Never a gigantic Pink Floyd fan but certainly a college stoner, it was also what was underneath the Gilmore solos and Waters attitudinal shifts that occasionally pushed me to listen to the band. It was the earlier albums with Barrett that really struck, but it was the time between Barrett’s exit and the explosion of Dark Side that the band’s rhythmic heartbeat and art school tendencies were more fun than the guitar wankery and sociopolitical jabs. I don’t know if Mahjoop feels the same way, but this self-titled album certainly has the magic of those background experiments without the over-produced menagerie of what became stadium rock. In fact, Mahjoop find more common ground not in UK psychedelia but in early 70s jazz and fusion. Though Mahjoop never bear hugs either genre, it does capture the soulfulness of the era. Rarely does Mahjoop seem contrived, but rather the product of free spirits. Yet it maintains the sheen of more “acceptable” forms of experimentation that is hidden beneath some glossy goop. But that gloss is missing, as if the engineer just forgot to include that in the rough mixes. For that, we’re gifted with an impactful tape of background ruminations gone to the fore. It’s the real dark side, my friends. No blacklights and strobes needed.
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