Guruzsmás - Fordítsd ki a szűrödet! (2015)

I spend a lot of time reading foreign literature in translation, I bring it up here often enough for that to not shock anyone. I really like to find it from Eastern Europe, I got stacks of writers from those nations I've yet to get a chance to read, but I always feel a strong urge to know more about it, to experience more of their culture. Therefore, I get a thrill when I see an Eastern European band has submitted an album. Some of them that I've posted over the years are still in my regular rotation and are among my favorites to share with friends. I can see this easily being what'll happen with this new full-length from Guruzsmás.

Earlier this year Guruzsmás released an EP, Az Élő Csizmaszár​\​The Living Bootleg, that I recall with great fondness. It serves as a wonderful prelude to this longer effort. Both showing the mutli-faceted nature of their compositions. They've pulled from a great many influences ranging from the traditional folk music of the Balkans, Ottoman territories and Eastern Europe in general to the more experimental expressions of rock and roll such as psychedelic and progressive rock, which let's not forget where hugely popular throughout Europe in the 60s and 70s. A notion visually reinforced by the album's cover art, an artistic perversion of the Byzantine imperial eagle. The songs are fast, polyrhythmic affairs, with familiar scales combined with loud, fuzzy guitars that would be equally at home in a heavy metal song. Even without a curiosity of their nearest of Easts like I've got, anyone that appreciates a superbly crafted progressive album will find Fordítsd ki a szűrödet! to their liking.

To be had here:
Guruzsmás - Fordítsd ki a szűrödet!

The Grease Arrestor - What Was, Is. (2014)

This is another of the groups I've been listening to lately from Australia, on the recommendation of their fellow countrymen, the Citradels. However, unlike the Citradels and the others they're not from Melbourne, rather they hail from Sydney. The music that the Grease Arrestor plays is pyschedelic-shoegaze rock with a healthy dose of Eastern influence. While not to the intensity of Eastern-ness of John Berberian the Rock East Ensemble's oud playing, which is a must hear if you've never done so. I've got a soft spot for psych music that infuses that Eastern so openly, for either the epic droning style or the short rock numbers such as this group produces. The songs have a sedated, hazy tone, especially the delivery of the singing, creating a floating sound. It never amps up and cuts loose, which some might find bothersome, but personally I think that it is just fine to makes something that doesn't need to blow out my speakers but has all those wonderful psychedelic sounds. That aside, What Was, Is. has some excellent qualities, including a very polished and professional sounding recording that's all the more impressive because the band does it all themselves. Basically, if you like 60s psychedelic a bit updated and reinterpreted you'll be on board with the Grease Arrestor, and I am happy to say I meet that criteria nicely.

To be had here:
The Grease Arrestor - What Was, Is

An Emerald City - The Fourth (2011)

I don't quite know how it has come to this, but my ever-vacillating tastes have swung all the way back to the point that I am really enjoying post-rock again. While attempting to get through a variety of Japanese and European novels lately with my massive free time due to under-employment I have really been making use of the hundreds of post-rock albums stored up on my hard drives. This is a band that really stood out for me among them and I was surprised to find that it is still available for steaming and download ($10) on bandcamp. Germany's An Emerald City makes some delightful post-rock that isn't the sort that puts a depressive damper on one's day if heard with breakfast. In fact, I have found the album to have an adventurous mood with some of the same elements of exotica that I so happy about with Monster Rally, though notably of an Arabian influence. It can even make chores seem like your in a surreal movie that ends with some sort of positive affirmation about yourself. You know, crazy stuff. Anyhow, despite its release not being all that recent and the likelihood that the band members have gone on to other projects I still recommend digging into their catalog.

To be had here:
An Emerald City - The Fourth