Paik

Paik, a power trio from Michigan, practiced a variant of instrumental stoner/drone rock. Their lengthy pieces mix My Bloody Valentine' shoegazing vertigoes, Sonic Youth's minimalist repetitions, and Earth's super-heavy distortions. They debuted with Hugo Strange (1998 - Beyonder, 2004), still relatively close to the shoegazing model, followed by the more mature Corridors (Beyonder, 2001 - Alley, 2004). Tinsel and Foil, with its cascading and ascending repetition of distorted chords, plays like an artistic manifesto, and achieves an almost religious atmosphere. Hollow Ki is a concerto for psychedelic reverbs and crackling distortion. A demonic crescendo turns the somnolent and "acid" Spacer (2001) into a wall of noise. An even bigger, denser, tornado-like wall of noise destroys the celestial opening of The Longest Day. The nine-minute Spanning Time is instead relatively predictable and redundant.

The Orson Fader (Clairecords, 2003) is lighter and more thoughtful, despite the short brutal opener Detroit and the massive, tidal, eight-minute closer, Killing Windmills. If the eight-minute Tall Winds mimics a traditional psych-rock jam, the seven-minute Black Car soars into a grandiose cosmic-psychedelic trip Low Battery Transmission and the eight-minute Ghost Ship feels like a noisy version of John Fahey's intrepid fantasias. In fact, a country element infiltrates the eight-minute Orson Fader up to the explosive crescendo, which nonetheless ends in aimless doodling.

Satin Black (Strange Attractors, 2004) brings their sound to maturity on both fronts. Despite its length, Jayne Field is closer to the traditional song format than they ever were. The theme is developed with cunning understanding of dynamics, alternating between hypnosis and excitement. Dizzy Stars stretches the idea further, and soaks it into a ghostly atmosphere. The soaring and cacophonous Dirt for Driver is a monument of introspection and terror, but it still pales in comparison with Stellar Meltdown en el Oceano, a massive drone that works its way into the psyche for 14 minutes, with little or no variation. Satin Black is the satori of the album. It does showcase the kind of thunderous, glacial noise that the other tracks promised, while, on the other hand, emphasizing a warm melodic motif, albeit camouflaged inside one long modulated distortion. The merge of antithetic colossal emotions could well be one of the fundamental themes of the near future of music.

Monster Of The Absolute (Strange Attractors, 2006) is the (relatively) relaxed, laid-back companion to Satin Black, particularly the stately nine-minute Monster Of The Absolute.