This 11 track offering from psychedelic ‘popsters’ The Brian Jonestown Massacre is everything the album name suggests. Aufheben doesn’t have a precise meaning, and could possibly be defined as ‘to lift up’, ‘abolish’, ‘to sublate’, ‘preserve’ or ‘transcend’. Listen carefully to the music, and there’s an element of each of these to be found. This album is truly experimental, and very difficult to grasp at times.
Track one, ‘Panic in Babylon’ features Middle-Eastern sounds, layered under western-style beats. Kookaburras and roosters can also be heard, and there is enough changeability to find interest and something new during each listen. A number of the tracks are instrumental and ambient and are suggestive of mainstream 60’s hits. Other tracks like ‘Seven Kinds Of Wonderful’ feature Eliza Karmasalo’s Finnish call to prayer. Bowie’esque’ in parts, the song is wonderful but tough to pick genre-wise. If you’re looking for something left-of-centre, this is it.
