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KALUTALIKSUAK are an obscure psyche-avant-rock that bear the name of a malicious ice-deity in Esquimaux mythology. The band was launched in 1993 in Moscow by Vladimir Konovkin and Alexander Chuvakov with other musicians varying from gig to gig, and dissolved in 1997 leaving no recordings except of poor quality bootlegs from spot-rehearsals… Konovkin spent the next decade studying the classic tube-organ at the Moscow Conservatory of Music, and working as a session-keyboardist (in 2001 he performed with Rick Wakeman at the concert in Saint-Petersburg). Chuvakov graduated the Russian Academy Of Fine Arts, and earned a living as a professional painter and book illustrator… Their joint musical researches were resumed only in 2006. KALUTALIKSUAK's current line-up features: Vladimir Konovkin (assorted keyboards) and Alexander Chuvakov (guitars, flutes, voice), reinforced by Alexei Ohontsev from X-RAYS (bass) and Sergei Titovetz, a founding member of the soviet-period art-rock legend NUANCE (drums, percussions).
For music samples and direct contact please visit KALUTALIKSUAK official homepage or MyspaceMusic page.
Kalutaliksuak / Last Day of Sun (2007) / CD $11.00
About 20% of Russian territories are located northward of the 60th parallel. There are areas where the sun goes down in the mid of November, and doesn’t rise remaining below the horizon for more than 2 months until it re-appears in the last decade of January. Long winter months of waiting for a new daybreak gave birth in the past to mysterious stories of sudden appearance of ghosts and fantastic creatures that could protect or damage people. Some Arctic natives still practice shamanism based on the belief that all things, including animals, have souls like those of humans. Any activity that failed to show appropriate respect and customary supplication would only give the liberated spirits cause to avenge themselves. To offend a spirit is to risk its interference with a daily life that can destroy an entire community. This faith is closely tied to a system of rituals that held to be necessary. The ritualism and evocation of spirits are the form and substance of the KALUTALIKSUAK second studio album entitled "Last Day of Sun". Reinforced by Sergei Titovetz (drums) and Alexei Ohontzev (bass), the founding duo by Alexander Chuvakov (guitars, flutes, vox) and Vladimir Konovkin (keyboards, synthesizers) made a huge leap out from their self-titled debut. The quartet offers dark and heavy orchestrated, mostly instrumental progressive epos-rock equally inspired by indigenous shamanism and academic avantgarde. Not the easiest listening, even being measured by the criterions of modern avant-prog, but the adventurous and open-minded listener will be rewarded. (8 tracks - 78 min.)
PRESS CLIPS
"Mostly instrumental (occasional voices) blend of space rock, experimental and psychedelia. Far-out stuff!" – by Greg Walker of Syn-Phonic Music (USA).
"Last Day Of Sun is a surprisingly interesting and original addition to experimental Russian music. Fans of improvised guitar music will happily immerse themselves in the long and winding sonic journeys featured on the cd. (Rate: 8/10)" – by Pascal Thiel of DisAgreement (Luxembourg) (February 2009).
"A Russian avantgarde prog-rock band that has recorded the best fusion-jazz album with a religious background ever since John McLaughlin decided to dabble with the Inner Mountain Flame... A dark, sombre, potentially fatal and always dangerous surrounding atmosphere is being presented, a nightly world filled with unnameable dangers - and it is a grim listening indeed... They play against each other and with each other at the same time. Complicated structures come from the contradiction or modelling of layers of smaller parts, yet at all times there is a sense of control that is constantly being shaken and attacked by its own inherent logical distruction. It is hard to pin down in purely musical terms, but what you will hear is both free and constrained at the same time." – by Georg Gartlgruber of Monochrom-Cracked (Austria) (February 2009).
"Eight lengthy jams that are filled with massive squelchy wah-drenched basslines, frenetic improvised drum workouts, insane guitar noodling and skronky shredding that reminds me of Sonny Sharrock, thick sheets of Hawkwind style space FX and very 80's sounding synthesizer ambience, weird chortling flute noises, and the bizarre vocals that really give Kalutaliksuak their unique sound. The vocalists mumble and mutter and chant throughout these songs like a couple of drunk mystics sloshed out of their minds and bellowing all kinds of weird prophecies and visions while the band meanders through their chaotic heavy free-form prog workouts. Add weirdo blasts of crushing alien funk and modulated bass guitar, dark Magma-like riffs, some surprisingly crushing, almost metallic heaviness, and you get a killer set of adventurous, creepy, heavy improvised prog from the extreme fringe of the R.A.I.G. scene." – by Crucial Blast (USA) (February 2009).
"Over seventy five minutes of some of the most chillingly tense and complex sounding atmospherics you're ever likely to come across. Last Day of Sun is definitely not something you're going to want to put on as background music. You might need to make sure you're in the proper headspace before plugging in and embarking on this supernatural voyage. Remember though, once you're locked in be prepared to go the distance as Kalutaliksuak guides you through their ominous and tangled labyrinth of sound. (Score: 4/5)" – by Ryan Sparks of Sea Of Tranquility (USA) (May 2009).
The album was also reviewed at: MerlinProg (Norway), Sonic Frontiers (USA), Rate Your Music (USA), ProgArchives (USA), MADZ-zine (Russia), Progwereld (The Netherlands), Progressive Area (France), Progressive Ears (USA), Psychotropic Zone (Finland), Cosmos Gaming (USA).
Kalutaliksuak / Kalutaliksuak (2007) / CD $11.00
Bizarre band makes bizarre music. In the early 90s, inspired by the Inuit mythology, KALUTALIKSUAK created long aural excursions mixing compositional and improvisational expertise with strange vocalization similar to northern shamanic senseless chanting. Something futuristic, something psychedelic, definitely evoking specific images and emotions, their music had an amazingly hallucinatory quality and was much in the vein of the UK free festival scene. Textured keyboards interact with swirling and swishing phased guitar, all the while underpinned by groovy bass-lines and trance inducing electronic beats… After more than ten years of oblivion, the best parts of KALUTALIKSUAK rehearsal-tapes from 1992-93 have been re-stored and re-mastered by Alisa Coral of SPACE MIRRORS. "If this work came out in the mid 90s during the second uprise of the Space-Rock genre, they would be celebrities now.” – she says. (6 tracks - 53 min.)
PRESS CLIPS
"The first track -They Shall Catch You Up for Sure- begins with synthesizer soundscapes and gurgle. This is very psychedelic and experimental stuff. A weird track! -While He Sits in Ice Cracking a Whip Around- is a rather funny jam and its atmosphere reminds me of Hawkwind’s Douglas in the Jungle a bit. The guitar has some funky feel. Another rather strange and dark number. The more well-defined, rather relaxed -What Are Your Feet Eating?- comes next including nice, light guitar work and also some vocals. This is a dreamy, excellent track with heavenly keyboards and a wah wah solo. -They Usually Eat Humans- has a really odd atmosphere. It is a psychedelic, slower and tangled track with some beat, clavinet, UFO sounds and vague guitar. The scary-sounding narration adds the feel of sci-fi/horror movies. -Crow-quill Clothing- has sequences and weird noises. This is the shortest track on the album and also possibly the weakest one, but still pretty nice, hallucinatory ambient. The 15:39 long -Put This Sucling inito Her Head- is a quit relaxed track with programmed drums. The airy keyboards bring in a bit of New Age-styled atmosphere, although this is much more psychedelic of course. The track has a guitar solo and sort of fusion stuff; after five minutes we hear some keyboard soloing. I’m sort of reminded of Kitaro... I must say that Kalutaliksuak really was a rather unique band, and it’s great that we now have the opportunity to hear their mostly instrumental, electronic freak-outs." – by Dj Astro of Psychotropic Zone (Finland) (July 2007).
"Kalutalkiksuak is (or was perhaps; the music was recorded back in 1992-93, remastered by Alisa Coral of Space Mirrors) a Russian improvisational trio that explores a deeply spacey but also very progressive style of music. Things kick off with keyboardist Vladamir Konovkin providing a weird retro 1950's sci-fi soundscape in the opening cut, They Shall Catch You Up For Sure, before it morphs quite organically into an angular King Crimson style jam with throbbing bass courtesy of Bath Gremlin and excellent guitar by Alexander Chuvakov while Konovkin's electronic soundscapes continue to shift and explode throughout. Awesome start to the album! While He Sits in Ice Cracking a Whip Around is built around the complex interplay of bass and guitar, with a cold electronic beat and off-kilter, alien funky keyboards brewing beneath, rising to the surface in spacey washes of sound. What Are Your Feet Eating takes a more low-key approach, with jazzy piano, but still retains the complexity and spaceiness of the previous pieces, but this time with uniquely rhythmic and moody vocals from Chuvakov. He also does some outstanding lead guitar work on this piece. They Usually Eat Humans is, as the title might suggest, quite dark, more experimental, with dissonant keyboards swirling around a plodding rhythm. Crow-Quill Clothing features a racing synth sequence and chunky bass while distorted guitar and synths wail and screech throughout it, like some kind of eerie and monstrous dialogue. The final 15-minute piece, Put This Sucking Into Her Hood, slows things down for an atmospheric (but still rhythmic) finale of churning synths, spacey textures, and noodling leads that follow their own eccentric directions, dipping and dancing around and with each other, meandering like rivers through space. While I wouldn't call this either space or rock in the traditional sense, it combines elements of both in a wholly fresh and original fashion that is sure to please both space rock fans and anyone into music that explores the outer spaces of creativity." – by Jeff Fitzgerald of Aural Innovations (USA) (#38 January 2008).
The album was also reviewed at: Chopsticks Webzine (Russia), DisAgreement (Luxembourg), Muz-Prosvet (Ukraine), The Silent Ballet (USA).
| Title | Media | Price |
| CD | $11.00 | |
| EP | free download | |
| CD | $11.00 | |
| EP | free download |
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