Ole Lukkøye – Petroglyphs – 2010
“Twenty years anniversary collection
by St. Petersburgh (Russia) rooted ethnic band Ole Lukkøye”
The attentive reader of progVisions will notice that this is the second release of Trail Records we are reviewing. So I would like to explain to you the goal of this American record label. The company was founded in 2007 by two artists who collaborate to produce and release the creative work of musicians from different cultural backgrounds and traditions. Musicians that never had a chance to be discovered for lack of financial support or promotion. Trail Records collect original material from musicians and translate it into unique CD albums in limited editions as rarity collections. They produce quality products with improved sound quality in limited collectors edition fold out digipak.
“Petroglyphs” is a 20 years anniversary collection by St. Petersburgh (Russia) rooted ethnic band Ole Lukkøye. The band uses ethnic instruments like rubab, darbuk, vargan and jimbees. “Petroglyphs” contains the most trippy hits the band ever recorded and include some tracks exclusively written for this compilation.
Boris Bardash – music, lyrics, programming, keyboards, voice, guitars, percussion; Andrey Lavrinenko – bass guitar, djembe, percussion; Frol – bassoon, snake flute, cow horn, trumpet, ocarina, dwarfs srceam; Tatyana SWA Kalmykova – vocals
with guest appearances of:
Georgy Starikov – electric & acoustic guitars; Peter Akimov – cello; Vladimir Konovalov –
electro double bass; Oleg Shar – big djembe, darabuka, congas, vibraslap, percussion; Yuri Lukyanchik –
percussion, djembe, darabuka; Igor Kaim – banjo; Ekaterina Sidorova – percussion.
On this compilation you can find the following tracks; “Zapara”, “Ankara Karachi”, “Became a Sky”, “Children”, “Melting”, “White Stone”, “Zagoralos”, “Sleepy Herbs”, “Horse Tiger” (unreleased 2002 version) and “Free Warriors”. I will not review this album track by track. You get almost 80 minutes of electric and acoustic etnic music with tribal beats and Siberian folk influences. The band uses an unusual selection of ethnic instruments (rubab, darbuk, vargan, jimbees) from all over the world. Further you can hear the sounds of instruments like the djembe and darabuka. The vocals are sometimes sung in a shamanistic way. Rhythm is very important in the music of Ole Lukkøye and often the music is danceable. In a track like “Zagoralos” the basis of the music is formed by the beats of rhythmic percussion and layers of spacey keyboards and guitars. On top of these layers you find vocals that are sung in a a shamanistic way. The opening track of the album “Zapara” is mysterious and the listener is almost brought into a state of trance. Besides the rhythm of all the percussion instruments you can enjoy the most unusual and beautiful melodies brought to you by the solo instruments. One of my favorite tracks is a song entitled “Melting”. It is a slow mesmerizing track with beautiful keyboard strings and great solo's on electric guitar and violin like sounding instruments. I also like “White Stone” which has a slowly building character, beautiful vocal lines and an instrumentation with Middle Eastern accents. In “Sleepy Herbs” you can find the most beautiful melodies of the album. Of course I don't understand the lyrics of the songs but this is not a problem. There is so much to enjoy while listening to the music of Ole Lukkøye. And I always prefer that a band is singing in their native language. In this way, the original atmosphere of the music is preserved. The album closes with the track “Free Warriors” in which the Siberian folk influences emerge.
Unbelievable that this band was hidden for me for more than twenty years. We have to thank Trail Records for bringing this beautiful music to a broader audience. “Petroglyphs” is a little gem for the open minded music lover. I would also recommend this album to the lovers of space-rock bands like Ozric Tentacles and Hawkwind. Trail Records has actually the same goal as progVisions; introducing the beautiful music of unknown bands to a more broader audience.
Douwe Fledderus – December 2011
Progvisions (Netherlands)