CD REVIEW THE VOCOKESH
THE VOCOKESH: “Through The Smoke” (Strange Attractors - Clearspot)

 John Helwig (main lead guitar, bass), Richard Franecki (secondary lead and rhythm guitar, assorted guitar noises, bass, electronics) and Rusty (drums) have loosely/tightly constructed 7 instrumental tone poems.

 “Vibe no 6” opens off with a repeating groove surrounded by various sonic effects. The guitarsolo break in and the music takes a turn towards Pink Floyd-type territory. The “Set the controls for the heart of the sun”-vibe flows fluidly while effects drift in and out at the stereo sound system. When hearing “Through the smoke” and “12 monkeys”, you can only hope that you'll never awake in the world like The Vocokesh performs it here. These songs feature little more than simple cacophonies played at a sedate pace on a single guitar, echoed and embellished by a second guitar and with the occasional droning and squalling electronics in the background for effect. The album showcase is the 17-minute “Sunday afternoon”, this song returns to its more claustrophobic beginnings after some time, but adds layer upon layer of subtle guitar and electronics to build to a satisfying crescendo while still remaining soothing.   The rest are generally slow, haunting pieces that creep along into the listener's psyche very effectively. Difficult to describe, the music on this album should be satisfying for fans interested in krautrock, electronica, mental hospitals, H.R. Giger’s passage-theme, David Cronenberg’s   “Spider”, David Lynch’sEraserhead”,…Comparisons to Stockhausen, Glenn Branca and   Fripp’s improvised solo outings  reveal the repetitive minimalistic   intricacies that form the foundation of The Vocokesh’s   brand of ambient-rock

Cosmicmasseur.