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ALUK TODOLO “Lux”
ALUK TODOLO “Lux”
By Dr. Abner Mality
Been almost a decade since we’ve last heard from these eccentric instrumentalists. They were one of the odder acts to emerge when the “occult rock” revival was a thing. “Lux” continues their tradition of forgoing vocals and playing improvisational, jazz-tinged guitar music.
Six tracks here and none of them have a name we would recognize. They eschew letters and numbers entirely and give each track a designation composed of dots and dashes like Morse code. OK, that’s original, I can’t deny it. But nobody picks up a record for avant-garde song titles alone...the music has to do the talking.
I find myself slightly disappointed in the ALUK TODOLO of 2024. It’s mostly wild and heavy psych guitar playing layered over a foundation of jazzy bass and drum rhythms. There’s hardly anything “rock” about the bass/drum work at all, but the shuffling patterns are kind of fascinating to focus on. As for Shantidas Riedecker’s guitar work, the man’s talent cannot be denied. At some points, his work screams along like Hendrix on a trip...track 3 is a good example of this side of his playing. There’s also points where things have a super-angular VOI VOD twist to them or even sound like twangy Dick Dale style surf guitar. Or sometimes it devolves into almost pure noise and sound.
This actually all sounds quite good and at some points it is. Trouble is, it also gets more than a little boring as well. I remember the older ALUK TODOLO as being even crazier but more composed, if that makes sense. Many times during “Lux”, I wished vocals would show up to add interest. Or perhaps another instrument beyond the guitar/bass/drums we get exclusively here, like synths or even sax. To sum things up, ALUK TODOLO’s freeform geometric sound constructions are just as liable to lull as enlighten.
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