Macha
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Macha , 7/10
See It Another Way , 6.5/10
Forget Tomorrow (2004), 5/10
Seaworthy: The Ride (2002), 6/10
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(Clicka qua per la versione Italiana)

Macha is a trio from Athens (Georgia) that plays psychedelic music inspired by gamelan and techno and constrained by the conceptual attitude of contemporary math-rock. Multi-insturmentalist Joshua McKay runs the gamut of world-music, employing both an arsenal of exotic instruments and samplings of Indonesian music. A fluid song structure presides over the mostly improvised Macha (Jetset, 1998). The chaotic stylistic melange is of Sun City Girls grade, while the tribal, exorcising aspect of their more percussive pieces recalls the Savage Republic (Buddha Nature, Cat Wants To Be Dog, Capital City), amid nods to early Sonic Youth and copious doses of Can. The album represents one of the very first innovations in the realm of world-music since the 1970s. Macha applies a whacky, festive rave spirit to their musical collage.

See It Another Way (Jetset, 1999), crafted in a real studio, replaces the amateurish field recordings of the debut with an orchestra of zither, vibraphone, dulcimer, gongs, horns, drums and guitars. The net result approaches Third Ear Band's pan-ethnic suites.

The EP Macha Loved Bedhead (Jetset, 2000) is a collaboration with Bedhead. The six songs evoke Bedhead's spirit through narcolectic tempos, languid vocals, and intimate feel. Hey Goodbye is possibly the best of these "remixes" of Bedhead's style, while the orgasmic You And New Plastic sounds more like a Bedhead remix of Velvet Underground's Sister Ray. Macha's electronic symphony prevails only in Only the Bodies Survive.

Macha ventured into ethnic music with Forget Tomorrow (Jetset, 2004), although the title-track harks back to New Order-ish synth-pop of the 1980s.

Macha's multi-insturmentalist Josh McKay launched his own project, Seaworthy, that debuted with The Ride (Jetset, 2002). The album does not depart totally from Macha's sound, save for the exotic flavors that is here replaced by additional technology. This is the work of an erudite singer-songwriter intent on pouring his heart and mind into the songs. The tormented The Ride is McKay's manifesto, both lyrically and aurally.

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