Record Review // ZOHASTRE "Pan And The Master Pipers" (zamzamrec)

€12 //
Edition of 300 //
https://zamzamrec.bandcamp.com/album/pan-and-the-master-pipers //

Magical tones with this deeper drone opens up this record.   It has a feeling to it as if something is being summoned, perhaps from the ocean, and once it does come it will change everything about the world.    There is also this flutter to the music, like someone is very slowly shaking those little cymbals you can wear on your wrists.   Beeping comes through now and it feels computer generated-- slightly modem.   It's still building, still taking us straight into the next century.     Squeals live in here just as much as this drone which is getting slightly higher in pitch.

Buzzing hums come through now like a video game.   There are drums with this as well, high hats I believe, so this feels smooth and yet it also could be something like an electric razor bringing about these higher pitched, feel good swarm of bees type of tones.    These higher pitched tones begin to feel as if they will generate words, as if they are about to sing and that may or may not be influenced by the fact that I recently watched the movie "Joe's Apartment" for the first time in many years.

There is this driving sense to these songs and for some reason they remind me of the Presidents of the United States of America (the band) in the most bizarre way.   Sound manipulation is such a fantastic thing and this feels as if there are small, high pitched people trapped somewhere begging to be saved.    As it begins to drive a whoosh comes through which seems to have picked up the pace and taken us straight into hyperspace.    It fades and returns and just overall has this sense of "Knight Rider" being in space (Is that a thing?  Could that be a thing?)

This quiets down with what could be claps but could also be typewriter keys.   A low drone comes in now.    The drone begins to wind, up and down, in and out, slowly.  There is also a steady drumming behind it all.    It just has this cool, calm feel to it like someone riding into town on a horse in an old western movie where the main character was just so badass no one wanted to fuck with him.   And then the bagpipes hit.   Wow.   Could this get any better?  I almost felt like bagpipes would be the perfect sound to enhance this and they slowly come through until they are undeniable and this is just such a perfect, brooding type of song and yet so refreshing.

Lasers are not shot through this song and it has gone from this classic feel to something set in space perhaps or at the very least the future.    This song also just seems to build in a way that not many others can also build on in similar ways.     That slow clap (or typewriter keys) sound returns to end this track as well. 

Higher notes seem to be laughing at us now as Side B starts.  Bells sound as the lasers seemingly shoot through space in an eerie way.   It could be something out of "Lost in Space", but also a little bit of "Twilight Zone".    Percussion begins to provide the destruction to accompany this and I'm having thoughts of "Mars Attacks!" now.    The drumming gets louder, heavier and it seemingly has taken over the entire piece.    There is a back and forth rattling of notes, electronics, as there are other whooshes coming in softer and then quieter.   It is an electronic symphony, an electronic storm and the pace quickens to where you feel like you must run.

This reminds me a bit of "Trainspotting" and then the bagpipes return.    I suppose the title of this record should have given away the bagpipes but I didn't really look at it and think that from the start.    There is a driving quality to this and it just has so much energy behind it.    The next song builds up a bit of synth in a slower sense.    Drums kick into this and there is a bit of Rush in here, it has that sense of "Tom Sawyer" to it.    There is also the distinct feel of a winding road to this song, as if it's a video game and it's taking us but not through the straight path.

Vocals are coming through now as this swirls around in circles but feels very much like something you might hear out of a trippy rock n roll song.    I'm not sure what the vocals are saying but this certainly has become trippy in a Pink Floyd way but with a faster paced drum beat than most of their songs-- it's almost like Tora Tora Torrance in some ways.   It seems to disappear into the void as the vocals fade out with everything else and this is a rather memorable way to end this record.