LP Review: Uluru - Acrophilia (2019) (English)

Today I'm very glad to present an LP by the Turkish Psychedelic Rock Band Uluru. The Istanbul based trio has released two EPs since 2015. Now we can finally listen to their first longplayer "Acrophilia" which can be bought at the German record label Tonzonen. For a bit more than half an hour Uluru enchant your eardrums with sweet, melodic, instrumental psychedelic Rock music on this record.

Uluru clearly play Psychedelic music with a strong emphasis on the Rock genre. Still their music does not fit stereotypical schemes of the genre though. While the riffs are marching forward through the songs, there are so many small nuances and little sparks that make their music so beautiful. The basic structure loops its way in a Stoner and Psychedelic Rock manner. And then there are those layers of Arabic scales going hand in hand with Heavy Metal licks, spacy atmosphere and much more.

Every single pattern in the loops, every layer in the scheme, and every single note in the greater soundscape is there for a reason. Every stop or fill in the rhythm creates the energy on which Uluru ride through their LP. And together this all forms this holistic image of which "Acrophilia" consists. Uluru easily manage to take their audience by the hand and invite them on their spaceship. Lean back, fasten your seatbelts, and do not forget to look out of the window when the vessel launches from the Black Sea towards distant galaxies.

And then there is that jam. Suddenly and out of the blue the second side of the LP moves you directly on stage together with the trio from Istanbul. What a jam! It goes from heavy to bluesy, from rocky to psychedelic, from simplistic to technical finesse, back and forth, and back again. And that's what makes Uluru so special. They combine this great variety of influences from Western Blues and Rock or Metal over Eastern scales and patterns to Kraut, Psychedelica and that huge amount of jamming.

Kraut, Psychedelic, Space, Desert or Stoner Rock from Turkey might not be the newest thing as Moğollar have been around quite some time. Also Kırkbinsinek toured Western Europe at least once and should be known to fans of Psychedelic Rock music. But still it is a beautiful feeling to explore music from an area that rather is situated in a kind of blindspot. What makes Uluru special amongst the psychedelic artists I know from Turkey is their strict use of classic Rock instruments instead of adding traditional Turkish hardware. The trio manages to combine Eastern and Western music by simply looping their three instruments plus synths, and adding a set of effects.

"Acrophilia" is a beautiful piece of art. Uluru thrill you and take you away on colourful roads of music. Let yourself go and enter the loops of this magnificient joyride. You can listen to it as often as you like - you will always discover a new detail.