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NEKROPSI

PSYCHOPATHOLOGICAL UPTEMPO

NEKROPSI -Untitled

(issued: May 2007 / Label: A.K. Muzik)

I like it when music is hot and cold at the same time, when it is linear and circular, simple and direct but also elaborated and multi-layered. Here we have a unique example of that kind of a ying-yang balance, from the legendary underground Turkish band Nekropsi and their long awaited second album (which is untitled, with a note on the cover as: "Issued in every 10 year"). Yes, legendary, because after publishing their first album, Mi Kubbesi in 1996 and giving mind-blowing live performances with their glamorous playing skills, they suddenly disappeared for years without a single word!

At last they resurfaced from the underground labyrinths this year with a brisk and surprising album. It would be meaningless to try and describe this album, because like all genuine art works it speaks perfectly for itself; so instead, I'll just attempt to underline some aspects of this opus.

*Multilayered: At first sight the album seems very straightforward and plain; a pure energy based on keen but decelerated, softened, melodic thrash-metal smelling riffs and ear-friendly melodies plus dynamic, regular, drummachinesque beats and a muscular bass. That's why, after enjoying highly sophisticated melodic textures, fidgety, twin-pedaled drums and the dark, progressive atmosphere of Mi Kubbesi, many fanatics of the band in Turkey criticized them for selling out to the contemporary minimal aesthetic of indie and electronic traditions. Yes, the band is flirting with minimal aesthetic, but this affair is far from weed-headed contemporary young bands' "find and stick to a delightful melody and neat rhythm and exploit them till their last drop" notion. The difference here is that, this simplicity is more like the smoothness and clearness of a zen master. This is a kind of crystallization of the thrash metal tradition, where the basis of their power -high volume and velocity- has been sieved in order to reach to its substance and reshape it with a contemporary approach. So, that plain energy is just the tip of the iceberg, there is a long, demanding search underneath it.

*Schizophrenia & Contradictions: The album generally has a schizoid feeling and deals with schizophrenia at many levels -personal, social, communicational, political and of course musical- in very tricky ways. For example, the album's initial song "Harf Devrimi" (Alphabet Revolution) marvelously illustrates the cultural schizophrenia of a new born nation --Republic of Turkey from the ashes of the Ottoman Empire-- who has left behind -the curly, pliable- Arabic alphabet (which goes from right to left) for the sake of -the angled and rough- Latin alphabet. The song begins with typewriter beats that indicate the tangible settings (from printing machines to personal mind-muscle-eye coordinations) necessary for this alphabetic transformation; then a distorted electric guitar with an implicit ethnic motif and a drum with an implicit traditional sling-drum rhythm enter as if to resemble the traumatic balance that Turkish people try to establish between West and East. Or, in "Papa" (Pope), a highly debated, controversial issue -the selection of the new Pope after the death of Pope John Paul II- is handled with a very sleazy attitude through an ass shakeable surf-ska beat and a vocal resembling football supporters' chants [maybe the only way left for the desperate individuals who are in the eye of the storm of high level politic plots]. Morbid words of "Baba" (Daddy) ["Daddy will come, I'm afraid, Daddy will come, I'm happy"]; the pathetic enthusiasm of "Erciyes Sokta" escalating into an obsessive, barbarian frenzy; peculiar happiness of "Yok Var" ['Absent Present' or 'Nothing Exists'] which seems like composed in a madhouse, can also be mentioned. Also the textures of the songs are schizophrenic in themselves; nearly none of the songs have a regular form or a straight, coherent, homogeneous flow. The perfect harmony formed by the two electric guitars/bass/drum triangles creates enthralling structures which suddenly break away into totally irrelevant, absurd modes, then after a while return to the main flow. Especially the neurotic, delirious, contradictory vocals that are based mostly on found-object materials or shaped with cut-up technic, are hard for the listener to identify with.

*Psychedelia: Is it only eerie sounds outspreading into the air or long, delay-effect solos that make music psychedelic? I think psychedelia is more of a state of mind or feeling; so that while most of the songs in this album share nothing structurally with the psychedelic aesthetic, the feeling is there throughout the album. It's not easy to define this, maybe it comes with the wandering vocals flinging inside the songs creating a dreamy effect that are like the mesmerizing tone of hypnosis sessions or the voices spinning inside an acid head. Or maybe it is the monotonous, shamanistic hard beats that drift me towards weird territories, or the amorphous, greasy textures of the songs that create this feeling.

*Joy: Forget about my dull analysis, this album is really cool! Powerful, energetic, frisky. But this enthusiasm has nothing to do with the testosteronial expressionism that makes you headbang (so that, after shaking your head all night you get a stoned, blank head) or pogo (which spoils all your angst, hate and power in a dead-end jumping and tossing). No, this music is not for instantaneous consumptions which allow you to forget everything the morning after a crazy night; this is a more inclusive, encompassing joy that addresses your soul. Maybe you don't twist & shout, but a hot feeling continuously circles throughout your veins and sticks to your mind. Even the most pathological moments of the album have a funky feeling; managing to be very serious and very humorous at the same time.

One last word: don't make a mistake; although it sounds like electronic, programmed drums, all the drums here are played totally with wrist power!

ABOUT NEKROPSI (Necropsy):

The group formed in 1990, after a while they recorded a 4 track speed-metal demo "Speed Lessons Part 1". 3 years later they established their ideal line up with Cevdet (dr., voc.), Cem (guitar, voc.) and Tolga (g., voc.) and didn't have a bass player for 2 years. In 1996 they published their first album Mi Kubbesi (the Dome of Mi -tone e-) which according to them is an "instrumental music without the restrisction of a genre". This is an abstract, ethnic and fusion jazz influenced progressive-metal work with interlocking electric guitars (without distortion or long solos) and a multi-dimensional drum. This album was highly experimental and risky for the Turkish music scene. The same year they won the "best avangarde band" award at annual Roxy Music Days competition. After that, refusing to play at bars or clubs, they gave a couple of concerts mostly at universities or festivals. They played as frontliners in 1998 at Jimmy Page & Robert Plant's Istanbul concert. Their last performance was at Alanis Morrisette's 2001 Istanbul concert, before her. Then Cevdet and Cem studied sound engineering in Continental and Tolga went to USA. They came together for a concert at METU in 2005 and after the ultra positive reaction they got from the audience, they decided to concentrate on their second album. For their second album Kerem, who is the bass player of the pop-punk band Kurban joined the team.

Nekropsi Official Website: www.nekropsi.com

Nekropsi on Myspace: www.myspace.com/nekropsinekropsi

Label Website: AK Muzik

Buy Nekropsi CD

Hira D.