Hapmoniym 1972-1975

Magical Power Mako's discography consists of a heap of sonic interrogations, but as far as question marks go, Hapmoniym adds the largest amount of them to the pile. This five-CD box set is presented as the first of three such sets to be released. The material was recorded between 1972 and 1975 and first came out as a very limited edition in 1993. Each of the five discs contains one track of music ranging between 43 and 65 minutes in duration. Each track is its own album, with separate pieces all dumped onto the same index track, forcing you to listen to each disc in one sitting and consider it as a single, unbreakable entity. The range of music covered through the whole set is colossal, encompassing psychedelic folk, Krautrock, free improvisation, electronic music, and tape experiments. Each piece takes the form of a collage where the best and the worst (in ideas, performances, and sound quality) collide in a way that strongly evokes Faust's modus operandi. The music itself also shares similarities with Faust, but Mako's universe is nothing but his own, and Hapmoniym, if it has to be compared to another album, must be compared to his own 1975 sophomore effort Super Record. Another point of reference would be Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells (a snippet of which happens to find its way into the fifth piece). Hard-grooving episodes alternate with meditative drones, bongo freak-outs, Greek and Japanese folk tunes, a slide whistle solo, electronic music that sounds inspired by Arne Nordheim, delirious fuzz guitar, and an unexpected medieval-sounding song. Hapmoniym (whose title, when written in uppercase letters, spells out the word Harmonium in Greek characters) is a monument to creativity, self-indulgence, and the occasional necessity of self-indulgence to foster superhuman creativity. ~ François Couture, Rovi