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Latest Ka-spel solo studio album mixes the best of his mysterious electronic soundscapes and quirky electronic pop songwriting.
Being both a geek and a nerd, I am proud to declare that I have close to 100 Legendary Pink Dots related recordings. Traumstadts, Chemical Playschools, China Dolls...the lot. So, what would I recommend first to someone who has never heard a Ka-Spel solo record? Like you couldn't guess. Sure, some of you will disagree for purely selfish reasons because you got up some girls shirt while listening to Infinity Waltz. But I stand tall and proud, with no one up my shirt, and verily declare that Pieces of 8 is the shit! Which is to say, for those not well acquainted with white American slang stolen from African Americans, that Pieces of 8 is not only better than Styx's album of similar name; it is most certainly one of Ka-Spel's strongest musical statements ever! So there!! A journey through a body! A masterpiece! It's the sort of record that doesn't offer up all its secrets on the first pass, but is nonetheless absolutely compelling during that first, mystical, aural unwrapping. It reminds me of that time I first heard Asylum. I thought "who needs marijuana when there's this?!" Not that I threw out my marijuana; or my diazepam; or my amphetamines; or my LSD; or my banana peels; or my turpentine. The point is, that I listen to a lot, a lot, a lot, A LOT of music. Much of it is amazing, but truly rare is that first listening where a kundalini experience is had. The album starts out with a sort of Dick Contino/pre-war French street accordionist on the dark side of the moon motif and then, well, where DOESN'T Ed go from there? A dark, meticulously drawn out cosmosphere that sounds like outtakes from 2001: A Space Odyssey, which then, quite simply, BECOMES something altogether other. Throbbing electro sequences follow, gouging out the gorgeous, and then back into the mire. Everywhere prog rock influenced with nary a guitar in sight. There is even a thematic restatement. As if the music were not reason enough to sign on board, the dynamic use of the studio as an instrument is perhaps the most stunning since the collaboration with Stapleton on Malachai. Completely psychedelic and utterly sensational!!! Awesome from start to finish. And by awesome I mean, like, totally! To say too much would be to spoil the experience. Best album of 2004?! As usual, there are a number of different editions, which confuse even me. Based on the bonus LP material I have heard, any and all editions are well worth having. Hell, get 2 of everything just in case one wears out! So long as you have at least one piece of infinity, the finite may be just that much more bearable. The end. -Else Teicher
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