Review & Full Album Premiere: DUNDDW, Okukulukuta
DUNDDW release their new album, Okukulukuta, this Friday, Jan. 30. It’s comprised of 11 tracks and runs 59 minutes, and its title and as I understand it the titles of all the songs translate to “flow,” though I’ll admit to trying to run the tracklisting through a major internet company’s translation matrix and not being able to source languages for all the words, while others were Indonesian, Spanish, Afrikaans, Tswanan, and so on. The Nijmegen-based improv psychedelia trio are no strangers to reaching beyond themselves musically. They would seem to have put that to use this time linguistically as well.
The unity of titles speaks broadly of intent on the part of guitarist Gerben Elburg, bassist Huibert der Weduwen and drummer Peter Dragt, who were last heard from in 2024, collaborating with Dr. Space on a live release (review here), but everything’s a live release when you make it up on the spot, so the lines become blurred. In any case, Okukulukuta (‘flow’ in Luganda, a Bantu language in Uganda) does more than just flow. Sure each piece hits a groove — even the 85-second “Mili IX III” with its sweet-toned, soft guitar is moving to the sway of the quiet drums — but if you look at the titles in the tracklisting below, you’ll start to see a pattern emerge in the Roman numerals.
On DUNDDW‘s 2023 split with Kombynat Robotron (review here), the trio featured the 20-minute jam “VIII.” Here, they pick up right where they left off, with “Vloei IX I” presumably being the ninth on-an-album jam they’ve done — one assumes there are many more jams that don’t make the cut — and while 2022’s Flux (review here) was comprised of parts edited down from longer dig-ins, with Okukulukuta, they take the approach further, carving jams ‘IX,’ ‘X’ and ‘XI’ into shorter individual tracks. That’s less the case with the 11-minute finale “Stroom XI I,” but even that has three other parts of the same jam included earlier on. It’s not a standalone. Nothing here is.
The message, perhaps, is that flow can happen anytime, and it happens everywhere. It’s not just about the linear direction “Stroom XI I” plays out, but that’s an important piece just the same. It’s possible for an adventurous or curious digital listener to rearrange the tracklisting so that it’s executed in jam-order. It’s not the way the band are choosing to present their work, so I’m not going to
advocate for doing so as optimal, but it does provide some insight as “Elela IX II” picks up pretty much where the opener left off while “Agayus XI II” starts from the post-crescendo comedown’s silence with a quick bit of effects and then a turnaround to dive right back into the procession, meandering a bit before coming to a stop to give “Kuyenda XI III” a fresh start, etc. Again, I won’t tell how to hear a thing, and I’m not looking to mess with anybody’s art, but even though ‘X I’ is missing from the outing (perhaps to show up later, perhaps not), a sequential approach adds another dimension to the experience, and though the album is still about an hour long, the shorter individual sections make that feel more doable and more engaging on a puzzle level when you find how they all do and don’t fit together.
But from the prog-metal chug of “Mengalir IX IV” to the nod and angular strut of “Mikoriana X II” and the serene wanderings of “Kwarara XI IV,” the concept of ‘flow’ is met no matter how one listens, and in the tracklisting as presented, this is highlighted all the more by some of the starker turns from one inclusion to the next as DUNDDW reorient in terms of mood and execution with efficiency that feels sneaky but is really just manifest chemistry and knowing where each other are in the room at any given moment. That is, what you get, however you choose to listen, is the instrumental conversation between Elburg, der Weduwen and Dragt, resonating with an open creativity and a will to plunge into the aural unknown while keeping a foot in what, for them, is a heavy psychedelic foundation.
One thing I will recommend: Approach with an open mind and try to find that balance between hearing a thing and listening to it. I’m not saying you need to sit and analyze every turn and skronky jazz flourish or whathaveyou, but neither is a full zoneout the way to go. A couple deep breaths and I expect you’ll be fine, especially if you’re still reading, and thanks if you are.
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DUNDDW, Okukulukuta album premiere
DUNDDW is a 100% improvising, instrumental spacerock/krautrock trio from The Netherlands, with members from Bismut and Mt. Echo. Their first full length album Flux was released in November 2022. In June 2023 they released a split vinyl LP with German krautrock band Kombynat Robotron. February 2024 marked the release of a live jam they played in 2023, with Dr. Space from Øresund Space Collective, Black Moon Circle a.o. joining in. DUNDDW shared the stage with bands like Kanaan, Electric Moon and My Sleeping Karma.
The album artwork is made by Phosphor visuals.
Tracklisting:
1. Vloei IX I 7:02
2. Mengalir IX IV 2:33
3. Fluir IX V 8:03
4. Elela IX II 3:51
5. Mikoriana X II 7:03
6. Flyde X III 4:48
7. Agayus XI II 3:20
8. Kuyenda XI III 4:32
9. Mili IX III 1:25
10. Kwarara XI IV 5:40
11. Stroom XI I 11:17
DUNDDW:
Peter Dragt – Drums
Huibert der Weduwen – Bass
Gerben Elburg – Guitars
