generation of Kobaïans from France. This is definitely a step forward for the band from their debut.

1. "IJKL" (7:03) more guitar-centric than typical Zeuhl. Until the final 30 seconds, this is not as interesting or sophisticated and refreshing to make it worth coming back to. (11.5/15)

2. "Aedividea" (14:02) opens with a spacey ALAN PARSONS PROJECT-like texture before electric piano, drums, guitar, bass and flute enter and define their rolls within a repetitive weave a bit before Aurélie's voice joins. A dynamics and tempo shift at the four-minute mark usher in a faster, guitar- and bass-driven section. Keys, voice, drums, and flute provide excellent reinforcement and embellishment to main theme--eventually taking over from guitar and voice in the seventh minute. This is good! The flute player tries to give it her Zeuhlish best, but, to my ears, it's just not wild and loud enough to deserve the leadership position. At 8:20 there is a stop and restart into an entirely new theme--one in which the drums get a chance to really show off. At 9:45 the vocals seem to be positioning themselves to take over the lead, but synths, guitars, and, especially, the drums are not quite willing to give her the chance. Another new motif begins in the 12th minute before melting away for a gentle guitar, Fender Rhodes, and cymbal to set up a new theme with arpeggiated guitar and bass setting the mood. Aurélie is still there, being used more to reflect the flute--to the end. Interesting! (26/30)

3. "Alzh" (11:08) opens with a kind of 1970s RTF jazz-fusion sound and feel. At the one-minute mark things shift and guitar chord play takes front and center over Fender Rhodes fast arpeggi. Eventually, flute takes the lead as things get seriously Zeuhlish (with "choral" vocals spicing things up). Even so, this is still not at the level of Magma sophistication or virtuosity. A slow down (almost "breakdown") in the fifth minute leads to a slow, plodding section that constantly feels as if it's trying to get going (despite the showy drum play) but never does. Quick key-arpeggio at 6:25 once again kickstarts this into the fast lane but, then, things feel like they're getting stuck again--until everything drops out at 7:45, leaving us floating in some kind of state of suspended animation for the next three and a half minutes as strings-like synths create a kind of background of Interstellar tension. I love this--though it doesn't feel very Zeuhl (and yet, in a space opera, shouldn't there be occasional passages just like this?) The most refreshing and innovative song on the album, IMHO. (17.5/20)

4. "Zeom" (9:49) opens with a heavy weave that has more in common with KING CRIMSON than Magma. Wordless vocals enter in the second minute adding a Zeuhlish quality, but then they fade out and we are left with a much more technical/metal sound palette. In the fourth minute flute is added and then the intensity of the music backs off a much more Carolina Prieta-KOTEBEL-like operatic voice joins in. Flute holds the foundation with a chord progression of quick-arpeggi as the rest of the band punctuates with syncopated though-coordinated chords until 6:37. At 7:45 the music takes on a familiarity to the driving music of JANNICK TOP's 2008 masterpiece of urgency, Infernal Machina. Good stuff! (17.5/20)

5. "Ellien" (6:23) interesting polyrhythmic play between the keyboard's arpeggi and the rest of the band's weave. Drums and electric guitar also seem to go their own separate ways at times. Aurélie's voice just seems so wasted here: just another single-note provider like a flute or synth. Nice keys, guitars, and drumming on display in their soli during the fifth and sixth minutes. Bass becomes the only thing really holding this to a Zeuhl script. (8.25/10)

6. "Periscopy" (10:15) This song takes us fully into the realm of UNIVERSAL TOTEM ORCHESTRA as Aurélie (and her operatic voice) is finally given some freedom and room to live large within the music. Still, there is a little too much simplicity and mechanisticality in the Zeuhl formats used here. At the same time, there is, however, a feeling about this song as if the band have finally made Zeuhl their go-to music; the leads and turn-taking and commitment to background support on this song feel just as strong as those given by C Vander and his hired guns. The best and most fulfilling, complete-sounding song on the album. (18.25/20)

Total Time: 58:40

B/four stars; all in all, this is a fine addition to the Zeuhl lexicon, though this band still feels as though they are getting their feet wet in terms of rising to the mastery and sophistication of the Zeuhl masters. I'm hopeful that the final song, "Periscopy," is an indication of that step forward.

VAK are a really fantastic Zeuhl entity!? I'm not a big fan of this genre in general, often enough coming in touch with a very strange, overly complex approach. I mean experimental in a sense of mentality-wise tilt or so ... nearly :-) Okay, trying to be fair, let's start again, occasionally I just had problems to dig such stuff, to make friends with. This band is awfully good, so good! Man! More of an accessible example quite simply. Hence, is this Zeuhl really in the end? Who knows. Anyhow, the album is consisting of three tracks solely, two of them crossing the 20 minute border. That alone is revelation enough, isn't it? One hell of a musical experience, I can confirm. Just like it is with the All Traps On Earth debut from the same year maybe. I would also name Alco Frisbass when looking for another proper reference.

Of course they are from France, the birthplace of Zeuhl music. Tiny but important part of their DNA, one or two may argue. In the first instance, just to be on the safe side, you may check this on their bandcamp page. They are capable of transferring the listener into another dimension. Hey, running about 28 minutes or so, the title track is pure bliss! When you're in a good mood, take your headphones, and slowly, carefully dive into this sensation. Alternating groovy and highly melancholic parts. Fusion alike and spacey electric guitar contributions. Dramatic synths and sparkling Rhodes piano all over, contributed by Alexandre Michaan. And then Aurélie's vocal presence, not to believe! Who can make it better? What will follow after this? Time to let loose. 'Budo' is a masterpiece of progressive rock music, no doubt.

This second release from this French Zeuhl band is very well constructed and produced. The compositions are complex and dynamic with rarely a dull moment or overly-prolonged passage and the musicians are equally up to the task of delivering this complex music in a powerful and jazzy fashion. The freshness or innovation does not go much beyond what bands Magma, Eskaton, and Ga'an have already done, but the second song, the 23-minute epic "Hquark" synthesizes sounds and stylistic elements from other related subgenres in the way that SETNA did with their 2014 masterpiece "Guérison."

1. "Budo" (27:28) opening with busy bass, steady drums and background keys before a jazzy chordal fabric is announced by keys and horns. Multiple keys and, later, voice and R&B guitar chord play are introduced to fill out the sound in a second section. Aurélie and Alexandre play off each other harmonically to create melody lines out of voice and synth until 3:30 when there is a slowdown bridge for a syncopation display from the rhythm section. Then we briefly recapitulate the vocal-synth melody before a stripped down section allows the bass to be on display. Keys and playful drums provide background as Aurélie enters and scats and soars á la Stella Vander. A "power chord" bridge of piggy-backed bass, guitar and keys follows before another recapitulation of the vocal-synth theme. Then around 7:15 there is another breakdown in which bass and keys offer their solos. Aurelie supports as bass and drums fall away and only provide simple, syncopated support until the tenth minute when prominent drums play beneath and within the keys. Bass is sliding up and down the fretboard, back and forth. At 10:30 guitar announces its turn with a couple of loud chord strokes and a deep, wailing wah-ed sound. Nice solo, nice drum play. Another thematic shift at 12:00 before keys take a Brian Auger/Eumir Deodato-like solo over a blues-rock like foundation from the rhythm section. At the end of the fourteenth minute the synth and bass get pretty creative as the drums maintain an often straightforward rock tempo--shifting into an odd time signature just as multiple saxophone (two) tracks enter with their mutually exclusive soloing. This section ends up being the most prolonged of the song as the saxes keep jamming for over three minutes--even over a thematic shift in the seventeenth minute just before the slowdown and spacious shift that leads back into a pretty Fender Rhodes arpeggio-based section over which multiple tracks--voice, synth, and guitar--present and carry forward the melody. At 19:30 we again shift as the Fender alone carries the music into a more cinematic section in which cymbal play is the keyboard's main companion. Eventually, by the 24th minute, drums, gentle bass, and space-guitar notes are added over the Magma-esque keyboard foundation. The weave that is slowly built is quite cool--definitely moving toward a climax. Voices, saxes, and everything but the kitchen sink is thrown into the mix before the crescendo is maxed out mid-26th minute. A long, slow deconstruction and fade is then slowly executed to reach the quiet, complete end. It's hard to find fault with this awesome pure-Zeuhl epic. Perhaps the frenzies and crescendo's do not reach the fanatical heights achieved by the Vander-Magma masters. (46.75/50)

2. "Hquark" (23:03) drum sticks, bass tom, and triangle create a rhythmic MAGMA-esque weave to open this one. Single note "horn," piano, and wordless vocals soon join in and eventually supplant the rhythmic weave sounding very much like something off of the two GA'AN albums. At 1:50 drums kick in as synths and full volume voice and electric guitar carry the song into its full form (at 2:05). Aurélie's vocals play a dominant role in the establishment of this, even as electric guitar takes a stab at soloing and the full band bursts into a section of loud power drive. Soft and heavy dynamic shifts seem to be the key to this one not getting stale, and this is never so well demonstrated as the first downshift that occurs at the five minute mark. Aurélie scatting wordlessly (and without consonants)--even via multiple tracks--while Fender Rhodes and very cool bass play proceed until the keyboard-guitar(and, later, -synth) weave double their speed at the end of the seventh minute. Drums and vocals increase intensity commensurately until everything slows down to a walk at the 8:20 mark. Keyboard, synth, and scratchy electric guitar solos start and duel in a crazy frenzied dance until the 10:00 mark. There follows another ominous slowdown section--even coming to a full stop at 10:32 before a pretty, gentle, SETNA-like Fender Rhodes solo initiates a new slow section over which Aurélie sings a complex melody line of "hey dah yah"s and more. The music slowly but insidiously picks up pace and intensity with drums paving the way while Aurélie's work remains fairly constant. Cool! At 13:45 there is yet another stoppage and slow entry of a solo Fender keyboard--this one not as melodic or autonomous as the previous one. While Aurélie and drums and bass rejoin fairly quickly, the rebuild is quite slow and protracted. Aurélie's repeating pattern reminds me of Amanda Parsons' work with National Health. In the eighteenth minute an entirely new groove is established with bass and drums sounding, in fact, a lot more like the aforementioned NATIONAL HEALTH than Zeuhl founders Magma. Even the keyboard solo is more Dave Stewart--though the backing guitar and bass work is definitely Zeuhlish. Fender Rhodes gives way to synth while complex rhythm section and a more in-the-background Aurélie provide the foundational support. This is easily the most sophisticated section of the song. By the end of the twenty-second minute we are fully and firmly back into the land of Kobaïa--and this is how the song flows to its end. The middle section of sparsity with keys, bass, drums, and lone female voice treading softly for several minutes is, I have to admit, my favorite part. I love Aurélie's more loose and melodic "lead" vocals as well as the the Fender Rhodes theme here. I think Aurélie unique talents are much better put to use--"set free"--here than on "Budo." Overall, this is another great song--creatively and skillfully melding several styles and influences from within and the fringes of Zeuhl World into something engaging, interesting, and definitely begging for repeated listens. I like this one better than the opener--probably because of its expansive inclusion of other styles as well as the greater range, freedom, and prominence in the lead capacity given to the vocalizations of Ms. Sainte-Croix in the first two of the three middle sections. (47/50)

3. "Au fond des creuses" (8:19) opens slowly with a slow bouncing Zeuhlish Fender Rhodes chord sequence accompanied by simple drums and bass while Aurélie sings her vocalise. The tempo and intensity pick up in the middle of the third minute. Again, I am quite reminded of Chicago's GA'AN's two 2011 releases. At the five minute mark a cool guitar and Fender Rhodes weave sets up support for the entry of solo flute. This is very cool! But, alas! It ends all too quickly; at 6:30 we are back to a slow, plodding section--though this one is heavier due to the guitar's "power chords." The song then softens as it deconstructs toward the very delicate Aurélie Sainte-Croix-led end. (17.5/20)

Five stars; a masterpiece of progressive rock music. It is so difficult for me to find fault with Zeuhl music because it's usually so well-constructed and takes such instrumental prowess to render. Plus, there often seems to be present an underlying emotional and even spiritual component to this music. I think of the recent UNIT WALL, PioL, CORIMA, and even this year's PinioL and ALL TRAPS ON EARTH albums as other examples of this fact. Perhaps this subgenre is the pinnacle--or synthesis--of all that is best about progressive rock music. The wordless vocals of Aurélie Sainte-Croix are awesome and so very welcome--they're as good as another lead instrument--and yet I feel that they have not yet been fully liberated--that they are not yet realizing their fullest potential. Perhaps in future releases!?

VAK are back with their second Soleil Zeuhl release three years after their debut. The core of the band is the same with Aurélie Saintecroix (wordless vocals), Alexandre Michaan (keyboards), Joël Crouzet (guitar & bass) & Vladimir Mejstelman (drums). The sound is filled out with guests Michaël Havard & Nora Froger on sax's and flutes respectively.

Their sound is heavily influenced by Eskaton, particularly the wordless vocals, and Magma. They have a very retro zeuhl sound with driving rhythmic bass and drums with keys primarily leading the composition. If you like long instrumental pieces that suck you in with the a groove that grooves and grooves you'll love this. One of the highlights of the year.

Mastered by Udi Koomran and a very happy return of the Soleil Zeuhl label who have been quiet for a couple of years.

The album-length take on Aedividea by Vak consists of material orignally released on two separate EPs - a self-titled release from 2012 and the original "Aedividea" EP. Completists will be bugged by the absence of Reeht, from the Vak EP, an 8 minute track which there would have certainly been room for here, but as it stands I think the running time of this release is just about perfect to satisfy me without making my attention wander, so perhaps leaving it off was the right call. Musically speaking, Vak play zeuhl in a style heavily influenced by Eskaton (and Magma, of course, but everyone who does zeuhl is influenced by Magma) but with a markedly updated sound, especially when it comes to the keyboards.

I was pretty much stunned after my first listen of this album leaving me wondering why this album and band aren't being talked about a lot more than they are. Then I found out it was the fourth highest rated 2015 release on the Gnosis site, and then I discovered that one of my favourite reviewers Tom Hayes had given it 4.5 out of 5 stars and yes I felt vindicated I suppose. VAK are a young band out of France who bring to mind ESKATON, EIDER STELLAIRE and MAGMA. The guitar is a nice touch and it can be aggressive at times. Also the flute is quite prominent bringing to mind DUN at various moments. This album was mastered by Udi Koomran so it sounds fantastic. The keyboardist created the album cover. By the way this album was initially going to be released as two Eps but instead they combined the recordings. I am such a sucker for Fender Rhodes driven Zeuhl but then add some guitar and flute and well I'm in heaven.

"IJKL" has this bass intro as it starts to build. How freaking good is the Fender Rhodes here. The guitar starts to make some noise then the tempo picks up before 2 minutes with the guitar playing over top. Vocals follow and man this reminds me of EIDER STELLAIRE with the guitar and Fender rhodes especially. Fuzzed out guitar after 3 minutes then it settles back but the guitar continues. So good! It turns more powerful then the Fender Rhodes comes to the fore.

"Aedividea" is spacey to start and the flute joins in at 1 1/2 minutes, then drums as it builds. Female vocals 3 minutes in. I love this stuff! It kicks into gear at 4 minutes with heavy guitar expressions eventually joining in. Check out the fast paced vocals too. It does settle back some as the flute plays over top but it's still uptempo with busy drums. A calm before 8 1/2 minutes but then it turns powerful again rather quickly. It settles back 9 1/2 minutes in female vocals and guitar standing out. The vocal melodies and drums sound incredible before 11 minutes then we get another calm a minute later as it turns trippy. Great track!

"Alzh" opens with Fender Rhodes, vocal melodies and drums as guitar melodies come and go. It's a slow burn at this point. The pace picks up with guitar, Fender Rhodes and drums leading the way. The vocals are back before 2 minutes then the flute comes in playing over top. A calm before 5 minutes then it becomes heavier but still a slow burn with vocal melodies and more. A spacey calm of almost silence before 8 minutes to the end. "Zeom" sounds amazing when it kicks into a higher gear 1 1/2 minutes in with the vocals, guitar and drums standing out. The vocals stop a minute later as the heaviness continues but with flute this time. The vocals are back before 4 minutes as it settles down some. A MAGMA vibe after 5 minutes as the flute seems to go in circles with random drum patterns. It picks up some before winding down 8 1/2 minutes in.

"Ellien" is led early by the drums, vocals and guitar as it builds. It lightens before 1 1/2 minutes as the Fender Rhodes comes in. It picks up again then it's the guitar/ piano show after 4 minutes. The vocals are back late to end it. "Periscopy" features some complex instrumental work early on. Vocals before 1 1/2 minutes and these soprano vocals bring a eerie vibe to the proceedings not to mention that it's darker here after 3 minutes. It picks up a minute later as the vocals are replaced by the flute. Check out the drumming before 7 minutes. A calm follows and we get some nice guitar a minute later.

I am so stoked about this record. The first track is like Zeuhl 101 and I love it but the second half of this album especially is quite dense at times and a bit of a challenge which I appreciate. A top three album for me for 2015.