Is there a way to say 'pop-lockin' -disco-space-punk' concisely? Either way, this record is proof that music can be more than just a name. Musically and cognitively uninhibited, Badd Energy's Underwater Pyramids is a trip in a philosophy - one that perhaps couldn't have existed any time but now. It fervently encapsulates so many facets of our bizarre 2013 existence; possibly even giving us the medicine we need to heal our woes.
When the opening lyrics of a record are 'I've got fangs the length of Sudan ACHTUNG when you approach me, man...' followed closely by'...from a galaxy far away...' and '...like a shamen hella druid, prepare to watch your dreams go fluid...' you know you've arrived at something that has it's mind wide open. And the unhitched musical and lyrical conviction of second track 'Third Eye' never stop.
The following track 'Riot' has a burgeoning attitude streaming from it, slapping apathy down as it passes and heaving you forward with it, no matter where you started out from. This marvelous marriage of mother mystic and political badass in the first three tracks fully solidify an aesthetic that hangs viscously over the rest of the record.
'Ba-zing' carries itself in a similar fashion to 'Third Eye', coming at you packing mad grooves and tumbling waves of synthesizer and artfully placed autotuned cats. OG Flying Nun fiends needn't be frightened of a lack of guitars either, because there certainly are instances of established Flying Nunnery on the record. Tracks like 'Blue Swan', the noodly opener 'Entro', and even 'How Do You Sleep At Night' nod at a lo-fi guitar heritage, but never conceal the brand new reverberations made by Underwater Pyramids.
Penultimate track 'The Conference'drips itself down into your frontal lobe, blissfully ricocheting itself into a daze, before leaving you to find your balance and lucidity amongst the swirling essence of the closing track 'Underwater Pyramids'.
We've reached a stage in our civilisation where music really does need to provide more than just an easy filler for the satellites on either side of our heads. Badd Energy have presented us with the psychic shake up that we all need. Please do the right thing with this power you have been given and get on the ba-zing ba-zing.
