Search - Dave Kerman/5uu's :: Regarding Purgatories

Dense, dark and difficult

A. Temple | Ann Arbor, MI | 09/17/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"5uu's breakthrough album, 1994's _Hunger's Teeth_, presented a set of creative rock songs that were surprisingly accessible given composer and drummer Dave Kerman's take-no-prisoners philosphy when it comes to his penchant for atonality and irregular time signatures. The followup, _Crisis in Clay_ (1997) took the style of _Hunger's Teeth_ and made it tighter, denser and heavier, but the songs were still songs. Kerman's comment: "It's only rock and roll -- my way!" Here, we have something rather different. _Regarding Purgatories_ is attributed to "Dave Kerman/5uu's" rather than just "5uu's", perhaps to signify that Dave has taken more creative control upon himself. He has gathered together an amazing set of musicians from various RIO-style bands -- including singer Deborah Perry (Thinking Plague), bassist Keith Macksoud (Present), percussionist Mark McCoin (Thinking Plague), and former 5uu's keyboardist Sanjay Kumar -- and he has produced a gloomy and forbidding album that consists more of "compositions" than "songs."Take for example, the instrumental opener, "Meteora." At seven and a half minutes, it's longer than anything on 5uu's previous albums. It starts with some rather creepy, atmospheric synths that sound a little like foghorns with harmonics, soon joined by the creaking of something being rubbed across a piano string. It's not until nearly two minutes into the piece that distant drums suddenly enter, and within 20 seconds, the piece has moved into a Thinking Plague-like atonal rock-out. It's quite a while until the driving energy of the music is interrupted by voices -- not sung vocals exactly, but twisted samples of some sort of pseudo-Medieval chant filtered through a dozen effects. The song ends with a repeated rhythmic pattern played on a bell -- just one note, ringing, accompanied by occasional minor seconds in the piano. The next track, "Pinwheel", finally gives us some real vocal parts, multi-tracked and sung with direct, almost flat delivery by Deborah Perry. Before long, her voice starts echoing off of itself, creating an evocative and beautiful composite of fractured sound that disappears as quickly as it started when the texture suddenly drops down to nothing but two copies of Perry's voice signing the same three notes.Other highlights include the solemn recitative "Half-Akin to Gladsome", a catchy song called "Drachma" which is tinged with Eastern-European folk music and which also contains a solo for walkie-talkie feedback, and the suite of short pieces on the album's second half. This suite moves from the stripped-down art-song and viscous organ solo of "String of Hey-Days" to the fractured hip-hop rhythms of "Day 29", the glum, dragging "Gordion Knot" and the almost aggressive "Stand On Ceremony", which is clearly an homage to Dave Kerman's early hero the Art Bears, with vocals from Perry that resemble a rather apathetic version of Dagmar Krause.Also worth mentioning is the epic ten-and-a-half-minute closer "To Fall on Deaf Ears Pt. 2". This track manages to avoid grandiosity and melodrama (the traces of 70s progrock in the previous two 5uu's releases are all but gone here, unless you count Univers Zero) while still seeming to have a real seriousness and weight to it, between the complex instrumental opening, the loping march of the middle vocal section, the weird electronically distorted voices chanting "all must be done fast," and the frenetic but short drum solo that makes an unexpected appearance seven minutes into the song. Where _Hunger's Teeth_ ended suddenly and surprisingly, _Regarding Purgatories_ ends almost in mid-thought, leaving the listener to wonder where all the music went."

Changes

Dave_42 | Australia | 02/10/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

""Regarding Purgatories" marked some significant changes in the band. Bob Drake has departed, and there are several additions: Deborah Perry (vocals), Keith Macksoud (bass), Mark McCoin (Percussion), Charles Turner (piano), and, last but certainly not least, Sanjay Kumar (additional keyboards) is still with the group. Despite all the additions, 5uu's has clearly moved even further from being a group effort and towards being Dave Kerman's solo project. All the words and music on this album are by Dave Kerman.



Another change is in the length of the tracks. The longest track on any of the previous albums had been 6:43, with the vast majority under 5 minutes. On this album four of the twelve tracks are over 5 minutes, including "Meteora" at 7:31, and "To Fall on Deaf Ears part two" at 10:35 seconds. The total album length is over 55 minutes. Seven of the tracks were originally intended for a new UTOTEM CD, but when that fell apart, Dave Kerman decided to include them on a new 5uu's album.



Despite these changes, this is another very good album, and it is right up there with any of their releases. Unlike "Crisis in Clay", this is a much more diverse collection of works. It has been suggested that each of these pieces is about a different purgatory, which is where the name of the album comes from, of course.



The album opens with "Meteora", an instrumental piece although there is chanting. The bell cadence near the end of the song matches that used by the monks of Greek monasteries which were an inspiration for the piece, according to Dave Kerman. "Below and Beyond" is about Captain Oates, one of the first British team to go to the South Pole, and who gave his own life in attempting to help the rest survive. "To Fall on Deaf Ears (part one)" is an incredible piece, and one which you need to listen to over and over to appreciate. As if in answer to the complexity of the previous piece, "Half-Akin to Gladsome" is incredibly simple with just piano and vocals. The simplicity doesn't last though, as "Drachma" is complex and merges a number of sounds, including "Summertime" from Porgy and Bess.



Another track which I really like is "First Person Jocular", which they played the instruments through a toy creating a very strange feel for the whole piece. "Gordion Knot" is a fiction about a soldier in Alexander's army who learns the secret of untying the knot of Gordius, but dies before he can give it to Alexander. "To Fall on Deaf Ears (part 2)" is a sharp contrast from part one, in that part one is a tremendous rush of sound, while part two is much more developed. All of the pieces here, including the ones which I did not specifically mention are very intriguing, and I find that my opinion of this album improves each time I listen to it. I would not be surprised if this eventually becomes my favorite 5uu's album.

"

Kerman should do his own albums from now on

Noel Pratt | Washington, D.C., and better places | 11/14/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"...instead of just drumming for other bands. I love this one.



Now, atypical of my reviews, I quote a music-knowledgeable friend's words about one track I let him listen to, that being "Drachma":



"Great stuff. Reminded me of Annette Peacock but much less jazzy with a bit of Primus and Zappa thrown in, but that's just for starters. Lots of originality there too, for example:



Basslines don't get too repetitive and keep changing which I like.



The drummer keeps the beat changing in almost every measure in some way like Bruford, especially early Yes Bruford and late '70s Bruford Band. This continually refreshes and keeps everything interesting...



Odd meters are truly odd and not some funkified 'let's be prog' generic prog odd meter but very listenable and interesting. They serve a purpose, they're not just there to show off and yet they still groove on like old late 70s Bruford.



The polyrhythmic interactions seem to be scientifically thought out even if they weren't; like Stravinsky and Nancarrow you can listen vertically or in-depth for a lot of interesting interactions there that give you a nice musical brain-food buzz, like the old Bruford/Squire/Wakeman/ Howe/ Anderson rhythm section where they would all put very bizarre polyrhythms on top of each other completey unlike a cuban band for instance.



Musicianship and arrangements are advanced and tasty, I like the munchkin Fripp mini-guitar weezes and whistle noodlings in the background too>



There's a refreshing lack of pomposity.



every note seems thought over, deliberated on and composed even if it sounds natural and kind of jammy.



There's no angst, neither some pretentious smart people's anger nor some absurd stupid people's anger.



They give the impression that they're making this music because as a scientific experiment it proved to be biologically beneficial for their physical and spiritual balance, almost like they discovered a new strong vitamin.



I like that they keep the timbres and sounds mellow so that the complicated stuff does not grate and is fun to listen to. Some parts of it sound like Primus light in that where primus pounds it into your head these guys do it better with a gentle tap.""