Kaskadeur - Uncanny Valley - Top 20 Push

 

  

Top 20 of 2020 album push post!

As we approach that jump off date for the Stoner HiVe Top 20 Countdown of 2020; we notice that certain highly loved albums aren’t getting the number of votes we hoped they would. So we enlisted the help of the Stoner HiVe Team to try and do one last push to get them higher on the end list…

Up next is the pusher promotion post by Shasta Beast!

 

Kaskadeur - Uncanny Valley

As list upon list is tallied this month, it's become clear that the number of fantastic albums in 2020, of all years, is overwhelming. To get my two cents in and add another album to your pile, submitted for your consideration is "Uncanny Valley" by Kaskadeur! At the top of my personal 2020 list, I've raved about these psych/jazz/prog wizards before, and gladly do so again. Not content to fit neatly in just one or two genres of heavy, the German rockers formerly known as Stonehenge display dazzling skill they wind through hit after diverse hit of groovy twists and turns. One minute they' throw u down whiplash-inducing riffs, and in the next breath deliver spaced out organ, and it all works seamlessly. Kaskadeur's experimentation and evolution from their stoner roots paid off in spades, resulting in one of the most dynamic and unique albums of the year.

(Written by Shasta Beast)

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Kaskadeur - Uncanny Valley

 

Kaskadeur - Uncanny Valley
Noisolution - September 2020
Prog, psych, jazz, stoner
Rated: *****

The artists formerly known as Stonehenge, newly minted quartet Kaskadeur from Germany delivers some of the year's most dynamic and bonkers prog on new album Uncanny Valley. Reflected in their name change, the foursome are moving away from their stoner rock past into weirder, jazzier territory, hints of which could be heard in their older material. After a brief instrumental intro, the fireworks begin with the title track's frantic onslaught of lightning fast guitar work. Merely calling the licks angular would do them a disservice. The riffs are bright, spastic, and ever-changing, turning on a dime with another groovy surprise around every bend. Somehow never disjointed in flow, the guitar and thrumming bass are held down by nimble, madman drumwork with a seemingly endless bag of tricksy fills. The cherry on top of all this top tier musicianship is none other than the Avatar of atmospherics, keyboardist Johannes. From classic Hammond blasts to spooky UFO blips and warbles, the keys add an extra dimension of psych and retro class that completes Kaskadeur's eclectic sound. After the initial eruption of the title track, "Flashback Fatkids" delivers lines of intricate, choppy guitar between swells of organ freakouts before a doomy, bass heavy crawl towards the finish line. (Slightly) less hectic but just as addictive is "The Death of Basic Trust",  building off a bright, punchy backbone that's almost tropical before soaring into epic bursts of keys and spidery guitar theatrics. The rest of the album should be enjoyed spoiler-free, but it has to be said the cymbal-splashing break towards the end of "The Death of Basic Trust" is just impossible not to move to. Helping to keep such a dynamic sound flowing are brief, jazzy instrumentals between the six main tracks, easing the transition from one epic to the next. Much of the album is instrumental, and Kaskadeur pull off the impressive feat of knowing when to use vocals and when to let the instruments speak for themselves, always in service to the music. Uncanny Valley is a beast of an album, fusing heavy prog, psych, and jazz in a combination of technique and groove that sounds like nothing else out there.

(Written by Shasta Beast)

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