ÜDÜ ẀÜDÜ

After the dense series of albums before this, Magma's 1976 release Üdü Wüdü comes out with a more pared sound. Much of this one is held back to vocals, bass, drums, and keyboards. The brass does come out on a few pieces, including the opener/title track. A break from the norm -for Magma- is this very catchy, upbeat piece with an ethnic flavor. It also has amusing call-and-response vocals throughout. A personal favorite. All of the pieces are pretty different from each other. The quality musicianship is constant. There are less vocals here than in the past. After the first song, there are no female vocals. Given the sound of the other pieces, I suppose there really wasn't a lot of space where female vocals would be effective. So I am not going to mark off for that.

The first five tracks are all shorter pieces, and all five of them have fade-out endings. It is somewhat bothersome for me. Putting that aside, the pieces themselves are all strong. Unfortunately, the lack of density and length refrain these pieces from having the same level of intensity as MDK or Kohntarkosz.

The 18-minute "De Futura" is a very grotesque piece, largely affected by the vocals, which accentuate the throbbing bass and drums. This piece gets pretty intense, but I don't think it matches the past epics. It is still a good song.

This material is slightly below the standards Magma had set from the past handful of releases, but nevertheless is strong. While I've grown to love it, I have to recommend you try one of the earlier albums first (preferrably MDK). Although, this one is easier to find, which is why I made it my first Magma record. Unless you are certain you want to dig into what Magma has to offer here, I would grab this one a little later.