
M. Bassett/J. Gräf - Peradam [Utech records - 2010]Well after not being impressed by the last Utech Records offering I had to review (being another tedious new age release,) this one turned out to be much better. The NYC duo of M. Bassett and J. Gräf prefer a more psychedelic industrial-drone approach. The first track "Zero As Sky" is quite as uplifting as I'm describing on paper and does seem to reflect quite a bit of inspiration from the Indian ragas (in the vocal department mostly, though.) Do I detect that they've been listening to Pengo? Anybody familiar with that psych/noise band from my town of Rochester New York could spot the similarity. Sure enough, the next track "Black Waters Glow" has guitar markedly similar to Jason Finkbeiner's (again, of Pengo) style, except with lots more ghostly singing on top. The last track "Phantasmagorical Mapping" continues sounding very Pengo-like with its low-end drone and tremolo guitar, with more of that Eastern-style mantra-vocals. Also very much recalls Organum as well. In short a beautiful psychedelic-noise offering by M. Bassett and J. Gräf. Definitely a great soundtrack for gazing at the night sky      Lawrence J. Patti
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