Self-released
Release date: May 31, 2024
Production: Kopilott
Album length: 50.33 min
Genre: krautrock / space rock / psychedelic rock
Rating: 8.0/10
Kopilott. Come again? Plain old “pilot” apparently just wasn’t enough. But it does seem the whole thing is about spinning those compass needles. Slowly, though. This one only landed on my radar thanks to some ‘self-grown curious’ rabbit-holing around YouTube… Two people are behind the Kopilott project, and this time they’re Spaniards. The first is MMS, the second is Adrian. It’s a formation drawing its inspiration from the legacy of krautrock, while adding a strong psychedelic touch to the musical substance it creates. Yep. If you’re a fan of analog electronics, or whatever that might be in 2024, welcome home!
After a very nice and promising debut, “I”, released in November 2023, here’s the colorful continuation of the story about a modern take on krautrock, with a heap of hypnotic looping, experimenting with sound effects, even the integration of (cleverly disguised) guitar phrases and clearly audible bass lines, all while, as said, the music gives off a distinct space rock psychedelic vibe, let’s just call it that. The thing carries you off to who knows where while you listen. Especially in that state of mind known as ‘switching off the conscious’.
Kopilott aren’t uncovering a musical revolution, but they’re a very pleasant surprise, since these days it’s harder and harder to find artists who, when composing their music, reach for the musically brilliant, timeless fantasticness of creations from an archaic genre like krautrock. Yep. Parallels with Tangerine Dream, Can, Faust, Agitation Free … pop right into your head. An immodest and flattering observation. And moving on. This will definitely be interesting for fans of the closing chapters of Pink Floyd’s psychedelic era too (parts of the track Echoes from the album “The Meddle” come to mind, for instance), then there’s no getting past the name Hawkwind, plus Gong, there are associations with Soft Machine (the early era), or with the works of William Orbit. Let’s throw in the name Christian Poulet as well (so we don’t stay stuck in just the sixties and seventies).
Of course, it’ll be interesting for fans of strictly instrumental post-rock, even post-metal, too. Say, bands like Robot God, Full Earth or Observers. Take away their post-rock, stoner ‘guitar nervousness’, and they’d take over the core of the sonic spectrum behind the curtain of good old ‘electronic’ analog looping.
Above all these associations and all the analysis stands something essential. The album offers a gorgeous instrumental adventure with a colorful flow of highly vibrant moods that suck you right in and carry you along, carry you along… There’s a ton of musicality, but since the whole album works like one single track, it’s very hard to conquer, which isn’t even its aim. The aim is to take you on an adventure and enchant you. The development is unpredictable, yet highly dynamic thanks to that variety and the fact that the two musicians never veer off the traceable red thread of shaping clear musicality woven from a plethora of highly compatible phrases. The album closes with a cover of Maggot Brain, which in its original belongs to the American psychedelic blues rock funkers Funkadelic (taken from the third, self-titled album, released in 1971). Given the original’s lazy rhythmic key, the choice seems very sensible. And it grabs you perfectly right up to the end of the running time. Cunning. Sonically freshened up, but by no means overly ‘polished’. The late Eddie Hazel would be proud.
In short, even if Kopilott aren’t discovering Einstein, they’re bringing an exceptionally nice discovery, and with two albums released half a year apart, they surely won’t stop here. The musical content does come across as dark and melancholic at moments, but ‘light’ and ‘hope’ shine through it. The stuff we have to keep within ourselves. As a guide and a refuge, where you find peace and sort things out with yourself, so you can go on and keep fighting. Especially in these bizarrely crazy times, when common sense is being hunted down with fire and sword and we’re accompanied by Indians from the sky with cocky laughter.
Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Tracklist:
1. Void (7.57)
2. Lust (10.20)
3. Nebula (4.21)
4. Mirrors (7.02)
5. Gorgona (5.11)
6. Cursed Delight (5.58)
7. Maggot Brain (orig. Funkadelic) (09.44)
Lineup:
MMS
Adrian
