Hayvanalar Alemi are an instrumental psychedelic folk-rock band founded in Ankara in 1999. Throughout the years, the band has developed its very own style, inspired by the Turkish innovative musical heritage, and also informed by the traditional and popular genres of the globe, blending together scales and rhythms of Asia, Africa, Middle East and South America with surf, dub, stoner rock and free improvisation. The band’s latest offering, Psychedelia in Times of Turbulence highlights their influences of doom and drone metal and is set for release on 27 March on Subsound Records (Italy).
The ensemble’s music has been released under labels such as Sublime Frequencies (USA), Unrock (Germany) and Glitterbeat (Germany), and received positive reviews from publications such as Wire, The Guardian and Uncut. They have recently released a compilation 15 Golden Adventures, on Shalgam Records (Turkey), which includes a selection for beginners culled from the band’s releases between 2008 and 2016.
The album combines the afore mentioned genres in a way that makes their approach both familiar and new simultaneously. They layer sounds ingeniously and this LP comes as a breath of fresh air in a market that is becoming saturated. The standout track comes in the form of the opener, ‘News of the World’, which has got such a contagious riff you’re hooked from the opening bar. Its energy is insatiable, and it doesn’t take much to feel you’re gonna enjoy this throughout and it doesn’t disappoint.
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