Ghedalia Tazartes / Pawel Romanczuk / Andrzej Zaleski - Carp's Head [Monotype Records 018]

Released in November 2k16 on the surely remarkable Monotype Records label is "Carp's Head", a collaborational album effort created by the three artists Ghedalia Tazartes, Pawel Romanczuk and Andrzej Zaleski. Dealing with - according to the press release this is - the story of an 'elusive romantic magician personified by a carp-headed cat' the group creates a record thrilling, yet beyond strange featuring highly expressive - and expressionistic - vocal performances and what seems to be a backward played Tango in the opening tune "Dance Inverse", the subsequent "You'll Be Wise" seems to be indulging in the percussive pattern chronology of some obscure, ritualistic cult whereas the "Zither Song" weighs in an exaggerated take on ancient Folk music. The intense "Orient Calling" seemingly aims to emulate - hence the name - traditional Turkish or Arab music, "Wolves And Birds" flirts with an amalgamation of field recorded atmospheres and Dark Ambient combined with the inevitable vocals which surely are the cohesive, all embracing stylistic feature on this highly diverse longplay piece and the "Wild East Blues" fuses a, well..., bluesy harmonica melody with a feverish, organic TripHop-resemblance. Furthermore we see the yearning "Dobra Nasza" dabble with a somewhat ambient'ish feel whilst providing deepness beyond any possible categorization before introducing a slightly latin'esque, Bossa-infused vibe around 4:30 minutes, "The Far Horizon" brings more cult'ish vocalisms and evokes memories of ancient rituals performed in the damp jungle heat of yore, "The End Of The Western World" is dripping with heartfelt ultramelancholia and the final take "Wolves And Birds Part 2" picks up on the vibe of its prequel but comes across in a more looming, unsettling manner that  may - or may not - indicate that the end is nigh indeed. Intense!