Laddio Bolocko :: Live and Unreleased 1997-2000

NOQ048coverThey didn’t last long — just about four years — but Laddio Bolocko made a hell of a noise for a little while there. This excellent compilation (two CDs or three LPs, plus a bonus DVD) from No Quarter adds considerably to their legacy. The band (members of which would go on to play in Psychic Paramount and Mars Volta) emerged from a very different Brooklyn than the one we know today. As Oneida’s Kid Millions writes in his thoughtful liners, “in 1997, if you told someone versed in underground music that you were a band from Brooklyn the reaction would either be stunned silence or laughter.” However, that empty space meant that Laddio Bolocko could pretty much make up the rules as they went along — and then go about breaking every one of those rules with glee.

You might be tempted to slot the group into the dreaded math rock genre, but where most math-y groups found themselves in stylistic dead ends, Laddio Bolocko found complete freedom. Dig the stunning “43 Minutes Of (Excerpt)” which kicks off the compilation in glorious fashion, fueled by the relentless drumming of Blake Fleming and a blown out organ tortured within an inch of its life. Or bask in the 2000 live set that closes the second disc, highlighting the unbelievably locked-in mind-meld that the band shared onstage. Amazing stuff from the outer limits. words / t wilcox