“DISMEMBER”
When we last left Di Kang, they had finished “phase one” of their mission to record on seven continents, and promised “more music to come” from the three continents they had remaining. What’s that? You say there are not seven continents, but only four (or five, or six). Well, Di Kang doesn’t have time for your fussy geography takes; they believe there are seven, so end of discussion.
Di Kang says right now they “should be in Antarctica recording the 7th and final” installment, but the 2020 pandemic had other ideas. Ah, world travel. Remember when we could do that? Well I guess it’s OK that we’re on hold for now, because “DISMEMBER” takes our ears to New Zealand.
As with the “Shattered States” album, this one also has lots of varied and interesting sounds. A good example is opening song “Devil That You Know.” Over its five minute running time, it goes from a muted steel drum and sinister vocal mix, to some simple experimental electronics with heavy bass and drum sounds, finally resolving to a click track and something that sounds like a modified pipa or some other Chinese stringed instrument. There’s a nice through line of varied percussion that seems to hold everything together throughout all these songs. For me, I’d slot the overall feel of the music somewhere between “Eskimo” by The Residents and Tricky’s “Pre-Millennium Tension.” So come for all the excellent music, but be sure to stay ‘til the end for the educational component – someone at coroner’s school teaching how to perform an autopsy on a human body.
“Shattered States”
I’m going to mention the Grateful Dead but let me be crystal clear – this release sounds like many things, but nothing like the Grateful Dead; I find most of the Dead’s music boring. Instead, what this album brings to mind are the lyrics from “Truckin’.” For starters:
“Get out of the door and light out and look all around.”
Di Kang has recorded four albums on four continents, and has taken many of the ideas they developed and created in that time for the four movements on this album. Each “State” runs about 23 minutes, but explores so many ideas during that time you may have trouble keeping up.
They have pieced together a flow of disparate sounds; at any given time you could hear singing, head-bobbing drums, rock guitar, weird electronics, or Sufi trance pipes. “State III,” for example, sounds like a cross between The Birthday Party and The Residents, until it doesn’t as it flows into a new sound, and then another, and then… Di Kang taunts us by saying “the faint of heart are unlikely to endure.” But if you like challenging, interesting, evolving music, I think you’ll get through it and say
“…it occurs to me, what a long, strange trip it's been.”
Finally, the notes with the release say “This ends the first phase of Di Kang, but there are 3 continents left to go, and more music to come.” Or, as The Dead might say, they decided to get
“back home, sit down and patch my bones…and get back truckin' on.”
My sincere apologies for all the Grateful Dead references; they’re dull; this album is the opposite.