My Sleeping Karma

(Elektrohasch)
by Craig Regala

I dig the whole space/drone/doom as ROCK continuum the label heaves up. And when they dip down into ’70s kick-ass revolution or prog via hard rock, it works as well as a clipped straw fits the nostril.

My Sleeping Karma play spacey rock that manages to replicate the good stuff about the drifting stoner electronic stuff that the Orb et. al. graced the ’90s with and various Krautrock early ’70s units rolled out. I gotta feeling there’s a strong currency with the post-rock post-shoegazer metal post-ambient/doom whatever stuff filtering into the world as Subarachnoid Space, Explosions in the Sky, Tool, Earth, SunnO))), Isis, Cardinal, and many other worthies overflow metal and pop conventions with a new psychedelic heavy rock.

But MSK stay firmly in the rock tradition of drums, bass, keys, and guitar as they salute the same age-old freak flag as Assemble Head in Sunburst Sound and Lord Sterling, and they have an affection for the classic rootage of ’60s Pink Floyd and ’70s Hawkwind just as those two worthies do. The melodies and riffs are wonderful and tinged with a slightly exotic Mid-Eastern feel, pulling them out of straight crunch rock into mind tingle territory. Damn near perfect recording too, in the “I went and lay on the basement floor as these guys practiced and they sounded this great,” way. Gig’m with Farflung and the Kraut-mantra drone of Giant Brain and Circle and you’d have to throw yourself a massive inner-outer space light show to live up to the night’s greatness.
(www.elektrohasch.de)