Magma Köhntarkösz which version ?

[Dana5140]

Nothing I am aware of- they had the recent CD/DVD release and that was pretty nice. Great version of Another Day, plus a version of Love in the Darkness (with Isabelle on lead, for a change) which made me aware of exactly how creepy the lyrics really are...

[Mekanik Zain]

Well, I hope Offering will release something eventually...
By the way, Vander solo album "john coltrane l'homme supreme" is not bad...a bit strange but it has its moments...

[Dana5140]

Didja ever hear "To Love" by CV? Another weird record, to be sure.

[Mekanik Zain]

I like some Vander solo work more than Magma. For instance, “A Tous Les Enfants”, “Les Cygnes et Les Corbeaux”. To Love is good too…

[Zeuhlmate]

I love interpretations.

[Dana5140]

I love absolute over-the-top craziness.

[chalkpie]

I love absolute over-the-top craziness.

That three-chord keyboard vamp is way harder than it appears. His rhythmic placement is perfection.

[Dana5140]

Kohntarkosz is incredibly complex but misleadingly so. It sounds like a simple riff, really- those three chords drive the song, but underneath all sorts of crazy stuff is going on. Vander wrote this to mislead- the beat for the most of the composition is in front of or behind the rest of the instruments. I can't tell what the time signature(s) is, either. The vocal lines are complex as well. Just amazing every time I hear it, no matter what version.

[Phlakaton]

I really enjoy the BBC 74 version - slower and still under construction innit.

[jazz2896]

I really enjoy the BBC 74 version - slower and still under construction innit.

The early Kohntarkosz is a pretty different beast, especially the BBC and the Marquee versions where the forward motion is propelled in a more MDK "powerful lumbering repetitive rhythm" type way. When you get to the studio and especially the Magma Live recording however, there's a melody line in the beginning absent from the earlier versions and the piece takes on a more serpentine, rhythmically ambiguous tone. I find the earlier and later versions enjoyable for completely different reasons.

[Dana5140]

It is always different. Every time.

[Kcrimso]

Köhntarkösz is such a fascinating piece of music. It kind of seems like deceptively simple but really is not. Have you seen any good written analysis about the composition? I would really like to learn more about it.

[Kai]

"Apocalyptic Otherness: Black Music and Extraterrestrial Identity in the Music of Magma" by Kevin Holm-Hudson discusses "Köhntarkösz", among other things.

[Kcrimso]

"Apocalyptic Otherness: Black Music and Extraterrestrial Identity in the Music of Magma" by Kevin Holm-Hudson discusses "Köhntarkösz", among other things.

Thanks! I even have one book about progressive rock by Holm-Hudson in my bookself but this I have not read before.

[Dana5140]

I wrote to Kevin some years ago about that paper of his. I wish I could find the communication... (he cited me in his paper from the interview I did with CV for Option magazine way back in 1988). :-)