Search - Estradasphere :: Palace of Mirrors

Goodbye Mimicry, hello The End...

Boris Kaplun | Reston, VA | 04/10/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Estradasphere has always been something of a hilarious self-parody not unlike Mr. Bungle. In fact, their first album was produced by Mr. Bungle guitarist Trey Spruance. As expected, their music has always hopped around from genre to genre, tempo to tempo, and style to style with complete disregard for any kind of musical conventions, standards, or rules. Drummer/composer Dave Murray is quite a far-reaching individual who managed to implement such things as classic surf rock, gypsy music, death metal, orchestral scores, jingle tunes, disco, progressive rock, and god knows what else into a single entity that, while usually quite entertaining and impressive, often came out lacking cohesiveness to one degree or another.



However, Dave Murray parted ways with Estradasphere after completion of their third album, Quadropus, to follow through with his own project entitled The Deserts of Traun (which, by the way, is quite awesome and should be acquired by all Estradasphere fans post-haste), and the band themselves have moved to bizarro label The End Records. While I have the utmost respect for Mr. Murray and Trey Spruance's label Mimicry, I must say that for all of us who have been patiently waiting for Estradasphere to finally realize their potential and put out an album of monstrous proportions - the wait is over! Palace of Mirrors is undeniably the coolest thing the band has done yet. Oh sure, the album still has that magic Esphere touch that succeeds in stuffing together styles and genres that would never fit together in the hands of a lesser band, but this time around the styles aren't just stitched together sporadically like Frankenstein gone horribly wrong. Instead, the surf, the gypsy, the jingles, the metal, and the Eastern have all been layered on top of one another to make for an incredibly cohesive album that sounds more like a bizarre movie soundtrack than anything else. Perhaps if Danny Elfman (responsible for scoring movies like Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands, Army of Darkness, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Big Fish, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Corpse Bride, and other completely ridiculous films) had indulged heavily in psychedelic drugs and listened to metal, he would've created something comparable to this. Not that there's anything particularly psychedelic about this album... it just seemed like an amusing analogy and one that isn't horribly off.



One thing this album succeeds admirably at is garnering the potential to appeal to a huuuuge audience of listeners, assuming they can be bothered to listen (which may be a tough undertaking in this day and age of musical apathy). Music so complex, inspired, and intricate has never been so fun and accessible. I challenge anybody out there to sit through the 8+ minutes of "A Corporate Merger" and not at least crack a smile. It's impossible. Starting off with smooth lounge sounds, moving on into classic accordion-led goofiness that might easily pass for edgy yet traditional Klezmer music, and on into folky violin melodies backed by jazzy drum work, and on into jumpy keyboard-led Arabian themes... the song then spends some time in a funky jam of smooth fiddles, deft rhythmic interactions, and an electric tsugaru-shamisen (a Japanese guitar-like 3-stringed instrument played with a plectrum)... after a few minutes of that, the song explodes into a furious metallic assault that manages to retain an extremely light-hearted attitude due to the fact that it's headed up by searing violins that sound like they're being played by frenzied gypsies - and just like that, the cleanest and most natural transition imaginable lapses the song back into soothing lounge sounds not unlike what you might hear at a live jazz cafe.



Or how about "Smuggled Mutation"? Here's a song that was probably inspired by a nightmare and shows you exactly what happens when you mix violin, trumpet, banjo, acoustic shamisen, furious double bass drumming, blast beats, distorted guitar riffing, a standup acoustic bass, melodies straight out of a Tim Burton movie, and a giant serving of humor (or perhaps madness, either would get the point across). This song is so absolutely bizarre and amazing that it makes me cry in ecstasy. Then there's the closer "The Return", which is easily one of the coolest songs I've heard in a very long time. It's a metal song at its base, but it's metal WITH VIOLIN LEADS!!!! Much like everything else on here, these guys squeeze campfire melodies out of their violins and juxtapose them against loud guitars and insane rhythmic work and make it all sound like it's the most natural and ear-pleasing thing in the world. Unbelievable.



The other tracks on this album range from such whacky genres as "Bulgarian Surf", "Romanian Gypsy Metal", and "Spaghetti Eastern" to straight up surf rock, baroque classical, creepy detective themes, laid back jazzy escapades led by cimbaloms (a cimbalom is basically a hammered dulcimer), and things that sound like cartoon soundtracks wrung through The Twilight Zone... but all of these things are drenched in the sweet insanity that is Estradasphere, so they are never typical, never boring, and absolutely never what you expect.



Their live shows are also fairly ridiculous. Not unlike fellow labelmates Stolen Babies, they put on theatrical plays for which the band members are both compositional scorers and primary actors. I haven't had a chance to see them live, but it sounds like an experience not to be missed.



Palace of Mirrors is, quite simply, a load of fun. At the same time, it's a compositional wonder that's executed to perfection and produced beautifully - such a mix is rare indeed. No matter who you are, I am recommending this album to you. I'm even going to try and get my mom into it."

Flawless!

Modern Review and Culture | PHX AZ | 09/22/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Estradasphere has finally captured the essence and power that the band has been driving towards for years. Masterfully composed and dramatically arranged pieces that sweep thru musical genre like a kung-fu master taking out a roomful of villains. These seamless compositions form a musical landscape rarely seen in today's music-as-fast-food culture.

Real music played by extremely talented players, for an audience that is ready to be challenged by intricacy. Absent is the incohesiveness that plagued the bands last effort Quadropus, gone too are the "bungle-esque" comical fancies that sometimes led the band towards an all too familiar musical terrain. Both are now replaced with a powerful drive towards lands usually reserved for symphonic composers and madmen, not rock bands!

This may very well end up being the best album of 2006."

Holy crap!

Peter K. | PA | 10/22/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The most amazing music ive heard in a long time. This is my first exposure to Estradasphere and Ive been blown away. Talk about a genre bending band, they play pretty much everything. Extremely technical and with fast paced tempo changes this is one of the most talented bands I've ever heard and I simply must see them live. Really every song on this album was incredible so id recommend this to anyone whos into avant bands like gorilla sleepytime musuem or Mr. bungle. The last song on the album "the Return" is probably my favorite song, i cant express how much it blew me away the first time i heard it. 5 stars!"