Time keeps on slippin’, man… in this case for real. I originally meant to review Time Machine, the sophomore record from Germany’s Dzyan in conjunction with their third and final release Electric Silence, since that was how the Digipak reissue from MIG Records was packaged. Even if it wasn’t all written out in the header, this is obviously going to be some jammy Krautrock, served up more psychedelic than motorik in its cadence. Any wheels reinvented? Nope. But like most bands of the era, who burned just enough to get a few records out before combusting, the playing here is absolute fire.
If there’s something that stands out with the trio (comprised of Eddy Marron on guitars, sporadic vocals, and something called a zàz or saz in common spelling, Reinhard Karwatsky on bass and Peter Giger on drums), it’s the heavy raga and Eastern influences that inhabit their work. Again, not exactly unique at the time in the movement, but without a keyboard, it’s a very different arrangement and energy for this kind of music. Catchy hooks or even melodies to hang your hat on are scarce, but aside from the virtuosic explosion that burst through, Time Machine sounds best attuned to meditative wonderment and contemplation.
You can also smoke to it. I’m sure even back then, “joint soundtrack” was a huge thing.
Opening “Kabisrain” with said zàz, Dzyan stretch the tune in search of a shape, much of it often accented with chimes and percussion in lieu of a proper backbeat. Ash Ra Tempel comes to mind, although it’s been a hot minute since I revisited that record. The energy immediately shifts when Giger’s drums open the much more King Crimson-leaning “Magika.” Sharp, angular electric guitar zigs and zags in counterpoint against Karwatsky’s bass, and Giger just pummels every open space in between. His soundstage is incredibly wide, and even though there’s nary a keyboard to be found, another touchstone here is Emerson, Lake, and Palmer in their wilder moments.
Just to muddy the genre waters a bit more, if “Kabisrain” was Indian raga with a heavy psych influence, and “Magika” takes the firmament of progressive rock, might as well end your side with a Mahavishnu Orchestra fusion track, and “Light Shining Out of Darkness” manages the trick of embodying not only the fire of that band but John McLaughlin’s more acoustic work, arriving almost in parallel with his fretboard pyrotechnics.
That leaves the entirety of the second side, and if your bingo card had “side-long” jam on it, you’re a winner. Bonus points for it also being the title track. “Time Machine” ends Time Machine by basically blending everything in a pot while some youngster snuck an extra dose of heavy rock in the stew. Dzyan aren’t going to break any minds, but if you’re a fan of hearing people in a room connect and shine just before implosion… well, we’ll have to cover Electric Silence.
But I’d say this is a dang fine discovery, well worth taking a journey in.
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