Amazingly this was the first time I had got to see Kogumaza live. I have enjoyed them from afar for a long time, but somehow always managed to miss them in the past, so I was very happy to see that they were supporting Hookworms at the launch gig for The Hum album.
The fact that I would have happily gone to see Kogumaza on their own speaks volumes for this pairing, and I was looking forward to a really special night. I am not sure how the band are pigeonholed, but in the past I have found this very difficult to do (and I’d rather not, but I’d also like to give the uninitiated some idea as to how they sound), and some amalgam of post-rock, Krautrock, and psych drone might be a somewhat insubstantial way of describing the Kogumaza sound.
Whatever, the band play a set that started intensely and just went deeper and deeper, encouraging closer and closer listening as the trio squeezed the maximum sound out of a guitar, bass and relatively simple drum kit. This was a joy to watch and hear as the three fed off each other to improvise a set that had me forgetting that I really wanted to take pictures, and just go also with the grooves as rhythms as the wormed their way into my brain.
I have no idea which tracks the band played, and really that didn’t matter. What was the case was that each track seemed to be longer and more complex as they built up a really good head of steam showing, and this hasn’t been the case with a number of similar bands I’ve seen lately, that you still have to think about your set and stagecraft too even if you’re playing music that’s experimental and instrumental.
You can find more Psych Insights by Simon Delic here.
Here are a few pics I took on the night, click on any of them to view the full gallery
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