Colour Haze - 2008 - All

[Demilich]

Download these shitz

Tracklist:
1. Silent
2. Moon
3. Turns
4. Lights
5. If
6. Stars
7. All
8. Fall
9. One
10. Remains

 

[Climb Thar Hill]

thanks, man!

 

[Mr_Haze]

hey hey hey going to check this out thanks

 

[swizzlenuts]

*fuzzed out riff*

 

[Ellestin]

wow that's a splendid surprise, I did not expect this to leak before summer. Spotted some really nice musical finds upon first quick checkout, like a vintage female choir, and some more incredible bass work. Looks like the songwriting is more focused on storyteling structures with the trippy, psychedelic feel lurking not too far behind though.

Beautiful cover, too!

 

[Demilich]

They've fucking done it again

Listened to it 3 or 4 times today so far!

 

[En Vind Av Sorg]

Listened to the whole thing three times now. These guys really just cannot do wrong it seems. No clue how it will stack up against the other releases yet, but thus far I can say I am very happy with it- not disappointed in the least!

 

[Demilich]

I'm tempted to say that it sounds like it flows better than Tempel, but that might just be crazy stupid jumpin'-da-gun.

 

[Vittra]

Downloaded this yesterday at work, listening to it now. I like it alot. Going to have to work my way backwards through Colour Haze's stuff.

 

[Demilich]

Wtf? I never thought you'd like them

edit: remember I was telling Hussein to listen to them in the car after Opeth?
he should.

 

[Vittra]

IM FULL OF SURPRISES

 

[Krilons Resa]

Hussein?

 

[Demilich]

Yeah, Vittra's buddy is the expatriated Iraqi dictator

 

[Krilons Resa]

Ive listened to this about 6 times complete, in total. It is slowly growing...BUT, so far, I think it doesn't stand up to the last 3, 4, or even 5 albums they have put out.

 

[Krilons Resa]

You'll have to give me a little time on the track-by-track breakdown-- I've got a huge writing assignment at work. But here is a des c r i p tion of the first three tracks, and I hope the cover the rest of the album in detail within the next week.


1. Silent
The opening track is the one track that sounds most like the material on Tempel—which is not surprising because it was written for the Tempel sessions, but the takes during those sessions didn’t really come together. As it turned out, it provided some problems during this session until, in Stefan’s words “I realized how the main riff had to be played on guitar concerning micro-timing and groove to get the song flowing”. The opening riff has a very twangy echoey effect, like an austrailian didgeridoo, and is in a very tight 16 beat pulse. I think this is a major breakthrough for the album, because throughout you’ll hear some very jazzy or worldbeat inflections, and not your typical stoner 4/4 stomp. The opening gives way to a “typical” Colour Haze stoner groove, but Mani’s delicate percussion shadings make it more supple until it resolved into a “typical” Colour Haze heavy, fuzzy chorus, using some of the multi-tracked falsetto vocals that had premiered on Temple. . After the chorus there is incredible counterpoint between Stefan’s lead and Phillips very meaty, melodic bass line, punctuated through by some very sharp drumming. The tune ends with another crunching chorus.

Here are the lyrics:

I am the sand all – silent
I'm all the turning – ride it
I gotta twist in your head – and you'll like it
All there is reason – find it

Hear in the leaves all I said
Flow in the ocean – fire
I gotta sing in your heart with my love


If you think you are going to get TEMPLE Part 2, you are in for a shock. After this opener, prepare yourself for a brave new world.

2. Moon:
Stefan says his inspiration for this song comes from the obscure musician Moondog, the Moon card from a Tarot Deck, and the Vijnanabhairava-Tantra. Although this song is in a more definite 4/4, it is not really a rock rhythm, but more like a very precise military march. The guitar work is damped and percussive sounding, with a climbing chromatic progression that has a powerful feeling of inevitability. In a weird way, it reminds me of Outside, one of my favorite Colour Haze tunes, because it seems to be a force of nature. Phillip as a wonderfully dirty and urgent bassline, and Mani seems to be having a lot of fun with the driving feel of the piece. The vocals are the best use of the falsetto I’ve seen—you have a runaway freight train of music below and they vocals float above it eerily. After a while, the more staccato elements fuse in to more of a swelling, uplifting chorus. At the end, there are a lot of false stops to trick you—sort of like Kyuss’s Soopa Scupa and Mighty Scoop. Once again, the rhythm here seems much more precise, and not all that rock like—not that I’m complaining.

Lyrics:
See the moon shining in, shining in
Try to catch all a lone moonbeam
Otherside, in my head, in my heart
Feel it's right that all this ain't set apart

I see through as if all this ain't me but you
We decide a separated world in our minds
And all you someones, inside so lonesome, outside you fight
Let us shine in a being noone divides


3. Turns

I wasn’t ready for this song—and there is nothing like it in the Colour Haze Catalog. This is a real “song”—full of hooks, careful chord structures, and lots of studio wizardry. To be honest, I come to the band for the modal jams, but this is a real work of beauty—in some ways a valentine to Jimi Hendrix, in that is manages to combine the backwards drumming sounds in “Are You Experienced” with the mulit-tracked acid ballad of Little Wing. There is a lot of multi-tracking, acoustic, and backwards playing on here. Is this a pop song? Has Colour Haze sold out? Not at all. This song is really gorgeous—easily a highlight of the album, but its pretty dense and swirling, so I don’t think this is going to lead to any stadium tours. That said, I wouldn’t mind hearing another one of these on the next album. It scratched an itch that I didn’t know I had.

Hey man, see the stars so bright
Get along, get along all your life
Oh I go through all this too
But see the world is so beautiful
Allright in the setting sun
No fear, a new morning comes

In sweat we pull all our plough
Seize the pain and let it go
Is there a reason for all our complaints
When there's no difference in all that remains
So lay your heart in all you do
And wake the bliss that hides in you

Next up-- a nice long instrumental jam.

Also, I dont think its such a great idea to blatantly post up the leaked version on the forum like this dude. Yeah, I downloaded it so Im a hypocrite, lol, but it goes without saying that it'll be ordered the same day its available at SR anyhow, as with all CH albums.

 

[Krilons Resa]

Next installment of the Ubereview. This one covers tracks 4-7.
___________________________________

5. If:
With the exception of the whole-tone instrumental Didileet from the S/T, we haven’t really seen any short rockers since the Los Sounds Album. This one starts with the same feel as “Get it On” from the CO2 album, but once again the pulse is very very different—you get the feeling of microbeats and the 16 again, particularly when you hear the intricate drumwork that accompanies this. There are a couple of twists—one is a sound that sounds like someone scraping the strings of piano at just the right moment.) Another is the false stop just 2 ½ minutes into the piece. A short break, and then the band returns and full tilt, with a grand piano keeping the pulse. This has become a fave of mine—there is a lot in its 3 ½ minutes, and it doesn’t let up from the beginning. Tight psychedelia with a late 60’s pop sense of concision.

Lyrics:
If I dive in the world of my mind
Got to hang on, like a feather-stone, a feather-stone

Hey, it's me, I feel free
Got to hang on, like a feather-stone, a feather-stone


6. Stars
If the album has been flirting with classical Indian influences so far, it becomes much more pronounced at the Sitar appears in this song. In some ways, this song reminds me a bit of Asteroid by Kyuss--- but with a much stronger eastern vibe. The instrumentation is different—Sitar, 12 string, 6 string, and Kajon—a wooden drum. The beat is much more supple than Asteroid, and – big surprise, there is definitely a more Indian sounding 16 beat feat to the rhythm here. This is a nice tune, and strategically place, as you’ve had a couple driving tunes before, and you can relax before listen to the next two epics.


Lyrics:

Hey man, see the stars so bright
Get along, get along all your life
Oh I go through all this too
But see the world is so beautiful
Allright in the setting sun
No fear, a new morning comes

In sweat we pull all our plough
Seize the pain and let it go
Is there a reason for all our complaints
When there's no difference in all that remains
So lay your heart in all you do
And wake the bliss that hides in you


7: All
This is the centerpiece of the album, and definitely a mind bending journey. The latter have has a majestic triumphant feel that reminds me a lot of the song CO2, but there is a lot more at work here.

First of all, let me go on a tangent. When I hear of a band with an “upbeat happy vibe” I usually avoid it. I love the blues and the dark side too much. This song is uplifting as hell, but what I adore about it is that it is not cheap happiness. Instead, it is earned, and you first have to go through the “Dark night of the Soul” before you can reach the sunrise. And that’s what I love about Colour Haze—it picks me up, but in a way I can really believe.

Now, a second tangent. There has always been a strong eastern feel to Colour Haze’s music, and this album reaches into Indian classical music deeper than the others. And you don’t really get the full effect until now. An Indian classical piece starts with a movement called an “Alap” The Alap is the slowly unfolding exploration of a musical scale in free meter by a solo instrument with a drone in the background , slowly growing in intensity. It doesn’t really grab your attention on the surface, but once your are sucked in, you are gone. Playing an alap may be technically easy, but it requires a tremendous amount of concentration and a trance state of consciousness to really pull it off.

I’ll break this song into parts. Its an epic.

00:00-03:52:
Four nearly four minutes, this song features something very much like an Indian Alap. With intense drama and concentration, a major scale slowly unfolds on the lead guitar. The phrasing is incredible—daring you to get lost in the nuances and spaces between the notes.

03:52 – 6:50
The band comes in—this beat is more of a jazzy 4/4 with enough inflections to keep it from being too predictable At this point the main theme is introduces in the vocals – attractive, wistful, and delicate. There is a bit of longing to it, but yet it is still uplifting.

I'm a man of certain pride
Set my home in the skies so high
And every time I wanna jump up it turns me down
On a wheel, under a spell I'm bound

Throw a coin in the fates hat
But all I give is another try to get
Letting loose, let it all go down
Man, it's so hard to solve your chain and a bound

6:50-9:03 The volume goes up, and the chorus is echoed, loud and fuzzy by the band, with lots of nice rolls and cymbal clashes on the drums. Then the tempo increases, and the bass digs in deep and dirty, pushing the groove harder. The vocals return.

I'm in love but I don't get through
Set apart from the world and you
When I realise all you are is all in me
I am free, oh I'm so free

Another loud fuzzy chorus from the band repeats the main theme.

9:03: 14;49
An angular theme appears on the bass, breaking up the rhythmic flow, but still holding down the bottom as Stefan lets lose with some serious riffing, which subsides after a minute as the band retreats into a quiet jazzy groove that glides along until, you guessed it, the skies open, and the band erupts into the same kind of ecstatic joy that makes CO2 such a great song. Although Hendrix is a clear influence in Stefan’s playing, I also hear a bit of Santana or even Duane Allman in the way he can release such joy while improvising on a scale. As an added surprise, the last chorus features the organ, which is even more powerful for having been silent before.

This is definitely one of the most impressive long tunes in the Colour Haze catalog, and manages to cover a lot more territory in its 15 minutes than Peace Brothers and Sisters did in 20.


_________________________________

I hope to get to the rest of the tracks by the end of the week.

.

 

[Krilons Resa]

Here is the rest of the review...

Fall:
If the previous track was about the trip from darkness into light, this one is the flip side. It’s probably the most melancholy on the album, and yes, a fave of mine. It starts with the kind of hypnogroove and vibe you’d find on the song Love from the S/T. Some very delicate percussive shadings, and a rather pensive start. The rhythmic pattern seems to stretch over 8 beats on this tune—it’s in 4/4, but it lilts across two measures. A heavy fuzzy chorus kicks in around the three minute mark, but it is not a “typical” Colour Haze chorus. It has a lot of overtracked vocals, sounds like a choral group, and has more of a minor-ry falling feel than the uplifting ones you may be used to. This leads into a bit of psychedelic riffing, and then the volume lowers into a very jazzy instrumental break where Stefan and Phillip and Mani seem to be inside each others heads, starting and stopping melodic fragments with eerie precision. The playing starts to cohere over time into an escalating sense of urgency, with Stefan’s urgent pleas dancing around some wonderfully supple base work. In the last minute mellotron-like samples provide a descending waterfall that gives me chills, and the song slowly fades away.

I’m going to steal from of Stefan’s words for the lyrics:

“Lyricwise – well don't ask me. Sometimes I just draw pictures using layers of somehow subconscious motives – I don't have the words to tell what I actually see in this, well that's why I'm telling things through music, otherwise I'd be a poet… It's kind of a painting about being a human / mankind in a long spanned historical view – I don't understand the words myself totally, they somehow just fell in place. But I already experienced some of my lyrics I made in this subconscious way suddenly named things very clearly in a certain situation where they didn't seem to make much sense before, e.g. I had this experience with “Fire” by the end of 2006”

And here are the lyrics:
Feelin'so right, head on
Find to find all mind all in the one
I feel life, I feel life and I saw her in the fields
Help us night, help us night - for we all here freeze

And I fall right in this place
Give me more, more, more heaven in my space
I hear fight, I see fight as I see them in the fields
Help us night, help us night - for we all there bleed

Uh, like a feather, high and I fall
Uh, like a feather, high and I fall
Uh, like a feather, as high as we fall

One:
For the first two minutes of this song, you actually here a heavy, 4/4 rock beat. It’s only been 55 minutes since the start of the album, and it opens with something that would have fit in well on the album “Periscope”. After a couple minutes, however, the acid kicks in the form of a psychedelic chorus (including a female vocal) and a pretty mindless chant that is repeated over and over again:

We got to get together, we got to be all one

At that point, the rock part fades into a very eastern wall of 2 sitars, 2 12 string tracks, and six vocals, and the feeling is very Indian/eastern. It’s like a sudden shift from the mid 70s to the late sixties. The long fades, and comes back in (a la Helter Skelter) and the female vocal in the chorus provides a very ethereal feel. The 60’s beautiful vibe is never heavier in the band’s catalog than on this song.

Remains:
This is a meditation for single guitar, and provides a very haunting close to the album. Once again, it has a underlying 16 beat drone. It is very bittersweet—it’s mostly major keyed, but has some elements of exotic scales, and a general introspective feel for most of its length. The ending, however, is really uplifting, and that final note will echo in your head long after the album is over.


Okay—that’s it. If you have missed the dramatic contrasts between songs that you had in Los Sounds and Ewige Blumenkraft, you’ll like this album. If you liked the increasingly detailed, yet very organic sound of the S/T and Tempel, you’ll find much to enjoy here. This album is a must for all mental travelers.

.

 

[Demilich]

I usually figure its cool to post links here because not many people read this stuff, but maybe I'm wrong?

 

[Vittra]

Yeah, Vittra's buddy is the expatriated Iraqi dictator

There was a discussion that day regarding some rope burns around his neck. He didin't appear very talkative about it.

I usually figure its cool to post links here because not many people read this stuff, but maybe I'm wrong?

Seems generally accepted that everyone here buys the music regardless as soon as it's out, but they might not like it in the case of a leak...

At any rate, We're Canadian so it's legal for us to share music (Leaked Music though? *shrug*). Also don't know about posting it on a US Website though... I did for the Speckadly Falcons review however...

 

[Demilich]

There was a discussion that day regarding some rope
burns around his neck. He didin't appear very talkative about it.

So I'm thinking this is my new Colour Haze album rankin' order:

1. Colour Haze
2. Periscope
3. All
4. Tempel
5. Los Sounds de Krauts
6. Ewige Blumenkraft
(after this point, I've only heard them a couple times each)
7. Co2
8. Chopping Machine

What a fucking band! Where's MFJ? We need to hear what he thinks of the new one