Kensington Market - Aardvark (1969 canada, great psych fusing folk with baroque, prog and jazz elements)
- 11 months ago
Kensington Market - Aardvark (1969 canada, great psych fusing folk with baroque, prog and jazz elements)
By the end of the 1960s, the psychedelic-rock revolution was peaking. Dream-laced lyrics and trippy effects, including distortion, tape-loops, echoes, delays and phase shifting, were rampant. Adventurous musicians were busy employing a new array of instruments to conjure up kaleidoscopic sounds. The Beatles, leaders in the new music, had already introduced the sitar on Sgt. Pepper’s and the Mellotron on “Strawberry Fields Forever.” The year 1969 saw numerous bands tripping out with delightfully freaky albums, including Skip Spence’s Oar, Jefferson Airplane’s Volunteers and The Moody Blues’ On the Threshold of a Dream.
During the winter of ’68, the members of Toronto’s Kensington Market were dreaming up their next psych-rock move. The band had already garnered praise for its debut album, Avenue Road, both at home and in America and Japan, where a picture sleeve of “I Would Be the One” had been issued. And several of its songs featured sitar. But now the group was looking to expand its horizons with new songs by singer-guitarists Keith McKie and Luke Gibson and guitarist-keyboardist Gene Martynec. Help would come from a close encounter with a Moog Synthesizer, a futuristic piece of equipment that had made its debut appearance that year on a classical album called Switched-On Bach, by electronic composer Wendy Carlos.
The Market’s members were introduced to the land of Moog and its strange and wondrous sounds by their road manager, Bart Schoales, who was an enthusiastic fan of Intersystems. An experimental, mixed-media Toronto group, Intersystems was comprised of sculptor Michael Hayden, architect Dick Zander, poet Blake Parker and musician John Mills-Cockell, whose instrument of choice was the Moog. Excited by the prospect of adding a synthesizer to its next album, the Market—including bassist Alex Darou and drummer Jimmy Watson—invited Mills-Cockell to join them in the studio. The marriage of the Moog’s alien sounds with the group’s latest songs would prove to be a freakishly fruitful partnership.
Tracks
1. Help Me (Gene Martynec, Felix Pappalardi) - 2:48
2. If It Is Love (Keith McKie) - 2:42
3. I Know You (Gene Martynec, Keith McKie) - 1:58
4. The Thinker (Gene Martynec, Luke Gibson) - 2:29
5. Half Closed Eyes (Keith McKie) - 2:29
6. Said I Could Be Happy (Gene Martynec, Luke Gibson) - 2:20
7. Ciao (Gene Martynec, Luke Gibson) - 1:14
8. Ow-Ing Man (Gene Martynec, Keith McKie) - 2:37
9. Side I Am (Keith McKie, Gene Martynec) - 3:18
10. Think About the Times (Keith McKie) - 2:53
11. Have You Come to See (Keith McKie, Gene Martynec) - 3:02
12. Cartoon (Gene Martynec, Bernie Finkelstein) - 2:31
13. Dorian (Luke Gibson, Felix Pappalardi) - 6:51
Kensington Market
*Keith McKie - Lead Vocals, Rhythm Guitar
*Gene Martynec - Guitar, Vocals, Keyboards
*Luke Gibson - Guitar, Vocals
*Jimmy Watson - Percussion, Drums
*Alex Darou - Bass
By the end of the 1960s, the psychedelic-rock revolution was peaking. Dream-laced lyrics and trippy effects, including distortion, tape-loops, echoes, delays and phase shifting, were rampant. Adventurous musicians were busy employing a new array of instruments to conjure up kaleidoscopic sounds. The Beatles, leaders in the new music, had already introduced the sitar on Sgt. Pepper’s and the Mellotron on “Strawberry Fields Forever.” The year 1969 saw numerous bands tripping out with delightfully freaky albums, including Skip Spence’s Oar, Jefferson Airplane’s Volunteers and The Moody Blues’ On the Threshold of a Dream.
During the winter of ’68, the members of Toronto’s Kensington Market were dreaming up their next psych-rock move. The band had already garnered praise for its debut album, Avenue Road, both at home and in America and Japan, where a picture sleeve of “I Would Be the One” had been issued. And several of its songs featured sitar. But now the group was looking to expand its horizons with new songs by singer-guitarists Keith McKie and Luke Gibson and guitarist-keyboardist Gene Martynec. Help would come from a close encounter with a Moog Synthesizer, a futuristic piece of equipment that had made its debut appearance that year on a classical album called Switched-On Bach, by electronic composer Wendy Carlos.
The Market’s members were introduced to the land of Moog and its strange and wondrous sounds by their road manager, Bart Schoales, who was an enthusiastic fan of Intersystems. An experimental, mixed-media Toronto group, Intersystems was comprised of sculptor Michael Hayden, architect Dick Zander, poet Blake Parker and musician John Mills-Cockell, whose instrument of choice was the Moog. Excited by the prospect of adding a synthesizer to its next album, the Market—including bassist Alex Darou and drummer Jimmy Watson—invited Mills-Cockell to join them in the studio. The marriage of the Moog’s alien sounds with the group’s latest songs would prove to be a freakishly fruitful partnership.
Tracks
1. Help Me (Gene Martynec, Felix Pappalardi) - 2:48
2. If It Is Love (Keith McKie) - 2:42
3. I Know You (Gene Martynec, Keith McKie) - 1:58
4. The Thinker (Gene Martynec, Luke Gibson) - 2:29
5. Half Closed Eyes (Keith McKie) - 2:29
6. Said I Could Be Happy (Gene Martynec, Luke Gibson) - 2:20
7. Ciao (Gene Martynec, Luke Gibson) - 1:14
8. Ow-Ing Man (Gene Martynec, Keith McKie) - 2:37
9. Side I Am (Keith McKie, Gene Martynec) - 3:18
10. Think About the Times (Keith McKie) - 2:53
11. Have You Come to See (Keith McKie, Gene Martynec) - 3:02
12. Cartoon (Gene Martynec, Bernie Finkelstein) - 2:31
13. Dorian (Luke Gibson, Felix Pappalardi) - 6:51
Kensington Market
*Keith McKie - Lead Vocals, Rhythm Guitar
*Gene Martynec - Guitar, Vocals, Keyboards
*Luke Gibson - Guitar, Vocals
*Jimmy Watson - Percussion, Drums
*Alex Darou - Bass