This is a warts and all documentation of a live Italian show from the latest incarnation of Brooklyn-based heavy psych travelers La Otracina. Clocking in at just under 30 minutes, it?s a concentrated blast of energy and reckless abandon from a trio who specialize in the lysergic melding of jazz-influenced drumming, 70?s Crimson-esque prog moves, and hard psych guitar mayhem. Led by Adam Kriney, their most visible release was last year?s ?Tonal Ellipse of the One? on Holy Mountain. The praise heaped on it was well-deserved, and anyone interested in the umm, power part of the power trio equation oughtta pick it up post-haste. The live document here might in many ways be viewed as a reaction to the studio professionalism of the Holy Mountain cd. Consequently, anyone who can?t hang with a live bootleg aesthetic might want to skip this. But that?d be a shame by any count I can render. So along with a healthy dose of clinking beer glasses, overheard conversations, cell phone rings, and even an intrusive bump into the recording apparatus, we get a fly on the wall opportunity to hear this threesome at full bore in the live setting. At points it sounds like the whole thing was recorded in a huge oil drum, but that just gives it a nice Les Rallizes Denudes flavor, and who?s gonna complain about that?!?

Interestingly, a sizable chunk of this disc seems to be improvised, and shows how far the current incarnation has come in terms of its telepathic communication strategies. The tight labyrinthine prog moves found in some of their other releases are largely absent here, and in their place we?re given a more exploratory set that ranges from spacious drones to full-on raging free-for-alls. It?s guitarist Ninni Morgia who really steals the show here in his quest for cosmic oblivion. His ever inventive psychedelic wails and screeches mix with monstrous reverb and delay to evoke the Japanese masters Keiji Haino and Takashi Mizutani. That?s not to say that Kriney (drums) and Sobel (bass) are any slouches here ? as the second track attests quite nicely. Appropriately titled ?Meteor Truckin??, it?s a nine-minute Hawkind-meets-Neu workout that displays a sheer mastery over their chosen instruments and approaches. Grab this one before it?s gone ? sure it?s limited, but what better birthday gift for the drug-addled, psych-obsessed guitar fan in your household?!? 8/10 -- Eric Hardiman (20 May, 2008)