Time to get off my arse and give some more of your music a listen. I've a few still backed up, but I was asked specifically yesterday to look at this, and so I will. Xurtio is a member who doesn't seem to post that often (although he could be posting in threads or subforum I don't visit) so unless you're a prog head you may not know him, but he's been here for a while. He has a band called Luop Garou --- I think he mentioned once what it meant but I've forgotten --- and on their Soundcloud page they describe themselves thus:
“An amalgam of genre bending tonality and psychedelic fusion”.
Should I be worried? Who knows, but I'm going in anyway. They have a lot of music on their page, but I'm told the first four have been released as a mini-album, so I'll check those out and see how we go. Unfortunately I don't know if there's a title so I'll just assume it's self-titled; if I'm wrong Xurtio can correct me.
Luop Garou --- Luop Garou --- 2015
“Pull” is the first track, and after some odd little sounds it settles into a sort of slow blues groove, the singer reminding me of a cross between Cave and Reed, with a little Cohen thrown in. There are female vocals there too, which sort of lighten the tone. The music is a kind of spiralling, almost waltzy melody, slow and dreamy, with a really nice sort of
vocalise part in the middle --- it may be synth, theremin, god knows what, even guitar effects: I'm no musician, but it's good. Impressed so far. It's a short little track, shy of three minutes and ends with a sort of creaky sound that reminds me of Floyd's “Your possible pasts”. Next up is a more guitar oriented tune, pulling (sorry) in those same effects as “Fed a spider” keeps the tempo slow and laidback, definitely more of the Cave influences here I feel.
Nice kind of bouncy, echoey drumwork with what I guess is a guitar pedal effect which sounds a little like slide guitar. Could be synth of course. Slow, descending end and we're into the third track, which they have labelled as “psychedelic punk”, making me flinch a little, but the charmingly-titled “Pile of guts” is not that far removed from the other two tracks, though it is a lot faster and rockier. Guitar a lot more to the fore here and not distorted (if it was on the previous song), but I must sound a note of caution here: the singer's voice suited the last two tracks but here it's just too laconic and I think someone with a bit more fire might be needed. I don't know if Luop Garou have any other singers, but the lady who was providing the backing vox to the first track might be a possibility?
Very decent guitar solo which puts me more in mind of a progressive rock tune than anything to do with punk really, and a sweet little bassline near the end, taking us into “Cats n' dogs”, the final track. This opens with feedback guitar and organ, very Waits in feel, that carnival idea he uses so well, sort of spooky in its way. The vocal here is initially more moaned than sung, and I hear someone doing a passable impression of a cat, which is cool, though why they couldn't have employed a proper cat I don't know: doing an animal out of a gig, honestly!
The vocal is now going properly and again this song suits the vocalist, with its dark atmosphere and laconic feel. I hear tinges of Bowie here also.Nice guitar solo, not overdone or overblown, but very competent and fits in well with the rest of the music.
TRACKLISTING
1. Pull
2. Fed a spider
3. Pile of guts
4. Cats n' dogs
Hard to categorise this band, but overall I feel a sense of blues
a la Cave, maybe the odd flash of Velvets as well. And certainly some nods to Waits. All in all, very enjoyable and I wouldn't be averse to listening to more, though as I say there is that one song that just seems not to sit very well with the singer. Just a thought, but maybe someone else might try singing that one? Other than that, impressed and a very good job overall.
You can catch the album, and the rest of Luop Garou's music, here
https://soundcloud.com/luop-garou