It is hard to summarize the magic of an act that knows how to blend vivid visuals, a wide timbre of instruments, soundscapes, and various elements and styles into one massive, packaged piece of music. But with today’s premiere, we are happy to feature the likes of a group of artists with an exceptional talent for that and much, much more. We are happy to unveil the latest video by High Castle Teleorkestra, featuring their newest track – “At Last He Will”! This is an experience of cinematic and monumental quality…so please, hit ‘play’ below promptly!
Featuring masterminds from acts such as Estradasphere and Doc Booger, the music transcends the boundaries of where you’d even begin to predict it to go. Take for instance the very start of the video; A old vinyl-sounding theme that slowly distorts and pitches down as the rest of the track begins, which serves more or less as an introductory descent into a rollercoaster of chants, atmosphere, and an eerie aura that makes you feel as though you just put on an old school murder mystery flick. Throughout the song, the tempos slow and speed up, the guitars switch between jangly cleans and chunky, distorted chugs, and each transition feels like a passage into a new scene of the aforementioned, metaphorical murder mystery flick. A whole ensemble of guitars, bass, drums, horns, string section, vocals, and other pieces of sonic weaving embellishes the canvas of this masterpiece into a surreal, audible experience that I am personally on at least my sixth or seventh listen through as of typing this paragraph – and you likely will be, too.
This being the last video the ensemble intends to put out for this record, it comes only a little after the release of their debut full-length, The Egg That Never Opened. A mind-boggling array of songs, much in a similar avant-garde-like realm as “At Last He Will”, HCT embody a fine personification of what the word ‘artist’ entails. Even if you are to recognize the personnel aboard the album, the work done here still manages to give pleasant surprises outside of and beyond the standard expectations (albeit, quite high expectations) of genuinely virtuosic musicians such as themselves. In short, it doesn’t really just feel like you’re listening to any sort of carbon copy of virtually any project any of those that perform in HCT have been involved with outside of this.
‘HCT’s music is not unlike what might be expected from a group with such a diverse collective musical résumé, yet is somehow fresh, vibrant, and dare we say mature in its eclectic cadence. The musical terrain traversed by this largely instrumental group includes long forgotten European waltzes with untimely bursts of Vaudeville Grindcore, ’70s Italian cinema-inspired songs, Romanian Folk Metal, ’50s sci-fi-surf instrumentals, innovative use of odd meters, and non-standard tunings. There are densely layered productions enriched by obsessive attention to detail, starkly unrelated genre superimposition, unclassifiable styles, ultra-refined chord progressions, sonic timbres that would’ve made Joe Meek proud, inscrutable metric modulations, and more. Despite the wide array of styles, the recordings are surprisingly cohesive.‘
If you’ve somehow missed out on High Castle Teleorkestra, consider this the universe telling you now is your time to hop aboard the psychedelic train to outer space, where the band will teach you the meaning of life, how all the planets were made, and then propel you into a black hole they rip in the space-time continuum – which will then force you to unlearn all you know, just before you are once again enlightened. Be sure to grab your copy of The Egg That Never Opened via Bandcamp, the band’s website, or stream it on your platform of choice! As the band themselves explain, ‘High Castle Teleorkestra aims to blow minds, satisfy souls, and quench the musical thirst of those who have sorely missed any or all acts from the graveyard of defunct, semi-defunct, and/or active bands they’ve helped populate.‘ Well, as a personal huge fan of Estradasphere from ages ago myself, consider this writer’s mind blown and thirst (temporarily) satisfied; Now it’s your turn, reader! : – )
