“ … distorted tradition, electrified customs, and basement-smelling folklore … ”
06/29/2022 primordial undermind / review
“To put it on record without further ado (because not only the initial listening impression invites the comparison): If you’d like to have a new Sonic Youth record that sounds like an old Sonic Youth record (let’s say “Sister”), you should check out Primordial Undermind’s new album. Meandering guitar improvisations/jams, driving drums, and despite all the experimental approaches and excursions, always clearly recognizable songwriting that doesn’t lose sight of the song during the occasional freakout – you’ll find it all in Primordial Undermind. So, we’ve got that off our chest. And if some voices should speak up because yes, one Sonic Youth is enough – well, one The Velvet Underground is enough, too, but if we want to play it like that, we can all close up shop right now. So, on with the text without fear of distorted tradition, electrified customs, and basement-smelling folklore. It’s only rock’n’roll, and I’m not the only one who likes it. Eric Arn, the only constant member of Primordial Undermind, has been around long enough to dispel suspicions of an unoriginal existence anyway. He was a member of the Crystalized Movements in the late 1980s, releasing on Twisted Village, and thus Arn is old enough to have had experience in the US underground “before punk broke” (Dave Markey, 1992). This should be known or taken into account in order to approach this record in the right way, because the musical DNA of “An Imaginal Abydos” is clearly influenced by the (sub)urban guitar sound of America in the late 1980s and early 1990s, by small clubs and basements where before and after the “Hype!” (Doug Pray, 1996) around Nirvana and consorts against the boredom and weariness of a so-called adult existence – and also as in Vienna, where Arn has lived for a long time and this time went into the studio with Christoph Johannes Weikinger (guitar), Xavier Scholz (drums) and Antonio Rosa de Pauli (bass) to record “An Imaginal Abydos”. The album navigates confidently through the expanding universe of noise, psychedelic and experimental rock, moves confidently stylistically between loud and quiet passages, and serves the appropriate musical nomenclature. Everything sits, fits, wobbles and has air. And that is no small feat – on the contrary. Those continuing to frown with regard to what’s been written so far won’t be helped by any further words. But for anyone who has The Velvet Underground’s or Pink Floyd’s (here especially “More” and “Meddle”) feedback ringing in their ears, who hasn’t become tired of guitar music from the already mentioned Sonic Youth or The Dream Syndicate up through The Rain Parade, Bardo Pond, and in very noisy moments even the Japanese Acid Mothers Temple, you can discover a lot with Primordial Undermind. This may sound defensive to the argument, but, as I said, here is no one to convince here. This band knows what it ‘s doing, and anyone who sympathizes with the historical coordinates and the aforementioned bands / contexts can’t go wrong here.” – Holger Adam, Skug