Artist: Dzyan
Album: Dzyan
Released: 1972/1999
Rock Fever Music (RFM-003)
Genre: Krautrock, Progressive Jazz-Rock
Prog Archives: Formed in 1972, this ethnic/kraut jazz quintet (Jochen Leuschner, Reinhard Karwatky, Gerd Bock-Ehrmann, Deiter Kramer, and Ludwig Braun) released their self titled album the same year in a relative discretion. This album made an exploration in long / space rock improvisations relied on jazz grooves and weird electro –acoustic sounds. The “ethnic”, mystical elements are obvious notably due to the acoustic percussions rhythm sections. Compositions are mainly instrumental and improvised, brightly showing the technical capacities of the musicians. After several departures the band will be organised under a trio form, recording in 1973 the seminal “Time Machine”. This album features astonishing manifestations of freaky fusion jazz exercises mixed with weird experimentations and mysticism. This album was recorded at Dieter Dierk’s mythical studio. After this very convincing effort, the band recorded what we can consider to be his masterwork “Electric Silence”. It combines with passion a stylistic jazz rock to nice Eastern elements. A very pleasant journey in “kraut”, “kosmische” eccentricities. - By Philippe Blache.
The Crack In The Cosmic Egg: Formed in Mannheim in 1971, Dzyan were typically eclectic for a band from Southern Germany. In fact Dzyan were always a hard band to pin down, as each album they released was quite different. The original quintet on their debut album DZYAN played a jazzy form of progressive rock, with hints of Wolfgang Dauner, flashes of Zappa's HOT RATS and even some Van der Graaf Generator styled saxophone-fronted diversions. All this lead to a weird hotchpotch, punctuated by strange gothic songs and experimentation with electronic effects (including some stolen from an obscure French electronic LP by Bruno Menny - yes, directly stolen!), and thus an intriguing album that is still fresh today. When the band eventually disintegrated, Reinhard Karwatky was the only member remaining. So, he drafted in jazzers Eddy Marron (ex-Jochen Brauer Sextet and Vita Nova) and drummer Lothar Scharf (from Virgo), who didn't stay long, and was in turn replaced by the much more original percussionist Peter Giger. On TIME MACHINE they played, to quote Eddy Marron: "in the Kriegel-Doldinger-Association-Et Cetera jazz-rock style", a very inventive fusion, the spirit of Krautrock in a radical jazz-fusion. Whilst Peter Giger worked on other commitments as a session musician for ECM Records and on tour with Eberhard Weber, ex-Dave Pike Set drummer Marc Hellman filled in. By the time Giger returned, the Dzyan sound had changed considerably, as both Reinhard and Eddy had been experimenting with ethnic musics and a wider range of instruments. Mellotrons, sitar, and the mysterious "Super String" were added. The third album ELECTRIC SILENCE was even more out on a limb, bringing weird avant-garde elements together with jazz, rock and various ethnic musics; all together in an extreme melting pot of styles, ideas and fertile imagination. Running from free-jazz through medieval cum raga-rock (cf. Third Ear Band) and intense rock improvisation it is indeed one of the landmarks in experimental rock. After Dzyan split, Giger and Marron formed Giger.Lenz.Marron. Reinhard Karwatky also played on the Galactic Explorers album, as a member of the computer music trio A.I.R., and has worked as producer and engineer with: Aziza, Maria Joao and Vibe Tribe. He now makes a living as an all-round music technician: editing, mastering, keyboard programming, etc. - By Steven Freeman & Alan Freeman.
Album Reviews:
#1: This album was the result of Dzyan Mach 1, convened solely as a studio project and not lasting beyond the production of this LP. The record is a conglomerate with many different styles from Zappa-esque jazz to King Crimson and Van Der Graaf Generator-styled prog rock, with bits of tape effects and some wild conga drums added in. From the minimalist synth drones that open "Emptiness" to the bouncy jazz rhythm of "Fohat's Work," to the monster bass riff and soaring guitar of the closer, "Back to Earth," the album offers a hodgepodge of unusual songs in unusual time signatures. The vocals at times, and even more so the lyrics, are drenched too deep in prog pretension, but at least there are some long instrumental passages to get lost in. The album is a flawed experiment, interesting in its own right, though not fully realized like the two albums that followed. The fact that this Dzyan sounded like an entirely different band is because it almost was. - By Rolf Semprebon, AMG.
#2: Named after the Indian sacred book of creation, this (at first) studio experiment recorded very quickly their first album (within two months of their creation) and it was released on the small Aronda label in April 72. Graced with an impressive artwork, the quintet’s album develops an impressive sung jazz-rock that embodied almost every aspects of the genre, but there is a general Canterbury feel pervading through the album. Dzyan’s jazz-rock spectrum ranges from the full-blown early fusion ala Nucleus (the opening Emptiness) to the much rockier Dragonsong, the electronic and cello Hymn and the very vocal Bud Awakes (where the group shows an excellence sense of harmony). The first side of the albums holds two major tracks (one of which is slightly ethnic-sounding and strange: Wisdom) sandwiching a short one and is clearly my favourite. The excellent Fohat’s Work (not really Gong here, although the sax…) is maybe the album’s most accessible track with clear-cut solos, while Dragonsong has vocals that can resemble Wyatt’s in SM’s Third or Rock Bottom, but this dramatic piece can be considered like the highlight of the album as Bock’s sax reminds of Malherbe and Karwalky’s bass lines are driving the track at 100 MPH cruising speed. Comes a short Wyatt-esque interlude and then the album closes on the Rocking Back To Earth, indeed making come back from a great fusion trip as the artwork indicates. By the time of their second album’s recording, the group was completely different, being just a trio with only bassist Karwalki (who was the main writer anyway) left, but the sound of the group remained jazz-rock but veered much more towards experimental jazz mixed with ethnic music. Although this debut album is non-representative of Dzyan, it might just be their most accessible and a good intro to the band. Rounded up to the upper unit to reach the fourth star. - By Sean Trane, Prog Archives.
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