Ùzgin Ùver- Patak (Lollipop Shoppe LSCD018)

Ùzgin Ùver is a very interesting world music band from Hungary. It has been a while since I heard their music (I only own the very early material). The band has been around since the early 90s and is lead by Peter Homoki who plays most of the instruments, including guitars, bass, drums, loops, synths and one vocal (5). Marcsi backs him up on violin and vocals (1,4) and Gyula on duduk, jews harp, flute, and clarinet. The CD starts off with the amazing 16 min track, which was to me the best song on the album. It starts off quite slow and spacey with some nice flute playing and laid back bass and percussive grooves. Next section we have some clarinet and violin complimenting each other as the rhythm grows a bit more intense. Every now and then the main melodic theme is repeated. Around 6mins the female vocal kicks in and by 7:30 it is quite psychedelic with a lot of stuff going on in the background and it gradually comes back down to just the bass, simple percussion and clarinet. It has this real mid-east feel to it later and also some guitar kicks in that really cuts through the tribal groove. The vibe of this track really reminds me of Ole Lukkøye from Russia at times. Incredible song. Gázló is a very repetitive track with a slight increased tempo and features some nice layers of violin and clarinet. There is a long guitar solo on this track as well. This is music to put you into a trance. Shirat Hayam is a more vocal track with some very cool Hungarian vocals. What an amazing voice she has! I get transported out to the desert sands with this music. Shodrás is driven by another hypnotic rhythm and lead with some repeated violin lines that get doubled so it sounds really cool. Lots of other stuff is happening as well if you listen closely. Ôrvény features a male singer this time on a track with a more dark heavy feel to it. Sometimes he sings almost like throat singing. The CD ends with Nádas. This is more laid back with some guitar and violin that gives it a mysterious feel. The jews harp makes an appearance as well. A sort of happy but not happy song that has a special sort of rhythm. Very different from the other songs on this excellent album.

 This is also released on a vinyl record on Mana Mana Records in Hungary.

http://manamana.hu

http://www.lollipopshop.de/