Review: Karakorum - Beteigeuze

As I'm sure most people have found throughout their record listening life, some albums take time to love; some 'hit' instantly, some take a few listens and some insidiously creep into your consciousness. This album from Karakorum somehow managed to do all three....I'm still not sure how. On first listen I thought there were some cool passages but also a lot of twiddly pretension...I listened again, mainly because it is coming out on Tonzonen and head honcho Dirk is rarely wrong, and it slowly started to make sense...anyway, to cut a long story short, 'Beteigeuze' has now wormed its way into my brain and I now really, really dig it. A lesson in patience and persistence. Karakorum are a quintet from Mühldorf, Germany and are comprised of: Max Schörghuber (electric guitar, percussion, lotus-flute, vocals), Bernhard Huber (acoustic and electric guitar, percussion, vocals), Axel Hackner (organ, synthies, vocals), Jonas Kollenda (bass, siren, vocals) and Bastian Schuhbeck (drums, percussion, vocals). What these guys do so successfully is to channel the spirit, sounds and ethos of seventies prog, psych and krautrock into a sound all of their own...and it grows on you! The three tracks were originally released in demo form in 2016 as part of a longer album but they have been re-recorded and mastered by Eroc (of Grobschnitt fame).

'Beteigeuze Part I' gets us under way and immediately we are immersed in a seventies-flavoured prog rock opus. The vocals are pretty much all harmonised (no one lead singer), but it is the instrumental passages that grab hold. Heavy on the retro keyboards it sounds as about authentic as you can gey without the use of a time machine. The track evolves into a lengthy jam that, although ostensibly prog rock, has enough psychedelic flashes and krautrock infused moments to keep an old head like me happy. What is striking however is that the band manage to keep it light and almost playful....one of the negatives often leveled at prog is that it takes itself waaay to seriously....but these guys have enough tricks up their collective sleeves to ensure that it does not become a 'worthy' album but rather one that is meant to be listened to and enjoyed. At the ten minute mark (this track is about 15 minutes in length) there is a wonderful guitar freakout that had me nodding in appreciation. 'Beteigeuze Part II' sees the momentum and the tempo drop and starts as a more laid back affair...the languid guitars are reminiscent of Manuel Gottsching in their relaxed trippiness, ably accompanied by some more superlative organ/keyboard work and some strident vocals. Unlike many artists, they are not happy or willing to let a track just plod along, they mix it up all the time; changes in tempo and key, a guitar solo thrown in the middle of a organ passage and all played with consummate skill. The final track, 'Beteigeuze Part III' is a mighty 24 minutes in length and is where things get really interesting. The initial heaviness of the guitar is almost stoner rock in the way that the riffs roll out of the speaker but amidst this the keyboard whirls as if played by a freaked Keith Emerson. Things calm a tad, the guitars taking on a more Fripp/King Crimson shape and the harmonised vocals give it a seventies vibe. Throughout the length of this opus it continues to morph and play with the styles...veering between prog, some cool psychedelic passages and some old school krautrock...it even flirts with some jazzy structures (and a strong Gong flavour at times!)...it never sits still and never sticks to a set pattern. It is this creativity that makes this album so enjoyable.

I know prog has a bad name in some quarters and that is a shame because it may mean that some people will not hear this record but I urge these people to put aside their preconceptions and prejudices and give 'Beteigeuze' a blast. As I mentioned, it took a while for me to truly 'get' this but once I had I enjoyed it immensely. There is enough packed into this to keep everyone happy. It is played with skill and love and no small amount of mischief and that shines through. It is released on Tonzonen and can be ordered via their webshop here. Available on CD and vinyl (a cool orange splatter)