Rapid

Zúgó/Rapid was Hungarian avant rock group Kampec Dolores' first album to reach a wider audience, thanks to its release by ReR Megacorp. It features a five-part 40-minute suite, one of the band's finest or most pretentious moments, depending on which side of the fence you are standing. "Zúgó/Rapid" features singer Gabi Kenderesi improvising nonsense syllables over melodies that have both Eastern European traditional and angular postmodern rock flavors. From almost ambient soundscapes made of bagpipes, flutes, and violin to not quite straightforward raï-pop moments (Part II), complex avant-prog motifs (Part V), and freeform explosions (Part I), the piece takes the listener on a roller coaster ride dominated by Kenderesi's multi-tracked vocals and Péter Hárságyi's inventive drumming. Csaba Hajnóczy and Gyuörgy Dózsa's guitar and bass work are a lot more accessory. After the five movements of this main course, there is a 12-minute track titled "Silence" — it really is silence and therefore, music-wise, the actual length of the album is 49 minutes. Edited versions of two earlier pieces, "Water-Country" and "Somewhere Down Under the Water," complete the set. The intelligible lyrics of the latter are included in the booklet in both Hungarian and English. Apart from the singer's distinctive vocal stylings, this album is a lot more experimental than Sitting on the Buffalo, the band's song-oriented 2001 release. ~ François Couture, Rovi