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Friday Full-Length: Dragontears, Turn on Tune in Fuck Off!

Posted in Bootleg Theater on November 15th, 2019 by JJ Koczan

 

The cover art of Dragontears‘ third and final album, Turn on Tune in Fuck Off! (review here) — released in 2010 by Bad Afro Records — finds frontman and principle architect Uffe “Lorenzo Woodrose” Lorenzen standing maybe-naked among a trio of mostly-nude women clad in gasmasks and bulletbelts, their faces obscured save for their eyes but their automatic weapons very much in the foreground, aimed up at the downward-facing camera. Lorenzen, eyes obscured in sunglasses, his head tilted and mouth hanging slack, also looks up at the camera, and in each of his outstretched hands, there’s a bunch of pills, clearly being offered to whoever’s eye might’ve been caught by the striking, maddening pinks and blues surrounding. So is the title an invitation or a command? That exclamation point — encouraging or urging or demanding? Maybe pleading, even?

It’s hard to know listening to the record itself, the doomsday psychedelia of which pushed forward in concept and execution even from where Dragontears‘ two preceding LPs, 2007’s 2000 Micrograms from Home and 2008’s Tambourine Freak Machine saw it go. Lorenzen‘s main outfit, Baby Woodrose, for sure had its psychedelic aspects even back to its earliest, most garage-rocking days, but here again, Dragontears pursued another echelon of far out. And found it. Early on side A, “Two Tongue Talk” and the gleefully nihilistic “No Salvation” lead off with uptempo hooks and consummate swirl, engaging with a classic psych feel and prevalent depth of fuzz, while the three-and-a-half-minute “My Friend” marks a turning point to the next stage — or maybe “plane” is more appropriate, considering. The song itself doesn’t fill even that relatively brief runtime, instead drifting off into ethereal synth and keyboard dreaminess. But the real change is before that, as Lorenzen — perhaps in a foreshadow of the solo work he’s done in the last couple years — dons an acoustic guitar and the percussive push underlying “Two Tongue Talk” and “No Salvation” disappears in favor of a peaceful melodic wash. “Time of No Time” finds a middle ground between the two sides, lacing sitar alongside guitar and building on both the acid folk of the song before it and the more rocking feel of the two before that, all the while letting Lorenzen philosophize lyrically like the lysergic cult leader depicted on the front cover.

At just over six minutes, it’s the longest cut on the record to that point, but that doesn’t last, with the 13-minute drone-out “William” picking up in inner peace-inducing fashion, taking the catchiness that (re)emerged on “Time of No Time” and stretching it out across a vast drift with Lorenzen‘s vocals barely acting as a tether to the ground, molten as it is. I don’t know who William is or was, but the song that bears his name is long gone in a hand-percussed melodic expanse, intertwining lines of effects rising and fallingDragontears Turn On Tune In Fuck Off in the mix as Lorenzen does likewise, his lines somewhere between spoken hallucinogenic poetry and singing, dropping out before ceremonial-feeling bells jingle maybe to signal the close of mass or, maybe just to mourn for the planet, universe, self, whatever, all of it, who knows. On the vinyl edition of Turn on Tune in Fuck Off!, “William” and the subsequent “Mennesketvilling” (5:49) comprise the entirety of side B, and sure enough the one feeds right into the other, with the closer picking up from the drone and obscure sample playing and bringing some more forward layers of vocals forward in a chant that only seems to emphasize both the depth of the mix overall throughout the material and the obvious care that was put into the arrangement of elements therein. A freakout guitar solo takes hold and the sample returns, the song receding quickly into the fade before a final sweep seems to wipe everything out.

The title “Mennesketvilling” translates in a major internet company’s matrix from Danish to “dual man” in English, or “human gemini,” which is probably closer and still only barely getting at what the track is actually going for. Whether that’s supposed to just mean “twin” or be a statement on the duality of the human species, I can’t say and won’t waste time in speculating, but if it’s one last preach on the nature of mankind, it’s fairly enough earned and nothing if not welcome in rounding out the spirit of the proceedings.

Dragontears did play live around this time, with Lorenzen in the lineup that included Fuzz Daddy (aka Rocco Woodrose), Moody Guru (aka Riky Woodrose), Morton “Aron” Larsen and Henrik “The Hobbit” Klitstrøm alongside a purported host of others that presumably varied from show to show, but again, this was their final recording, with Lorenzen putting the project to rest with the intention to incorporate more of Dragontears‘ psychedelic aspects into Baby Woodrose. That’s a sonic progression that, in truth, had already been underway. The band’s 2009 self-titled had drawn in a fair share of the acidic, and it was hardly the first release to do so, but perhaps 2012’s Third Eye Surgery (review here) and 2016’s Freedom (review here) would follow this path even more. In 2013, Lorenzen and Klitstrøm and others whose history together stretched back to their days in underrated Danish psych rockers On Trial (if not longer) would reform Spids Nøgenhat for the Kommer Med Fred LP, but that seems to be the extent of that outfit’s work at least for the time being. One never knows, of course.

Over the years, Lorenzen has grown into a kind of Danish LSD-guru figure, and his solo output, released in his own name with Danish lyrics and titles, bears that out with a sensibility that seems to draw from some of what Dragontears were doing on Turn on Tune in Fuck Off!, particularly, as noted, on “My Friend” and maybe even “William.” While Lorenzen doesn’t quite try to get away permanently from the hooky songcraft that’s made Baby Woodrose‘s offerings stand up so well to the test of time, both 2017’s Galmandsværk (review here) and 2019’s Triprapport (review here) portray this identity in their visual and aural presentation, and with his beard long and gray and his material more otherworldly than it’s ever been, it suits him. I wouldn’t fight if another Baby Woodrose record was in the offing for 2020 or if Lorenzen were to continue the solo work or something else, since no matter where he goes, he seems to take such a strong presence with him. Sometimes, that’s a voice out in the void of space itself.

As always, I hope you enjoy.

I was gonna go see Monolord at Vitus Bar on Sunday. I didn’t go to Ode to Doom last week and I’m already hemming and hawing on this, despite my desire to catch Blackwater Holylight and Monolord in that space, let alone the matinee beforehand that I’m co-presenting. Feeling worn out, down, down, down, and like cooking dinner so there are leftovers for the week ahead is probably the way to go. There’s like a seven-pound spaghetti squash sitting on the counter that I should probably throw in the oven now so it’s done in time for Monday.

Shit is large.

The Pecan is up. Early. It’s almost 6:30AM now — not an overly productive morning on my part, but the Dragontears was fun to write about as Lorenzo Woodrose’s stuff usually is — and he’s been up for like an hour. Brutal. I thought he had pooped so I got him from upstairs, but no. He still found time to wind up his legs and kick me while I was changing his diaper though, and that’s what would seem to matter.

He’s two. It’s very hard. We were friends for a little bit there. Not this week.

I tell him, “You’re in control of your responses.” “We can put on shoes easy or hard, it’s up to you.” Even if he doesn’t really know what I’m talking about in terms of actualization of self, I figure that’s good habit for me to say rather than, “Put on your fucking shoes you wretched thing-beast,” and good for him to hear from what’s basically the outset of him understanding words. There’s one corner of the room I don’t want him to go in. Every time I’m out of his line of sight, he’s there. By Wednesday, I felt like my brain was going to explode. Yesterday, which was Thursday, The Patient Mrs. worked from 7AM-6PM (oh, that easy college professor’s schedule; when you’re 80, maybe) and I had him all day and it was too cold to play outside. He bit, he hit, he kicked, he hugged, he pretended to sneeze and laughed, he ran, he ate a good lunch. We went grocery shopping and he sat in the cart. He went in that same fucking corner and I told him, “Okay, that’s cool, you hang out in there and I’ll just put away your toys since you’re not using them anymore. This puzzle looks fun, but if you don’t need it, I’ll put it away,” and he came out of the corner to play with the puzzle. Even if he doesn’t know all the words — and he might — he got the idea, and it was a solid hour before he was back over there playing with the power bar, which at that point was a win.

It was a day, in other words.

So, next week. It’s full. There’s a ton of shit, whether or not I go see Monolord, and if I’m saying that on Friday, I’m probably not going. We’ll see. But it’s a full week regardless, highlighted by a Solace track premiere rescheduled from this week and a War Cloud video premiere, the latter of which will be on Friday to round things out. I’ll review Vessel of Light in there too somewhere.

I’m sure you’re riveted.

Stay glued to your seat, computer, phone, whatever. More Obelisk coming soon.

Ugh.

Everyone have a great and safe weekend. Please be kind and have fun. You can do both.

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