ÜDÜ ẀÜDÜ

I've always preferred my Magma with jazz- and funk-influenced bass right up front, which is one of the reasons that this album, Udu Wudu, has been one of my favorites by Magma. Jannick Top's basslines on this album are funky and repetitive and incredibly infectious. The grooves are dark and evil sounding, which really sets the whole mood for the entire album (except the title-track, which is remarkably optimistic).

Synthesizers occasionally make a few touches in the music on this album, most likely due to both the band thinning out in amount of members and also possibly Magma trying to create greater appeal to the "modern" crowd. Most of the synth lines are creepy-sounding graveyard effects that accentuate Top's dark funk grooves flawlessly.

Another huge reason that I prefer this album over most other Magma albums is that the horribly done operatic bafoonery vocals take a backseat on this album, for the most part. Occasional scatting and chanting appears, but the actual music portion of this album prevails.

Magma for fans of jazz-fusion and funk - highly recommended.