Biography
Perhaps the
all-time peak of prog pretentiousness was when drummer
Christian Vander, of the French band Magma, invented his
own language to express the post-apocalyptic story lines
of the band's albums. Despite the inherently unnecessary
nature of this activity, it definitely contributed in
the immense and overbearing atmosphere of Magma's music.
The pioneering 70s French band was one of the most experimental,
artistic and fiercely uncompromising bands of the progressive
era. Their music combined elements of jazz, opera,
minimalism and 20th century classical music into a highly
idiosyncratic mix of exceedingly dark, yet emotionally
rich and undeniably powerful sound that eventually brought on
the Zeuhl sub-genre of progressive rock. Their expanded
ensemble included heavy emphasis on horns and choirs.
The compositional style of the group reflected a mastery
of sophisticated musical concepts; their use of gradual
repetition as a tension building tool was unparalleled,
as well as subtle rhythmic innovations and minimalist
techniques as atmospheric devices. Though the music
will definitely sound exceedingly odd at first, just because
they are so different from anything else, their sound
has a certain addictive quality to it, and developing
a taste for their eccentricity is not particularly difficult.
All their albums
fit together into some concept which causes them all to
hang together. I'm not sure what the particulars
are, but it has something to do with humanity leaving
a desolate Earth for the new utopian world of Kobaia (hence
Vander's language, Kobaian) and the complications that
came along with the transition. Their first two
albums, Magma and 1001 Centigrade, dealt
more with a jazzier sensibility, and are comparatively
lighter in tone than some of their later works. Magma's
next work would kick off their most notable and distinctive
period, the immense Mekanik Destructiw Kommandoh (MDK).
This album features all the hallmarks for which Magma
are recognized. Martial beats, militaristic pounding
and a heavy emphasis on a huge, orchestral backdrop replete
with choirs and layers of horns. The overall mood
of doom, death and destruction is undeniable. The
sound is carried over into a Vander solo album (in name
only), Wurdah Itah, as well as their next opus,
the magnificent Kohntarkosz, which features less
vocal dependence but is an overall masterpiece of desolate moods
and stark atmospheres. The live album, Hhai, is
supposedly excellent, but I haven't heard it yet.
After that, the albums from Udu Wudu on are something
of a step down. Overall Magma produced some of the
most important and groundbreaking music of the decade. - Greg Northrup
[2002]
Wurdah Itah (1974)
RIO fans looking
for a way into Zeuhl should look no further than this
release. Elements of other Magma albums that might
initially put off the Cow crowd, from fusiony jams to
highly repetetive passages, are almost entirely absent
here. The band is stripped down to four members, and they
play some of Magma's most densely composed, complex music.
I'm hardly one to criticize a piece like Mekanïk
Kommandöh, but Wurdah Ïtah is just
a better composition to my ears. As one of my fellow
r.m.p-ers once said, "Damfine straight, no fucking around."
As for the album's
sound, the best comparison is certainly Stravinsky's Les
Noces. Other noteworthy elements are Vander's
surprisingly subtle, cymbal-heavy drumming, the nearly-constant
use of Fender Rhodes and acoustic piano, and the usual
theatrical vocals. The music is sometimes angular
and jagged, sometimes almost sweet in a jazz-inflected
Broadway sort of way, and switches from one to the other
often and abruptly. There are Bartókian modal
marches ("Wohldünt M^ëm Dëwëlëss"),
tense incantations over seething Fender grooves ("Bradïa
da Zïmehn Iëgah"), angry minimalistic piano-and-voice
crescendos ("C'est la Vie Qui Les a Menés La !"),
and even quotes from MK ("De Zeuhl Ündazïr").
One of my favorite moments is at the beginning of "Waïnsaht
!!!", when quiet, rhythmic vocal chants are periodically
interrupted by crashing one-syllable shouts at double
volume. In general, though, this music isn't easy
to describe without resorting to the silly sorts of descriptions
I love to come up with, like "Orff and Stravinsky leading
a Bulgarian military fusion band in a rendition of Jesus
Christ Superstar." So I'll just say that it's an excellent,
completely engrossing piece of music.
Any flaws?
The only thing I can think of is that the remastering
went awry, and the sound gets a little distorted in parts
of "Manëh fur da Zëss." But unless you're
a hardcore audiophile, this shouldn't be a problem. One
final note: Technically speaking, the album is credited
not to Magma but to Christian Vander. But don't let that
fool you: this is definitely as Magma as Magma gets.
- Alex Temple [July 2002]
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