Magma 101

[Hobo Chang Ba]

Let me put it this way. If I were only to own three Magma albums, what would they be?


Library Jon

MDK
K.A.
Opera De Reims

[NogbadTheBad]

Retrospectiw I-II
Hhai
Londres 74

[chalkpie]

Let me put it this way. If I were only to own three Magma albums, what would they be?


Library Jon

Oh boy. You're gonna get a ton of diverse responses I reckon, but I guess as a newbie:

Trianon Trilogie (the meat and potatoes in decent live sound with fairly killer performances)
Kohntarkosz (studio version of this beast)
Felicite Thosz (a recent album that is possibly the most beautiful recording they have ever made IMO)

[aith01]

Oh boy. You're gonna get a ton of diverse responses I reckon, but I guess as a newbie:

Trianon Trilogie (the meat and potatoes in decent live sound with fairly killer performances)
Kohntarkosz (studio version of this beast)
Felicite Thosz (a recent album that is possibly the most beautiful recording they have ever made IMO)

I second this recommendation.

[jazz2896]

Let me put it this way. If I were only to own three Magma albums, what would they be?


Library Jon

Wurdah Itah, Kohntarkosz, aaaand Retrospektiw I-II. That hurt..

[notallwhowander]

Let me put it this way. If I were only to own three Magma albums, what would they be?


Library Jon

Kick down for the three-disc Theusz Hamtaahk Trilogie box set (that's the Trianon Trilogie mentioned above). On a mad whim, this is where I started with Magma, and never regretted it. It's a beautiful set, recorded for their 30th anniversary. So the band is confident, the music is fully realized, and the crowd is jubilant. After buying it, it was my only Magma for a decade or so, just because there are whole worlds in this thing. If you are only going to have three discs, seriously make them these three discs. It is a complete compositional cycle, with all the beauty, power, and grandeur that Magma can deliver.

[Scrotum Scissor]

Retrospektïw I-II
Köhntarkosz
K. A

[JAMOOL]

I'd just go for the three longest ones, which sadly means I'd have to punt Attahk, which has got to be one of the most unique fusion discs ever made.

[Wounded Land]

Mekanik Destruktiw Kommandoh
Wurdah Itah
K.A

[flytomars]

Mekanik Destruktiw Kommandoh
Wurdah Itah
Live Hhai

[Zeuhlmate]

Köhntarkosz
Wurdah Itah
Live Hhai

or
Inedits
Retrospektïw I-II
Londres 74

or...

It depends on my mood
Besides that you can always hear that it is Magma
1001
Wurdah Itah
Köhntarkosz
Udu Wudu
Are all very different zeuhl-styles

[dleone]

Live/Hhai (IMO this features the definitive version if "Kohntarkosz", both more fiery and more delicate than the studio version)
Attahk
Wurdah Itah

However, my single favorite Magma piece is "Theusz Hamtaahk", and that isn't on any of the above (tho Wurdah Itah repeats the intro of TH, and is part of the same trilogy). Best recording of TH is the Retrospektiw one.

As a longtime fan, I will also say the group is very much *dynamic*, always doing interesting things. The records I listen to most now are the newest ones!

[cannygoodlike]

Best recording of TH is the Retrospektiw one.

BBC 1974 Londres for me.

[Conti]

For me it would be:

KA
Live Hhai
Retrospectïv I-II

[GuitarGeek]

Live/Hhai (IMO this features the definitive version if "Kohntarkosz", both more fiery and more delicate than the studio version)

BUt it lacks the studio version's coda, with the drums of doom and the descending Rhodes chord progression, before crossfading into that cool ohm chant at the end.

[aplodon]

Although, I saw them years ago at Nearfest, I really haven't thought much about them since.

That surprises me a bit. Magma is such an intense and powerful live act. The first time you see them tends to be a life-shattering experience.

Can everyone recommend where to begin with them?

If you have nothing by them before and are not used to listen to them I think K.A. is a very good place to start. It's typical Magma, it's powerful, still quite easy to get into without being light weight. Or maybe even better: One of the Epok DVDs. It was watching a DVD that finally turned me into a big fan. Epok 3 is my favorite DVD and damned powerful, but the latest one (nr 5) might possibly be a better preparation for the show (?).

Most essential albums?

Of the studio albums I guess that is Mekanik Destruktiw Kommandoh and Köhntarkösz.

Best albums to listen to in an effort to get ready for the show?

If you can find the latest set lists, that woould give you a clue. Otherwise, I guess the latest ones.

[cannygoodlike]

Best albums to listen to in an effort to get ready for the show?

If you can find the latest set lists, that woould give you a clue. Otherwise, I guess the latest ones.

Given the broad range of responses about best album, I think we need to focus on this question, and aplodon has pretty much answered it here.

Set lists from the first few dates of the tour in France indicate Riah, Kohntarkosz and Slag Tanz. Riah and Slag Tanz are the latest albums so, whichever way you look at it, you need these. An alternative to buying the albums is that these two pieces are also on the Epok V DVD which aplodon also recommended (as did I upthread).

That leaves Kohntarkosz. There are various versions of this. You can't go wrong with the studio version nor the version on Live/Hhai. Both of these get a lot of support in this thread. Alternatively, there is the version on the Epok III DVD, which I really like and is quite close to how they play it live these days.

[Dana5140]

Look, go over to youtube and you can find all of these songs live played in various iterations by the band over the last few months.

[Camelogue]

I took Magma 101 as an undergraduate.

I believe it was a geology class.

[Scrotum Scissor]

Retrospektïw I-II
Köhntarkosz
K. A

[chalkpie]

[Scrotum Scissor]

[chalkpie]

drool:

[MYSTERIOUS TRAVELLER]

My 2¢ on their output:

• Magma (a.k.a. Kobaïa): Don’t start here. It’s a double album, the vocal parts are very harsh and inaccessible and the jazzy/fluty music doesn’t really give you a good idea of the Big Picture of Magma. That said, it’s a very worthy album, but not for the Magma novice.
• 1001° Centigrades: Don’t start here, either. The A-side is similar to the debut, but perhaps a little closer to the “regular” Magma sound. As for the rest of the album, it’s closer to jazz fusion; except for a bit of Klaus Blasquiz doing a bit of his “Tibetan Monk chanting from Hell” shtick, it’s barely recognizable as Magma.
• Mekanik Destruktiw Kommandoh: This might be rough-going for the first-time Magma listener (especially the extended vocal screeching from Christian Vander at the half-way point), but no other album is so quintessentially Magma. Bolstered by a brass section and a female choir, they do a run-through of essentially a single, extended piece (in spite of the banding) of great intensity.
• Köhntarkösz: In general lower-key than MDK, almost ambient at times with bursts of great savagery. Probably more accessible, too, while still being recognizably Magma. A quite excellent album, dominated by the title-suite. Here’s as good a place to start with them as any.
• Üdü Wüdü: Here’s where I started with Magma, simply because it was the first album of theirs I found. Half short songs, except for the uncommonly sing-song-y title track, all very much identifiably Magma. The flip side is “De Futura,” an extended instrumental based on intense bass riffing, a Magma trademark. Synthesizers enter the picture here, it’s rather surprising to me that they hadn’t used them before.
• Attahk: I love this one, it’s so underrated! There’s no “epic” this time, just another set of Magma songs like those from the first side of the previous album. There seems to be a stronger fusion feel here, and definitely more funk/R&B/Southern gospel influence. My one complaint is that there seems to be a dearth of Klaus Blasquiz this time, for whatever reason. Vander himself sings the lion’s share of lead vocals this time.
• Merci: For the love of Nebehr Gudhatt, don’t start here! Drum machines, bad 80s funk influence and English/French vocals, this is not your grandfather’s Magma, that’s for sure! I was so confused when I first heard this, wondering if there was a Kobaian phrase that sounded like “Oh baby.”

There’s also Wurdah Itah, credited as a Christian Vander solo album (and, originally, as a soundtrack to the movie Tristan et Iseult). It’s essentially a stripped-down Magma album, though.

excellent summary there!

Wurdah Itah is where I got off the bus because it just grated on my ears with that incessant 'banging on Piano' sound. The others I agree with Progbear's assessment.

[Scrotum Scissor]

Wurdah Itah is where I got off the bus because it just grated on my ears with that incessant 'banging on Piano' sound.

I think Würdah Ïtah is great. Vander played the piano himself and has repeatedly admitted to his own limitations at that, but the fact remains that he still executes the job just fine. Most (not all) voicings in Magma's music apparently originated in near-static notations for piano anyway, check Mekanïk Kommandöh (the initial version/recording of MDK).