King Black Acid and the Wombstar Orchestra released their first album, “Wombstar Sessions,” in 1995, and the Northwest music scene was lulled into a druggy trance. Running over an hour but only containing three songs, “Wombstar Sessions” was recorded off of a largely improvised set at Portland’s KBOO radio station.
KBA and the Wombstar Orchestra decided to go their separate ways in 1997, after two more albums, and those who had fallen in love with the band’s transcendental space jams were disappointed.
But they soon had reason to rejoice when King Black Acid was resurrected in 1998. Their newest incarnation, King Black Acid and the Starseed Transmission, has just released their newest album, “Loves A Long Song,” an offhand reference to the band’s penchant for extremely extended improvised jams.
However, this album is a departure from KBA’s previous efforts. Shorter, tighter songs, linear song progressions, and even (gasp!) pop hooks all make an appearance on “Loves a Long Song.”
Frontman Daniel Riddle’s voice is a little too airy for the slabs of industrial rock the band lays down, but fans of the band won’t really pay attention to that. They want to rock, and KBA lays it down for them in spades.
The deceptively mainstream album opens with “Butterfly Bomber,” a somewhat successful modern-rock songwriting effort that features a lulling guitar hook that morphs into a buzzing noise attack. The band brings back echoes of Pink Floyd with “Kiss the Beast,” not only with their psychedelic imagery but also the vocal effects and echoing guitars.
The album’s standout track, “Gentle Collapse (Feels Good),” creates a great atmosphere with its swooping guitars and keyboards. But like many of the songs on the record, it suffers from the malaise of being too long.
KBA has tried to move away from the spaced-out jams of previous albums with “Loves A Long Song,” but they are stuck somewhere in the middle of being a jam band and a pop band. Die-hard fans will probably be put off by the new KBA pop sensibility, while new listeners probably won’t have the patience to sit through the whole album.