Baikonour's second album may start with a bit of an ominous build, but the shimmering guitar, steady beats, and generally easygoing flow of the full opening number "Shikharettes & Khukuris" suggest something else, half travelogue for distant planets and half continual exploration of the kind of tropical dreamscape
Brian Wilson approached in the late '60s. Multi-instrumentalist Jean-Emmanuel Krieger may shape most of the sounds on offer, but drummer Lee Adams is a key player throughout, his work adding a steady bottom end to things that sometimes acts as propulsion first and foremost, as on the dramatic surge of "Fly Tiger" and the concluding slash-and-chug of "Look...Wa!," and sometimes as adding shade and detail to the more open-ended compositions. "Double Happiness Wholesale," sounding almost like a multitude of
Robin Guthries playing on top of each other, is a delight in that sense, open and very inviting. If it's not as shimmeringly powerful as
Panda Bear at its absolute best, say, there's something that suggests
Baikonour would fit in perfectly with the loping flow of acts like
Prins Thomas and
Lindstrom, albeit he's a touch more focused on guitar and keyboards than on elegant rhythms. This quality can definitely be heard on the zoned out guitars of "Chiru," as sprightly a piece of drone as might be imagined, or the full-on Motorik tribute of "Ye Ama Piooo!" -- if Adams isn't quite
Klaus Dinger on drums, Krieger definitely rivals
Michael Rother for building howl. ~ Ned Raggett