Baku Llama - "Eris' Review

Artist/ Band: Baku Llama
Title: Eris
Label: Self release
Year of Release: 2007
Artist/ Band Link (click for more details)

The Review:

Baku Llama is an interesting trio from the Los Angeles area, consisting of Ann Bernath (drums, vocals and keyboards), David Bernath (guitar and bass) and Rick Whitehurst (keyboards) Their music is a balance between complex and melodic music structures. While they really don’t resemble anything I‘ve ever heard before, they do tread genres like jazz, progressive, psychedelic and space rock.

Their 2007 debut, ‘Eris’ is primarily a instrumental album except some vocal tracks provided by Ann such as the title track (which has some spoken word parts) and “This Time” which has some pretty haunting vocals. It’s also the most accessible song on the album. The highlights of instrumentals are “Dreameater”, “Torrential” and the longest track “Side Two”.

Overall, I’d say while there is some fantastic music on ‘Eris’, it will only cater to true music aficionados and not the average listener. I also find that this album isn’t one that I’d listen to on a regular basis but at the same time it’s an essential part of my music library. I’d recommend it to fans of King Crimson, The Red Masque, Thinking Plague a few others in a similar vein. The band has some of their music to listen to on their MySpace page which should help you decide if they’re the band for you. And if they are, please let them know by purchasing ‘Eris’ ASAP!

Reviewed by Ron Fuchs on February 8th, 2008

Tracks:

1. Discord

2. Hamatsa

3. Betrayed

4. Punch It

5. Eris

6. Six to Midnight

7. This Time

8. The Rite

9. Discord Resolved

10. Dream Eater

11. Torrential

12. Side Two

13. Tragic Mask