OZRIC TENTACLES — Strangeitude (review)

OZRIC TENTACLES — Strangeitude album cover Album · 1991 · Jazz Related Rock Buy this album from MMA partners
3.5/5 ·
js
70s Space Rock and 90s Ambient Techno are two musical styles that have a lot in common. On the CD "Stragetude", Ozric Tentacles expertly combine the two and come up with a sum greater than the parts. Think Clearlight jamming with The Orb, only better. Techno has always been an influence on the Ozrics, but it becomes more pronounced on this album. By the time this CD came out drummer Merv Pepler and keyboardist Joie Hinton were wanting to leave the band so they could work full-time on their trance-techno project Eat Static, and it really shows. At this point both the Ozrics and Eat Static share a lot of the same keyboard sounds, and in fact there are a couple of tunes on "Strangetude" that wouldn't sound out of place on an Eat Static album. After leaving the Ozrics, Merv and Joie's new techno project would go on to be one of the freshest new sounds in a genre often given over to dull cliche.

"Strangetude" also shows the band moving ahead in their mixing technique. The production on this CD is incredible, guitar solos come out of the background only to be swallowed up by waves of synthesizers and electronic sounds. This is psychedelia at its best, the soundscape is constantly shifting making repeat listenings always enjoyable. Although the Ozrics are usually kind of jazzy in a fusion kind of way, there are couple songs on here that really rock in a heavy chugga-chugga Hawkwind kind of way. They also show a lot of skills with dub reggae on "Space Between Your Eyes". Usually rock bands sound so clumsy trying to play Jamaican rhythms, but these guys sound natural playing it their way. Overall, this is a very pleasant modern jam band record with touches of fusion, dub, techno and psychedelic rock all rolled into one.
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