Apes – Tapestry Mastery – Review

Apes

Tapestry Mastery (Birdman)
by Brian Varney

There’s a fairly lengthy spoken intro with two robot-like voices discussing what I’m assuming is supposed to be the concept of this EP (something about a blind tapestry weaver named Maximilla), but I’ll be damned if I can understand what the hell they’re talking about. In that way, it’s a fairly accurate harbinger of things to come, since this is one of the strangest things I’ve come across in awhile. In terms of instrumentation, Apes differ from the basic rock template in one major way: An organ, not a guitar, is the central instrument. However, that’s where the connection to normalcy ends. Voices, when they appear, are distorted to the point of lunacy, and damn near every other instrument is distorted or processed in some way, with plenty of synth whooshes and synapse-fucking effects charging through the landscape at every available opportunity, the cumulative effect giving you the feeling that you just might’ve entered an alternate universe when you pressed Play.

Song-wise, Apes look to drug rockers of the past, especially the ones most interested in repetition, bands like Hawkwind, Silver Apples, and middle-period Floyd, as well as krautrockers like Ash Ra Tempel and Can. What this means to someone who’s unfamiliar with these bands is that the songs feature a simple phrase or phrases repeated over and over with the aim of replicating or even creating the sensation of being high. In other words, it’s truly psychedelic, the perfect accompaniment to an evening at home huffing paint thinner.
(PO Box 50777 Los Angeles, CA 90041)