28 November 2022

THE WILD CENTURY – Organic (2022, LP/CD Tonzonen Records)

RELEASE INFO:

Label: Tonzonen Records

Format: LP, Album, Limited Edition, Blue White Marbled Vinyl, Gatefold Cover (including Download Card), 500 copies

Format: CD, Album, Limited Edition, Digipack

Release Date: 28 Oct 2022

The Wild Century is a Dutch band, hailing from Breda, The Netherlands, and is a new “entry” for me, though they have released 3 albums so far, “Raga Blue” (2018), “Raw” (2019), “5” (2020). “Organic” is their 4^th album and it is released through Tonzonen Records.

The label’s press release states:

“Hailing from the mystic borderlands between Belgium and The Netherlands, this untamed pack of mavericks takes you on a mesmerizing trip along sitar-tuned cosmic dimensions, where harmonic basses and mantric rhythms pump while the astral project their ethereal grooves on everyone’s lucidity.

Drawing heavily from the musical sources of psychedelic rock and punk blues from what today seems like a forgotten era long gone, they manage to recreate that spirit as a mysterious reverie that, as soon as it comes to life, continues to reverberate into the deepest of your visions. Through the succession of repetitive notes, the sound waves become almost visually perceptible; the view becomes misty, the body harmonizes with the tantric melodies and the consciousness fades. Welcome to the trip that is The Wild Century”…

The Wild Century is a quintet consisting of Stan Aarts (vocals, guitar), Gerton Govers (vocals, sitar), Joris Verbogt (bass), Butsenzeller (drums), and Paola Pica (Hammond). “Organic” is a very very ‘inhomogeneous’ album… It is so diverse that it seems that each one of the 6 tracks (in total) “serves” a different subgenre, though the “base” is the same… hehe… The opener “Lowdown Dog” acts like a mix of MC5 AND Stooges with a tremendous 80s aesthetic, this is powerful Rock n’ Roll, fuzzy, stoned, and definitely distorted! “Oh Yeah” is a Hendrix tune, fuzzy, wah-wah with a heavy a-la Vanilla Fudge Hammond organ and a fantastic Live Iron Butterfly attitude with punky vocals! There’s a 180 degrees turn with “Carry On”, we left behind the dusty dark cold and heavy Detroit and headed for some pure Californian sunshine! A balladesque tune that could have easily been recorded back on a sunny day at Laurel Canyon – sometime in the early 70s – a song that (to my mind) acts ideal for the ending scene of the Almost Famous movie, emerging a feeling of “finally, after a long adventure, I’m safely back home…”. “Beautiful Queen” starts… Knock knock… Who’s there? Jim… And this is my band, The Doors of Perception… The Wild Century (probably on purpose) created an AMAZING Doors-like psychedelic atmosphere, something like “The End” soundscape, slow, dark, bluesy, hallucinogenic, and mid-tripping, a lysergic journey to the inner mind! Absolutely fabulous! … “Surf me right to suffer, baby”… This is so heartbreaking! Another balladesque song follows, “Grey Blue Eyes” which starts in a mellow and soft way and manages to become heavy and bluesy! Eventually, the album comes to an end with “Mother’s Grace”, a cool ballad with a mid-70s classic rock touch, dominated by electric guitar and accompanied by a wondrous Hammond sound… I really really dig this album, can you? TimeLord Michalis