Hey all, thanks once again for all the heaps of compliments (especially Brandon and Noel - wow, guys! I'm blown away and very grateful to you)! And no need to criticize Pipeline, it's just the opinion of their two editors - but given so many phenomenal releases out this past year, getting the runner-up place from them is a great honor. I've been reading Pipeline for nearly 20 years now, and Alan and Dave truly know their stuff and love this music, so it means quite a bit to me. Sandstorm was selected by them as a runner-up for the album of the year of '06, Carpe Noctem shared the album of the year honors (with Los Jets) for '08, and now Tribal Fires was a runner-up again - this kind of recognition and appreciation is rare, and we are very deeply grateful to Pipeline's support over the years!

Anyway, now on to the next album! Songs are already in progress, four have been worked up by the band so far, and there are another three or four in process. Maybe one or two new ones will be unveiled at a particular special show in early May.... ;)

Ivan
Lords of Atlantis on Facebook
The Madeira Official Website
The Madeira on Facebook
The Blair-Pongracic Band on Facebook
The Space Cossacks on Facebook
The Madeira Channel on YouTube

Last edited: Feb 13, 2013 21:30:41

Before the stroking of Ivan’s ego gets too weird, I wanna chime in. Time to celebrate the one-year-give-or-take anniversary of this release with an honest review! I’m long overdue to add my two cents in anyways. (People, this is going to get really drawn out, so accept my apologies up front)

I’ll preface that the Madeira are (and have been pretty much since their inception) my favorite band. On Earth! Of all the bands! I could go into the minutiae of why, but nah, suffice it to say that I dig this band a lot. So when I heard rumblings of this album being released last year I got pretty excited, as I’m sure just about everyone else here did. Since then this album has received some pretty downright glowing praise. Gobs of it in fact. I’m predictably going to add to that pile, but I’m also going to stick my neck out and dissent a bit! It’s okay, Ivan knows this is my favorite band so I’m sure he can handle it

‘Tribal Fires’ represents for me the most dramatically mixed bag of all the Madeira’s material so far – some of the highest highs yet (if not THE best material they’ve released so far), but also the lowest lows (not that a ‘low’ point for the Madeira is objectively bad… relative lows ). Maybe the better way to phrase it is that I actually found a few disappointments on this album in a way I hadn’t from earlier stuff, though admittedly some of that fault is my own: part of my problem was that I simply built up my expectations too high before first spinning this album.

I guess I lionized the band and built up my expectations unrealistically before giving an objective listen. A major part of that was simply stoking myself too much by just the song titles themselves, without even hearing the songs yet! (Don’t judge a book by its cover, and don’t judge an instrumental album by its song titles… rookie move on my part) For example: reading over the titles before listening, I expected ‘Jungle Drums’ to be some sort of tribal rager – a response to the earlier ‘Desert Drums’ which pummeled really hard. I forgot it was in fact a Lecuona cover, so even though it’s a nice song I was pretty deflated to find that the monster I was expecting was in fact calm and pretty. It’s in fact a really nice cover, but it took my frustratingly long to get over my expectation and desire for it to be something different before I could appreciate it as-is.

Similarly, I expected bigger, meaner, darker things from ‘Pre-Ritual’ and ‘The Ritual.’ In my mind, ‘Pre-Ritual’ was going to be about impending doom! Death and inescapable fate! I envisioned some pre-sacrifice, say with captured Mayan warriors listening in fear to incantations atop a giant pyramid, waiting their turn to have their hearts cut out of their chests! Then ‘The Ritual’ would deliver the goods with all the brutality of the deed itself! (I’ve been getting into too much metal lately… my expectations are way too extreme now ) But in fact, I found ‘Pre-Ritual’ also disappointingly subdued. I actually do like this song, but find it a bit meandering for a concept song that I felt should provide a more dramatic setup for the next. With time I’ve come to appreciate ‘The Ritual’ much more than the first listen, but it too really surprised me. While I expected this one to be dark, gloomy, and heavy it actually has a really optimistic, almost triumphant vibe to my ear. Not what I expected or wanted, so a bit hard to swallow at first. Credit where it’s due though: I really like the percussive damped strumming and heavy tremolo on this one, which incidentally are what I perceive as the darkest details in the song.

Okay, so the band can’t be blamed for not catering to my personal expectations based on song titles alone – at least I still like those songs and my disappointment in them has mostly been remedied by now. But even still, ‘Tribal Fires’ also presents the first Madeira material that I’ve actually been disappointed in musically. The most glaring offender is ‘Twilight’ which, interestingly, has gotten a ton of praise in this thread. I hate to admit it, but I simply don’t like this song! The first Madeira song that I actively dislike! I find the broken style of opening melody of the verse jarring and unpleasant. The rhythm is kinda plodding – nowhere near as interesting as so much other stuff the band has done. And the keyboard strings add too much cheese for my taste. It kinda sends things over the top. This strikes me as too far of a reach into Shadows-tribute territory, where Ivan usually balances that influence so well with his own unique style.

Also, I’m not a huge fan of ‘The Expedition,’ which I find disappointingly and surprisingly uninteresting. Actually, I really enjoy the melody of the refrain quite a lot, but the verse does nothing for me, and the arbitrary key change in the middle of the song gives the impression that it had nowhere else to go. Worst is the three-note intro to the verses, which strikes me as just filler. I’m actually really surprised by it compositionally, as it strikes me as too plain to have come from Patrick’s pen. Patrick has written some absolutely golden songs for the band (including two on this very album!), so this song seemed beneath his abilities.

Okay those are my gripes, which I trust the band can take in stride. I’d be interested to see if anyone might agree at all. Now onto the positives: there still remain a ton of phenomenal details throughout this whole album. A lot has already been said so I’ll try to keep it concise (though I’m failing already). Brief anecdotes: I love ‘Cities of Gold,’ and for whatever reason Dane’s work on the bell of the ride cymbal really hits the spot for me… just one of those details. Same goes for the more upbeat sections of ‘Arcadian Voyage.’ Great drums, and I love that melody! So expressive. ‘Mar Vista’ fits in great as the token acoustic number, again with great drums. That song is really percussive, which fills in lots of extra space.

Now that I’ve already brought it a couple times I should officially mention that the drumming through this album absolutely triumphs. So many of these songs derive tons of life and drive from Dane’s drumming. This album is packed with just killer rhythms on the drums, largely driven by snappy snare work. Dane has he’s really mastered the art of interesting, engaging snare work that has added a whole extra dimension to many of the best songs here.

Which brings me to the holy trinity of the album: It’s been almost a year now and I still can’t get over ‘Tribal Fury,’ ‘Fire Sacrifice,’ and ‘Witch Doctor.’ They’re just so fucking good

I find ‘Fire Sacrifice’ to be the most mysterious and intriguing song the Madeira have produced. Most of their material is extremely dynamic, and the songs follow a very dramatic narrative arc from section to section (take ‘Sahar’ for example, which covers all sorts of ground). That means, at least to my ear, it’s usually quite easy to lock into a Madeira arrangement and recognize its different components – the pieces are all noteworthy and distinct enough to help you recognize all the parts quickly. But ‘Fire Sacrifice’ actually took me a really long time to ‘get.’ While other songs in the Madeira’s catalog vary significantly in vibe and expressive content from section to section, this song just kinda hovers at the same level all the way through, and feels in ways exploratory. I found the melodic contour of the song hard to internalize and hard to follow, and the different sections hard to distinguish from each other, to the point where still after the first good handful of listens I thought this song might be through-composed, with no repetition at all. That made me think this might be Ivan’s response to Los Twang! Marvels’ ‘Sea of Glory,’ which is almost completely linear and in to my ear shares a similar vibe in certain ways. After enough time to become more familiar with this song I know it’s not through-composed, but it still does maintain a sort of stable feel that’s hard to put my finger on. That’s not at all to say that it’s boring. I absolutely freaking love this song, with a killer melody and even better drums. Dane’s drumming is at least half of what makes this song so great – fantastic heavily accented rhythms alternating between toms and snare. To me this song doesn’t move up and down very much, but the drums move it very much forward constantly. It’s still a really difficult song to put my finger on, and hard to explain the vibe I get from it, but man I still absolutely love it. I can listen to this one over and over. I'm curious to hear what Ivan's approach was to writing this song in particular?

Then ‘Witch Doctor.’ Man this song is DARK! This is the type of stuff I was looking for in those other songs! The bass opener is simple, but mean and ominous. Then the lead ooozes in with heavy slow tremolo. It’s almost a dissonant opening sequence, and those slow chords feel like they’re slowly belching forth from the ground… Then the song takes off with a fantastic driving snare rhythm. More winning stuff from Dane, with dramatic rhythm guitar to match. I love the sharp ascents and descents, stops and starts – such an absolutely killer song. I listen to this a ton as well, really loud.

And finally… Tribal Fury! Dropped-D brutality! Seldom a riff so badass has been played as in the intro. It immediately draws you in, then a slow, gritty pick slide pulls you back like a slingshot… and bam! This is a surf song that drives like none other. I immediately perceived it as a definitive statement, as if Ivan has stuck a flag in the ground to claim rights to the world’s most aggressive surf song. Who is willing to respond?? I really hope this leads to an inspired arms race in our little community. Bring the pain!
Really I can’t list enough details. The intro, the rhythm guitar, the turnaround, the drum fills… all inspired. AND. THE. SOLO. Ivan’s solo on this song has repeatedly and endlessly blown my pathetic little mind. The arpegiated buildup sets it up perfectly, and the switch to riding on crash cymbals brings the energy over the top into absolutely screaming, ice-pick highs worthy of the ‘fury’ title. Every note is perfect! It constantly builds itself up to a mammoth climax – one of the hardest hitting, deepest cutting chords ever! The whole solo nocks the wind out of you just with sheer velocity, then the slightest moment of respite, and that high A slices your freaking head off! No lie, I simply cannot listen to that whammy-shimmered dominant chord without clenching every muscle in my body as hard as I can and shaking with the impact. How do you even come down from that moment? Ivan somehow manages with a continuingly brilliant descending turnaround that leads into a hypnotic, glorious dance riff before seamlessly diving back into the rest of the song. Holy crap the solo is exhausting just in and of itself. I have no hesitation in saying it’s one of the most inspired, flawlessly crafted, and absolutely glorious pieces of guitar work ever, ever, ever! In fact: the solo on Tribal Fury is my single favorite guitar solo I have ever heard… by any guitarist, in any genre, by a long shot. Jesus…
[/hyperbole]

There you have it. Obviously I kinda like the highlights, but I also still find a handful of lowlights on this album. While I think this album has some of the brightest shining stars from the Madeira yet, I still don’t find myself listening to it all the way through very often at all. I tend to jump around a lot from choice to choice, so I’d still give ‘best Madeira album’ honors to Carpe Noctem. Even still… indisputably the best and most engaging surf release of 2012!

Wow Ben! I love reading your reviews!

I can't agree with you more about Tribal Fury and Witch Doctor. I think Tribal Fury is possibly thee best Dick Dale style surf rager in modern times. I like the imagery of it being a stake in the ground for other bands to "bring it". Whenever I hear it I have to stop whatever I am doing and listen intently.

I also have to agree with you that Dane really, really stepped up his already impressive game. The drumming on Tribal Fires is just freaking amazing and really propels the songs into the stratosphere. Those rapid-fire fills on Tribal Fury <shudder>!!!

Personally I think this release is the most organic, rounded, and natural sounding release from the band. Things are really coming together, and I'm very happy to see they have already started on another album. Long live the Madeira!

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Oh, two more things, in response to Ben's review:

wooza wrote:

I find ‘Fire Sacrifice’ to be the most mysterious and intriguing song the Madeira have produced. [snip] It’s still a really difficult song to put my finger on, and hard to explain the vibe I get from it, but man I still absolutely love it. I can listen to this one over and over. I'm curious to hear what Ivan's approach was to writing this song in particular?

My initial idea was not really how the song turned out. I wanted something that had more African tribal rhythms, but clearly we can't do anything truly authentic in that regard. So, it occurred to me that the Bo Diddley beat is really that sort of a thing, and something we could probably pull off. Of course The King already incorporated the Bo Diddley beat in surf music with Jungle Fever/Suring Drums, so my initial thought was to go for a bit of that vibe. Trying to think further of who else may have incorporated that beat in surf music I remembered the Treble Spankers' amazing "Samira" from their Araban album, and that was an important inspiration. But there was one track that I really had in mind as the primary inspiration for Fire Sacrifice, and that is Fifty Foot Combo's "Rising of Im Ho Tep" from their Evil a Go-Go album. That song always just blew me away, and I realized that it actually has a beat very similar to the Bo Diddley beat and Samira. So, those were the songs that inspired Fire Sacrifice. I probably gave more thought to this song than any other on the whole album. I really wanted to do something different, explore this beat that we hadn't used before. I listened to Samira and Rising of Im Ho Tep over and over and over again to try to understand what makes them tick, what makes them so good - but then in the end Fire Sacrifice turned out fairly different! It's one of those things where at first you're disappointed, but then ultimately pleased as you realize that the band as its own collective entity really has too strong of a personality to just sound like somebody else. So, there you go. It started with a beat, and I built it up from that. It was definitely one that took a long time to work out, we plugged away at that one for a long time. Unfortunately, it hasn't gone down all the well live - I think people are pretty confused by it. (Oh, let's not forget me ripping off a bit of Ritchie Blackmore's solo from Stargazer, either... )

Then ‘Witch Doctor.’ Man this song is DARK! This is the type of stuff I was looking for in those other songs! The bass opener is simple, but mean and ominous. Then the lead ooozes in with heavy slow tremolo. It’s almost a dissonant opening sequence, and those slow chords feel like they’re slowly belching forth from the ground…

Funny enough, only a couple of months ago I realized that I subconsciously ripped off that whole opening from Holst's The Planets, in particular his Mars. Doh!! I borrowed The Planets CD from Dane some ten years ago, and that was the last time I heard it, but I guess it really took a strong hold on my subconsciousness. As I read up on it a bit after that realization, I also found out that John Williams was 'inspired' by it to write the Darth Vader theme! So, the Witch Doctor intro has good genes....

And finally… Tribal Fury! Dropped-D brutality! Seldom a riff so badass has been played as in the intro. It immediately draws you in, then a slow, gritty pick slide pulls you back like a slingshot… and bam! This is a surf song that drives like none other. I immediately perceived it as a definitive statement, as if Ivan has stuck a flag in the ground to claim rights to the world’s most aggressive surf song. Who is willing to respond?? I really hope this leads to an inspired arms race in our little community. Bring the pain!

I do LOVE this! Thanks, Ben!! This has just completely made my day - heck, my MONTH!

I have no hesitation in saying it’s one of the most inspired, flawlessly crafted, and absolutely glorious pieces of guitar work ever, ever, ever! In fact: the solo on Tribal Fury is my single favorite guitar solo I have ever heard… by any guitarist, in any genre, by a long shot. Jesus…v[/hyperbole]

Christ!! Well, I don't really know how to respond to that, I'm just blown away. Thank you, Ben. Here's at least one small tidbit you might appreciate. The main guitar part of that song was recorded through a cranked Gomez Surfer (volume on 6) with some Vox AC-30 added in. But when the solo comes in, that's my '62 Bandmaster (also going through the Gomez 2x15" cab with JBLs) cranked, well, all the way up! Yep, to 10. That thing overdrives like you wouldn't believe! From the solo there are actually two guitar parts that weave around each other. There's the main guitar part which just plays muted rhythm under the solo, but then steps in to take the repetitive middle-eastern line after the solo while the overdriven solo guitar ducks behind the other guitar for a bit. The overdriven guitar then makes itself a bit more prominent first with the high double-stops and then fully reasserts itself with the aggressive descending line, before the main guitar does steps in again with that open-string pull-off bit, while the overdriven guitar does the long glissando underneath. So, the two guitars are trading off, really battling each other for attention, after the solo until the return of the main riff, at which point they join up and both play in unison to the end of the song. That's what nicely elevates the intensity of the song at the end, since now there's also a cranking lead playing the verse. That was a lot of fun to play! Anyway, given you like that so much, I hope you'll appreciate this bit of insight in how I played it in the studio.

Thanks very, very much again, Ben!!

Ivan
Lords of Atlantis on Facebook
The Madeira Official Website
The Madeira on Facebook
The Blair-Pongracic Band on Facebook
The Space Cossacks on Facebook
The Madeira Channel on YouTube

psychonaut wrote:

Holst's "Mars" was also the inspiration for Black Sabbath's "Black Sabbath"

That's right!! I forgot about that, but you're absolutely right, Geezer and Tony have talked about it on several occasions. It's those evil diminished chords with the flat-fifth, gotta love it!

Great minds think alike!

Or at least steal from good sources....

Ivan
Lords of Atlantis on Facebook
The Madeira Official Website
The Madeira on Facebook
The Blair-Pongracic Band on Facebook
The Space Cossacks on Facebook
The Madeira Channel on YouTube

I don't think you'll find anyone writing so passionately about the Dangermen album - lol! Don't get me wrong, it's an excellent album, but it really isn't as mindblowing, and perhaps influential, release as Tribal Fires. Thanks to all of you that have purchased the disc, and have written about it in such great detail here. It's comments like this (and not the money, for sure...) that keep Double Crown Records going!

Sean
Double Crown Records
www.doublecrownrecords.com

Surf CD's / Vinyl / Fanzines / DVD's
The Desolate Coast - Without A Planet CD
Hipbone Slim aka Sir Bald - Wiggin' Out With CD
Continental Magazine - Issue #36 w/21 Song CD

Took me a while to read the last few pages...

Phew, such an honest review, Ben! To go into such detail about your feelings and expectations from each song... man, that shows LOVE.
I can't agree with the (slightly) negative bits... how surprising.
I was wondering if I have anything at all to add to the conversation with my reaction to that, because it is totally personal after all, and like Ivan smartly added - so dependent on time and circumstance.
But all in good spirit and appreciation of fine arts:

Twilight.

I freakin' got tears in my eye the last time I listened to it. Seriously.
The cheesy string section does it just right for me.
For this one, pleeeese, withhold your prejudgements (which are otherwise awesome!), forget it's Madeira, forget it's surf. Listen!
Sorry, didn't mean to be rude.
IMO It's a melodic triumph that stands proud alongside any Shadows' masterpiece. And the guitar tone is magnificent.

Pre-Ritual and Ritual
supply me with all the melodramatic tension I need and more...
Amazing production - the masterful separation of instruments at Pre-Ritual to the gelled, dense wall of reverb and amp volume, on the verge of bursting the mic preamps, shouting "look what Fender can do!", at the end. The wild chops and solo... what a finisher, I almost forget to breathe.

Funny. Those things you described you expected and didn't find, I didn't expect but did find (and I find more and more with each listen, still.)
Oh well, I could go on... to each his own...

But such deep emotional involvement is definitely something I identify with. It's all that junk in our minds that sometimes affect us positively towards something, and sometimes negatively, very unpredictable, and it better be so! Because it can change.

I personally like surprises, like, when the name doesn't match the image or sound or atmosphere I had in my head etc... I feel it gives me a glimpse to the artist's psyche, and it's different than mine (that's why I can't play like him ), or at least lead me where HE wants to go. That fine, I listen to music to open my mind to different universes and perceptions, that's one way for me to grow. That is, if the music is good to begin with...

For me, only with Tribal Fires I REALLY connected with The Madeira. Before that, the Space Cossacs were my no1 Ivan project.
The band is so mindblowingly good and mature now, that I allow myself to sit back and expect amazing things to come. I'm confident I won't be disappointed.

Last edited: Feb 21, 2013 07:16:42

when i first got the cd and saw the song title 'witch doctor' all i could think of was alvin and the chipmonks......gawd, i'm losing it.........great review ben

www.surfintheeye.com

I actually gave this a full listen through just yesterday. While the material Ivan wrote with SC is much more to my personal taste, there is no denying that this album is a true masterpiece. I would even be as bold as to say it is the first true 'classic album' to be produced during this 4th wave of instro surf. I only hope to one day have the money and time to put this much thought, effort, and passion into writing and recording an album.

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Touche'

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