Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: Ludi Voyak
Label: Self-released
Release: 2014
Length: 37:45
Rating: 4/5
Ludi Voyak are a brand-new Argentinian progressive rock band who throw elements of avant-garde and electronica into the melting pot of their thoroughly experimental approach. Their music is definitely not for every taste. It’s strictly for the incorrigible fans of slightly ‘loopy’ but superbly played, unusually witty, lucid, relatively innovative and socially perceptive music that’s light-years away from any conformism or commercial appeal.
This Argentinian trio with the unusual name is Joaquin Montaos on violin/keyboards/percussion, Nicolas Desulovich on bass/sitar/percussion and Julian Gimenez on electric guitar/flute/percussion. They play almost entirely instrumental music, drawing inspiration for their mostly grotesque arrangements and dissonant improvisations from some of the darkest chapters of human history (the brutal interrogations of the ‘holy’ Inquisition, the bloody battles for Judea, the massacres of the Don Cossacks and so on), which come alive through the different shades of the individual tracks.
All the drums on the Ludi Voyak debut, »Ludi Voyak«, were programmed by Montaos and Desulovich, along with numerous assorted percussion instruments and effects. Still, it wouldn’t hurt to look for a real drummer down the line, someone who could bring a bit more power and brutality to their already pretty dark and obscure music. The self-titled debut opens with a fifteen-minute suite, »Suite de las Nubes«, which only gets a bit more sophisticated in the closing section. Otherwise it’s a constant churn of chaotic improvisations and rhythmically ‘torn-up’ motifs that’ll make the hair on your whole body stand on end.
»Mediji klaun (Theme For Horacio)« features possessed bass lines, while »Soplet karneval«, where the guitar lines in particular call to mind John Wetton-era King Crimson, feels like the soundtrack to some nightmare or ghost horror flick, with gloomy improvisations shifting nonstop. Individual tracks are occasionally linked by short, electronically compressed vocalizations that sound like the wheezing of a vampire with a cold. »Vuelve el frio/False On It« conjures the atmosphere of a suffocating black mass, which it pulls off with gripping violin and piano arrangements, before wonderfully lucid guitar lines win out in the closing section.
The avant-garde folk-rock tune »Albarraz« is soaked in rustic violin arrangements and a ruffled flute, and it also throws in a few short, ‘drunken’ sing-alongs from a ‘merry company’. It’s easy to picture the Don Cossacks carousing on the eve of battle with the soldiers of Tsarist Russia. »Betume de Judeia« is a short but bizarre experiment built from electronic oscillations, out of which an ominous motif takes shape, reminiscent of the soundtrack to some old Game Boy video game with a medieval or fantasy theme.
The slightly psychedelic »Possibonsi«, another short instrumental, this time with melancholic guitar lines, ethereal waves and muffled bass lines, finally reveals a somewhat brighter, ambient side of this talented Argentinian band. The album closes with the title track, »Ludi Voyak«, a grotesque, brutal experiment that sums up the band very well. Combative percussion and thoroughly agitated, almost psychotic vocalizations once again summon the mood before the great battle between the Don Cossacks and the Tsarist army, which is also symbolized in the »Ludi Voyak« booklet by the famous oil painting of the legendary Russian painter Ilya Repin.
»Ludi Voyak« is sure to appeal to many fans of an avant-garde take on progressive rock, though it would do the band an injustice to compare them to any of the better-known acts in this field, since they’re very hard to squeeze into any kind of musical ‘mold’, even if you can pick up certain influences from the RIO scene, led by Henry Cow, and various King Crimson influences in places too. Ludi Voyak have made a bold and fun debut, so it’ll certainly be interesting to see what new ambient journeys through the bloodiest chapters of the human story await listeners on their upcoming studio projects.
Lineup
Joaquin Montaos – keyboards, violin, percussion
Nicolas Desulovich – bass, sitar, percussion
Julian Gimenez – guitar, flute, percussion, vocalizations
Production
Joaquin Montaos and Nicolas Desulovich
Track list
1. Suite de las nubes
2. Mediji klaun (Theme For Horacio)
3. Soplet karneval
4. Vuelve el frio/False On It
5. Albarraz
6. Betume de Judeia
7. Possibonsi
8. Ludi Voyak
