Artist: Kada
Album: S/T
Year: 1999 (© Periferic Records 1999)
Format: FLAC (image+.cue) HQ scans
Size: 320MB

Summary:
Great packaging on this album. A foldout package with something akin to a postcards coming with each song (reproductions of paintings by one Gyula Dudas). Like After Crying and Solaris this band comes from Hungary and is on the same label as those more well-known bands.

The music:
The first song is one that was split in two and having heard the first part one can guess the reason: the sound of a dentist's drill, a motor and do I hear a chainsaw, well you can imagine, one does not want to hear this everytime. The second part opens somewhat dreamily: lots of sax, electric guitar somewhere in the back and a prominent bass (played a la Levin). The music is certainly on the avant-garde side of prog and like the bio says: King Crimson (especially earlier on in the track) and an avant-garde guitar player such as Torn come to mind. However, they tend to put a bit more force into the music and the music is a lot less freewheeling. Toward the end the guitar starts to play a more prominent role making the King Crimson/Torn influence a bit more felt. Although the music is more jazzy, the Bruford Levin Upper Extremities also come to mind. Kapuk (Gates) opens very moodily. Here I am reminded of Gorn/Levin/Marotta's adventures in the Iron Mountain. The music sounds very improvised and also quite intense, although the music is certainly rather quiet. There quite a place for percussion in these tracks, the production is such that one can hear well what kind of drum is played. The guitar also plays a role here, but it does take a long time to get very active. Only after over six minutes does there come any pace into this song. The drummer becomes a bit more active, and an actual melody is starting to be played. Then the guitar is put back into the mix, with the percussion and bass being the most forward instruments. Still the guitar still plays the role of melodic instrument. Then the guitar comes back forward, more aggressively now. On Bőr És Sár (Skin and mud), the longest track on the album, the saxophone returns. The style of the music is not very different: clear production, sax, bass, percussion and guitar playing together in a seemingly loose way. The soloing on the guitar sounds rather unstructured (and thus improvised). The guitar then turns to something slightly different, a bit Arabic I would say. Now also the trumpet plays a part, a sad one in fact. Again, a track with a slow build-up becoming heavier and heavier (but not faster). The title track is another 11+ minute journey into improvisational progressive rock, where the style of King Crimson during their concerts in the seventies seem to stand model. Trombone is also played in duet with the sax, while the electric guitar goes its own way. Then the music becomes more quiet again, with feeling notes played onm electric guitar and a (bass)guitar in the back softly playing in the back. The closer of this album is Kereső (Seeker) and is in many things like the previous tracks, but there's a bouncy part in here and quite a striking melody as well. The middle and end part of this track is quite jazzy with the protagonist being the sax.
The production is really great, being able to hear every single detail that is being played.

Conclusion:
If you don't listen to this music with headphones on, a lot of the detail is gone from the music, so be sure to do so. Sounding rather unstructured, but to compensate also quite intense and with a sense of foreboding, this is King Crimson going improvisation also on their records. Combine the style of said giant with some of the projects of King Crimson members (Gorn/Levin/ Marotta) and Bruford/Levin with addition of wind instruments (trumpet, sax and trombone) and you should have an idea what this is about. The musically is not kakafonic or anything, but tends to sound loose and almost feeling its way into your ears. One does have to have a liking for long meandering tracks. ~Jurriaan Hage