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SurfGuitar101 Forums » Music Reviews »

Permalink The Madeira - Carpe Noctem

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IvanP
Thanks, Abraham
... And would it be Ben AKA Wooza who played the CD for you in the car?

Guilty. I know Jon (65Acrolite) has been giving it heavy play in his car too. While I'm on the subject, I'll just speak for Jon because I know he's been endlessly trumpeting the virtues of Dane's drumming. I think he said Dane's become his favorite surf drummer? Or at least one of them. (Jon, where are you?) He's also been trying to get me to learn how to play the Saracen, with which I've had much difficulty. Laughing

(BTW, the proper spelling is The Saracen.)

Yeah Abraham, pay attention! Whack At least you got SOS right! Laughing

wooza
I'll just speak for Jon because I know he's been endlessly trumpeting the virtues of Dane's drumming. I think he said Dane's become his favorite surf drummer? Or at least one of them. (Jon, where are you?)

Awesome!! Jon can do much worse than to look up to Dane, cause Dane's freakin' amazing. And I taught him everything he knows.... ROTFL

He's also been trying to get me to learn how to play the Saracen, with which I've had much difficulty. Laughing

Yeah? Nothing to it. I'll show it to you in person in two and a half weeks.

Yeah Abraham, pay attention! Whack

Yeah! Whack

Laughing

Ivan

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

Has anybody tried listening to Sandstorm since Carpe Noctem was released? It sounds like double speed!

IvanP
Thanks, Abraham (it IS Abraham, right?). You'll buy the CD, right?? Smile (BTW, the proper spelling is The Saracen.) And would it be Ben AKA Wooza who played the CD for you in the car?
Ivan

No actually my name is Juan. Laughing Haha, yeah its Abraham. The funny think is that when I posted that about the songs I liked, I actually spelled it "Seracen" but then I was like "Wait, I think its spelled with a C." but yeah I heared it while crusing with Ben on our way to a gig, but I heard it a bunch of time in Jon's car. Real cool stuff. I've never heard stuff like that, so thats probably why It got my attention. Sometimes we'll just drive around and listen to music, and I dont pay attention. But that got my attention :D.

The Deadbeats

wooza

IvanP
Thanks, Abraham
... And would it be Ben AKA Wooza who played the CD for you in the car?

Guilty. I know Jon (65Acrolite) has been giving it heavy play in his car too. While I'm on the subject, I'll just speak for Jon because I know he's been endlessly trumpeting the virtues of Dane's drumming. I think he said Dane's become his favorite surf drummer? Or at least one of them. (Jon, where are you?) He's also been trying to get me to learn how to play the Saracen, with which I've had much difficulty. Laughing

(BTW, the proper spelling is The Saracen.)

Yeah Abraham, pay attention! Whack At least you got SOS right! Laughing

:lol:. SOS was actually the one I had difficulty spelling Duh

The Deadbeats

IvanP

He's also been trying to get me to learn how to play the Saracen, with which I've had much difficulty. Laughing

Yeah?

Yeah. Mad

Nothing to it.

Uh huh. :| Rolling Eyes

I'll show it to you in person in two and a half weeks.

Awesome! I'm ready for my first lesson, sensei. Let's duel! Twisted Evil

Is there something you could recommend?

Absolutely, check out umm kultum (kalthoum, kulsum, there's a bunch of ways to spell her name).
Some of her stuff from the 60's even has a mildly surfy feel due to the cleantone fender guitars in the orchestra.
A good example, and one of my favorites by her, called laylet hob (night love):

http://leyelet-hob.playzone.ws/leyelet_hob.html?id=OGVCR1Y3aW1nd2d8dmlkZW8=
(click the one with the dancing girl)

check out that great organ lead at 2:30... this is just the intro, the full song is like an hour long with vocals and changes melody quite a bit.

And of course, check out DD's 'Temple of Gizeh' off of Calling up Spirits, its very traditional, and quite a different feel than the misirlou/minor pentatonic sound we all associate with the middle east. Great progression, too, one of the best of his later work.

I'll start another thread about this stuff so as not to derail this too much, but check out the above for starters.

BTW, I really dig "The Infidel", such a cool melody.

wooza
Awesome! I'm ready for my first lesson, sensei. Let's duel! Twisted Evil

How about instead: Let's Duvel! That sounds more fun. Laughing

Ivan

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: Jul 17, 2008 09:24:26

Bustercat, thanks for those tips! I'll check them out. I'm sure I'm gonna love that stuff.

Bustercat
A good example, and one of my favorites by her, called laylet hob (night love):

http://leyelet-hob.playzone.ws/leyelet_hob.html?id=OGVCR1Y3aW1nd2d8dmlkZW8=
(click the one with the dancing girl)

check out that great organ lead at 2:30... this is just the intro, the full song is like an hour long with vocals and changes melody quite a bit.

Wow!! An hour long??? Damn. I LOVED the song in the video, so unbelievably cool, this music really touches me at an elemental level. I think my previous incarnation must have been from the middle east....

And of course, check out DD's 'Temple of Gizeh' off of Calling up Spirits, its very traditional, and quite a different feel than the misirlou/minor pentatonic sound we all associate with the middle east. Great progression, too, one of the best of his later work.

I have this. A decent song from a really terrible album. That's probably my least favorite thing he's done. But I like this song.

BTW, I really dig "The Infidel", such a cool melody.

Thanks! You know, it's funny, I think we've had different people pick every song on the album as their favorite. Maybe one or two haven't been mentioned yet, but it's a good feeling that people are not focusing on just one or two songs, but rather are connecting with all the different songs.

Ivan

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

It's been a little while since I picked this up and now that I've had a chance to ... oh, who am I kidding? Ivan's been bugging me, so here gees.

This album is not Sandstorm II: Electric Boogaloo, and for the most part I think that works to Carpe Noctem's advantage. Granted, there are a few moments - "The Saracen" and especially "Sahar" - which are very reminiscent of Sandstorm. Which is great, since Sandstorm was an amazing album and I doubt too many would have faulted the band for doing something similar. But aside from those and one or two others like "Rolling Thunder" (which starts out as a swami bow to the Atlantics and then goes somewhere completely unexpected after the verses), most of these songs would never have worked on the previous album.

Instead, the vibe is a lot more subdued and diverse. "Infidel" sounds like "House of the Rising Sun" force-fed a diet of crime jazz, and the Bass VI-infused title track channels the Huntington Cads' "Forbidden Shores" until the band enters and the song takes off. In some ways that one's a weird choice for an opener, but it works ... primarily because it makes you throw away any preconceived notions about what's going to follow. Which is good, because then you get full-on kicked in the face by the insane opening riff from "Wreak Havoc."

There are layers and layers to many of the songs - especially the title track and "Sahar," both lengthier piece with plenty of lines and changes to follow. The latter features a structure not unlike the Surf Coasters' "Intruder," and would have made an excellent closing track ... not to take anything away from "End of the Circle," a very cinematic track which ends things on a nice, low-key note.

Throughout the disc, the playing is top-notch from all involved. All the hallmarks of their style - the exotic feel, intricate, finger twisting melodies, hard-hitting drums, warp-speed Atlantics-type rhythm guitar - are well in place throughout. And, in an interesting turn of events, the mellow songs are a lot more reminiscent of the Space Cossacks than before.

The one quibble I have - and there's always one - is the song order. Sandstorm _grabbed you by the throat and didn't let up until almost halfway through, for a brief respite and then it was back to the pummeling. And that was awesome. _Carpe Noctem constantly ping-pongs back and forth between uptempo and mid, intense and mellow, never really settling on either approach. If anything, it feels like a collection of great songs rather than an album - the Raw Power to Sandstorm's Fun House? (Come to think of it, Ivan is probably not going to like that comparison.)

Oh, make it two quibbles - the Reider & the Quintones cover is pretty dull compared to what surrounds it. Great tones, great playing ... but the song just pales in comparison.

Definitely recommended - and not just because friggin' everything Ivan plays on ends up going OOP and costing $30+.

-Warren

That was excessively violent and completely unnecessary. I loved it.

xlnt review Warren. I wish I could attempt a review like yours.

I completely agree about the Cossack feel to some of the songs.
Now I must add this about the Madeira....guitar players get all the accolades but Dane and Todd really rule!

The main guitar dude, I think his name is Ivan, plays quite well.
re. Ivan....I have made my own (I shudder when I say) "MIX". New World Relampagos, Space Cossacks, Madeira (new and old) and the Troubadours. Quite a long history. This, for sure, "fixes" the song order discrepancy.

Warren, finally!! Twisted Evil

Seriously, thanks for a very thoughtful and in-depth review. And for not being afraid to be critical, too. (Really!)

CaptainSpringfield
It's been a little while since I picked this up and now that I've had a chance to ... oh, who am I kidding? Ivan's been bugging me, so here gees.

Oh please. I said one thing, one time! Just wait until you get married - THEN you'll find out what it means to be bugged. Wink

And, in an interesting turn of events, the mellow songs are a lot more reminiscent of the Space Cossacks than before.

Interesting. This was not by design, I assure you. Though, it's me playing and doing the primary writing in both bands, so I guess it's to be expected that it'll come out sounding somewhat similar.

The one quibble I have - and there's always one - is the song order. Sandstorm _grabbed you by the throat and didn't let up until almost halfway through, for a brief respite and then it was back to the pummeling. And that was awesome. _Carpe Noctem constantly ping-pongs back and forth between uptempo and mid, intense and mellow, never really settling on either approach. If anything, it feels like a collection of great songs rather than an _album _

Hmm, I understand where you're coming from. The fact is that Carpe Noctem has six slower songs (Carpe Noctem, Undercurrents, Infidel, Sahar, Tangaroa, End of the Circle), and with that many, there was no way to have the 'pummeling' that you got with Sandstorm. Let's say we started the album with Wreak Havoc and ended with Sahar. That means that of the 11 'inside' songs, six of them would have been slow. So, what to do? We opted to have a song order that moves through different moods and tempos rather than group several fast songs together and then several slow songs together, and I think that was the right decision. It seems to me the quibble you really have is not with the song order but rather with the kinds of songs we wrote - too many slow songs and not enough pounding ones! Smile BTW, most of my favorite albums are very diverse, so for me the songs don't have to sound alike to form a cohesive album.

  • the Raw Power to Sandstorm's Fun House? (Come to think of it, Ivan is probably not going to like that comparison.)

I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about....

Definitely recommended - and not just because friggin' everything Ivan plays on ends up going OOP and costing $30+.

Laughing Buy early and buy often.

Thanks, Warren - and Trode!
Ivan

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

CaptainSpringfield
- the Raw Power to Sandstorm's Fun House? (
-Warren

A clever analogy in a very smart review---some magazine needs to pay you to write these. So entertaining to read. All I know is that I listen on one of those two Stooges albums way more than the other. (Guess which one). But I never really thought of why that is before this.

I don't see that happening with the two Madeira albums though. Each is sooo good in their own way.

I always attributed the difference to the producers-Don Galluci vs David Bowie, and never really thought about the pacing. Hmmm
At least the Madeira didn't have to contend with that.

http://www.satanspilgrims.com
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Satans-Pilgrims/8210228553
https://satanspilgrims.bandcamp.com/
http://www.surfyindustries.com

Nice, Warren! Damn, you really know how to write a review. I'm gonna disagree with you on one count, though:

CaptainSpringfield
The one quibble I have - and there's always one - is the song order. Sandstorm _grabbed you by the throat and didn't let up until almost halfway through, for a brief respite and then it was back to the pummeling. And that was awesome. _Carpe Noctem constantly ping-pongs back and forth between uptempo and mid, intense and mellow, never really settling on either approach. If anything, it feels like a collection of great songs rather than an album - the Raw Power to Sandstorm's Fun House? (Come to think of it, Ivan is probably not going to like that comparison.)

Hmm, that's pretty interesting, because I felt the exact opposite way. I love that relentless first half of Sandstorm, but I always thought it made the album as a whole feel lopsided. Instead of being settled, it felt like it built up too much momentum, which then dissipated and couldn't be recovered. I felt it started as an album and ended up more as a song collection in the second half (though "The Oasis" did make a good mellow album closer).

Maybe my preference for the song layout in Carpe Noctem lies in my personal tastes and song preferences. Out of the 13-song album the biggest highlights for me were the first three (1, 2, 3), middle two (7, 8 ), and last three (11, 12, 13). That way I can get all worked up from the very onset of the album, then cool off with more casual enjoyment of the next batch, get fired up all over again for "Hamsa" and "The Saracen," take another breather, and then go for the big finish with the last three. It never seemed unsettled or unstable to me as much as well spread and balanced out. I like it all the way through, but particularly like how it pulls the energy level of the listener up and down at a nice pace.

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