Bardo Pond - Yntra (CD, Vinyl LP)

Hehehe, we used to have a mad picture of Bardo Pond on our wall at the old place which was the cause of much celebration and mirth, I’ve never seen a bunch of less photogenic people in my life! They appeared to be a bunch of miserable, scruffy old librarians or IT workers in the company of a stoned-looking woman who looked like she’d rather stab you than speak to you. Maybe they had actually been burning the candle from every possible angle? Of course, I thought they’d be a load of shit so didn’t bother with them for years as I enjoyed records by people who actually looked good in magazines or idiots attempting to permanently disable dance music by making it as insane and un-danceable as possible...

Then I heard ‘Lapsed’ and ‘Dilate’ a few years ago, two milestones for indie behemoth Matador, and I were hooked I tell thee. This is a bitch of a record that’s their contribution to the hallowed Latitudes series. Two sides, three tracks, the first reaching my lugs comprises technically-dense tribal squall and lush heavy psych-churn with ethereal ghostly wailing. Bloody amazing, I will buy this mofo on the strength of that alone. The other ditty on this side is a slower, doomier, heavier mind-sucker sporting a viscous guitar grind, a temple-caving drumkit massage with an ominous stern vocal mantra. I am proper in a good mood now.

I was amazed at their almost casual virtuosity when I caught them live a while back and now t’other side of this marbled limestone-white slab rewards us with a long, heady spiritual jam that retains the wall of fuzzed exploratory guitar that sets them apart from so many of their contemporaries and peers. However, this epic baby possesses a more progressive, cavernous, space-rock feel yet with absolutely stacks of stunning cerebral riffage snaking throughout to consume. The rhythm section is really flexing its collective muscles here, this is really accomplished stuff! Even the bass is really reaching out into Czukay territory and the drums are a free-form breeze, constantly circling the piece in a flailing  dream-like world of their own. The entire tune just becomes a delicious all-enveloping blur, so much so I’m actually gonna be late meeting our Ant off the train this evening. ‘Yntra’ is my record of the week by a mile (even a cute photo of them on the centre label, someone caught  them on a better day...).

My ears, my ears (as someone once said). For vinyl freaks this really is the business: an intricate, die-cut and embossed sleeve, a run of just 800 numbered copies and pressed on heavy duty marbled white vinyl. A really beautiful job all round. There's no download card, but as the CD run is even more limited that's hardly surprising. For those familiar with the work of Bardo Pond, all you need to know is that this is one not to miss. Anybody else needs to be aware that BP are no strangers to lengthy musical outings, and although they generally provide a crunchy, blissed-out kind of noise, not absolutely every experiment has been entirely successful and in turn this had led to occasional but very tedious tracks indeed. I believe our cousins would say that Yntra is where we hit paydirt, as the two tracks on side one a both really excellent with lashings of ginger beer.......sorry, lashings of tribal drumming, hefty dual guitars, bass worthy of Phil Lesh (okay Brian, Holger Czukay if you prefer but it's pretty heroic stuff), and even some pretty reasonable vocals. The best news of all is that this is a mere horse's duvet to "A Crossing" which takes up the whole of side two, and is an absolute belter - all of the above but twice as good, twice as long and with the added bonus of Isobel Sollenberger's echoey flute. If this doesn't persuade you to invest in a copy I have failed miserably and will go back to sleeping under my rock in the garden.