Snarkattack

“Imagine a place where you’ve wanted to go, but never could find. A place like no other. And when you get there, you can only look down upon the stairway to heaven.”

Australian-based ’60s-inspired psychedelic rock band BeOmega’s with their full-length release Outer Edge of MusiVerse will apparently take you to just such a place. I must confess, when people claim such things, my inner snark prepares to poke fun or roll my eyes. I still recall the attempt of a high school classmate to convince a few of us that rave or trance music was — I cringe to remember it — “A journey to the stars… an experience for the mind.” Obviously, she was trying to prove to us that she was so much cooler than us concert band nerds. I’m not entirely sure that BeOmega’s album achieves its aim — it most certainly didn’t take me anywhere cosmic, for reasons that are detailed below.

The album is just over an hour long and has fourteen tracks with some names that play on words like “Dis-Aster” (”aster” referring to the stars) and “Phi-nd Your Blisss” and even one that sounds like some religious-cult chant “Ni Ni Nun Na Ne” (in brackets listing “May You Rise”). There are three members in the group — in their own words there is “blazing starburst drumming” by Taina, with “booming spacoid basslines” from sister Cheruki and lastly we have “cosmic orgasmic guitar wizardry and etheric otherworldly vocals” by Prashant Trivedi on guitar and vocals, also responsible for writing their musical material.

My initial response when listening to the album was that it sounded like Japanese psychedelic rock designed to brainwash people. It really does sound like music straight out of the ’60s — I almost feel like I’m there. Parts of it are very drone-like because of the melodic and rhythmic uniformity when all three members are singing (the first thing that came to mind was the folk of Hy Brasil chanting — and sinking — on their blissful island in the hilarious film Eric the Viking, led by Terry Jones). Each member does his or her job satisfactorily, but as a whole the chemistry isn’t quite right — but this is something that can improve.

For example, the repetitive nature of many of the tracks sound chaotic rather than espousing harmony and accord — the complete opposite of the philosophies the group promotes in the sleeve notes. Perhaps because it sounds like three individuals performing the same thing, rather than a band jamming? This isn’t a pleasurable astral journey at all — although it is more accurately representative of a bad drug trip (I hear). It could be personal preference and though I came to this work with as open a mind as possible, the repetition does not strike me as being effective or engaging to the listener.

It’s completely fine when the production of certain albums aren’t polished and sound raw or rough in particular spots — that’s one of the great things about popular music (as opposed to Western art music or what most of us call “classical” music) — but because this group, and recording, need to work on other crucial aspects of music-making, such production values do nothing to enhance the recording. It’s unbalanced, brash and unrelenting. There’s too many other weaknesses that need to be worked on for this to sound raw in that cool, rock way.

I’m not the ideal audience for this sort of music, admittedly, and am not very familiar with ’60s popular culture. BeOmega’s offering isn’t awful and they could perhaps focus more on live performance and building a fan base, as well as developing their personal sound — because at present they don’t sound like a band whose intentions are focused enough. It will come with experience and playing together as much as possible. Based on what I’ve heard, their music oscillates from either bland to messy but there are definite hints of promise and that indefinable quality that makes musical acts appealing to listeners.

I understand BeOmega have been received with some enthusiasm in New York and London so they definitely have their ideal and appreciative audience, but for now it cannot be said that Outer Edge of MusiVerse is an example of them at their finest. They’ve only been a group since 2003, which isn’t all that long. It will be interesting to see how they progress as a band, and they should do lots of gigs while they are based in Australia. Flaws aside, there will always be a handful of people in the major cities and towns looking to see what eclectic bands like BeOmega have on offer.

This article first appeared on Blogcritics at http://blogcritics.org/archives/2006/08/18/022718.php viewable here.