It is quite a bizarre feat to see the sprawling works of Om confined to the time restraints of a 7" record. Nevertheless, the duo manage to pull it off without it having any negative impact on proceedings. I seem to keep forgetting (I know, right?) that Om are one of my favourite bands, and this obscure 7" does not disappoint in any way shape or form. However, if you are new to Om, I would suggest starting where their music has a bit more room to breathe.
This is however, my first dabble with Six Organs Of Admittance; "Assyrian Blood" showcases intense atmospherics, with hopeless drones verging almost into harsh noise. This is musical meditation pushed up to 11. The material on this split in particular reminds of the group Barn Owl, if not a bit more introspective.
Without getting too cringe there is something magical about Om's music. Perhaps it's the chanting, trance-like rhythm of the majority of their songs, or perhaps it's the seemingly perfect balance that Al Cisneros strikes between riff and distortion. Either way, Om can turn a 20 minute song into what feels like one of those daydreams that has lasted only seconds but in your head you have traversed entire worlds. "Shit, how long have I been out?"
I've recently started a new job with a lot of early starts, and as much as I love grindcore and death metal, it quickly became apparent that half 5 in the morning is not the time to listen to something that is so aurally abrasive. This continues to give me ample opportunities to catch up on genres that I usually push to the side, and whilst I feared that listening to Om would put me back to sleep whilst tanning it down the M4 and result in my fiery death, I actually just caught up on a band that I forgot existed and had a banging time listening to something that wasn't intentionally trying to blow my head off.
Om were an accidental discovery for me. I have had the mp3s of Pilgrimage for years thanks to a friend, but I had never truly appreciated them. To me it literally just seemed like SleepLite. What was the fucking point? Anyway, I'll cut the bullshit and get straight to the point. One day I decided to try and smoke as much weed as I possibly could. I'm not talking "oh, let's get totally baked", I'm talking about smoking until I physically couldn't lift the lighter to the bowl no more. I had to do once I guess, even if it could have given me schizophrenia if the Daily Mail is to be believed. And so I did it. And I had to do something whilst sitting there dribbling all over myself like a fucking retard, so I managed to get my Ipod on shuffle before I became 100% couch-locked. What followed was a musical journey of enlightenment which had two particular highlights; I devised that Electric Wizard used 87,000 guitar tracks on the Black Masses album, and I was also stoned enough to sit and listen to an Om song long enough for it to kick in! Bam! The rest is history! Dat bass!
After "Bhima's Theme" melted my face off, I was blown off this planet once again by the band (and coincidentally, a fuckton of weed) at their Roadburn 2012 performance, and again whilst sober as a judge during the Bristol date of their recent UK tour. It was at that point I finally realized I might be a genuine Om fan and I decided it was high time (no pun intended) I bought some fucking records. I picked up Advaitic Songs from the friendly folks in Spillers Records and I couldn't have been happier!
On this year's release the band shy away from the endless distortion of old more than ever, exploring the heavy-Eastern and highly spiritual themes in more depth. That is not to say that the rumbling frenzy of bass doesn't kick in every now and then to grind it's way through another groovefest of neck-rolling awesomeness, but it is also used a lot more in its clean form. On Pilgrimage the clean bass parts did get a bit boring but here they are used to staggeringly brilliant effect; the climax to "Gethsemane" is something every musician should hear at least once - the clean bass takes center stage, spazzing out in a jam of ecstasy without losing structure from the song, or without overpowering the other instruments.
Another plus point is that Advaitic Songs is spread out across a double LP, spinning at 45rpm with the longest side reaching 11 minutes, ensuring you, the Om enthusiast, get to appreciate all those deep tones in colossal fucking quality. The disc I burned of this album can feed the fucking worms, seriously. Vinyl IS superior, in every way, shape and form. Out on Drag City Records, and also available on the less exciting format that is CD.
Listen from the 8 minute mark if you just wanna hear about that bass line I mentioned above.
