Ulan Bator is a French avante art rock trio who apparently take theirname from the capitol of Mongolia. "Ego : Echo" is their third albumand it was for the most part spontaneously created during 3 weeks ofsessions last summer in Florence, Italy with producer and Young GodRecords head Michael Gira (SWANS, The Angels of Light). Ulan are allabout tight and minimal, tense and repetitive guitar/bass/drum rockgrooves - both noisy and subdued - as musical and (French) vocalpassages become hypnotic head noddin' mantras. Add organ, piano, bow,keys, horn, tape loops, electronic drone, 'la la la' styled backingvocals and Gira's dry, crisp, clean and full production. Comparisonsto Can, Faust (Jean Herve Peron contributes horns to 1 song), the BadSeeds and Gira's own projects is inevitable as everything is sparseyet beautifully melodic and the sound and feel is similar, at the veryleast, in spirit. The 16 minute centerpiece "Let Go Ego" in particularprovides the variety of most everything Ulan Bator do in one song withextensive stretches of drone, somnambulant sonic meandering, heavy rockout and lengthy coda chant. "Ego : Echo" is a dynamic rock record thatresonates with passion and a sense of straightforward urgency. It'sone of a handful of cool musical things lately from France and it fitsright in with the rest of the Young God catalog. Up next from YGR arealbums by Calla and Flux Information Sciences in January and the newAngels of Light album "How I Loved You" in February.samples:
