Föllakzoid – III

III promises more of the same for Chilean ‘cosmic music’ band Föllakzoid, masters of the mantric ten-minute krautrock groove. However, this outing sees the three-piece infusing their subtly shifting minimalism with more mystical South American influences. 

Album opener Electric sees Juan Pablo Rodriguez setting up the spacious sound-world of the next 45 minutes, relentlessly looping a thumping bass groove that is gradually cracked open by Domingo Garcia-Huidobro’s reverberating guitar peals. Earth and Piure are more ancient affairs: the former’s clanking guitar would make for a nifty soundtrack to a construction project over centuries, while Piure’s tinkling bells and a remarkably disciplined tribal drumbeat from Diego Lorca evoke the extreme effort of trekking the Andes.

It’s on final track Feuerzeug that the band show their influences most clearly, with Garcia-Huidobro’s harmonics taking a mid-section backseat to the German techno maestro Atom TM, who imbues the track with the sizzling space-landing sounds of the Korg synthesiser used on tour by Kraftwerk in the 1980s. Like their progenitors, Föllakzoid’s unwavering sense of purpose on III is admirable.