Toronto, Ontario’s Qarafa is a four-piece outfit that somehow combines jazz with psychedelia, low rock, and even drone rock. It’s hard to describe, but it’s beautiful.
Tape I is just two tracks (sides A and B of a cassette, really). Each is about fifteen minutes long and each is its own hypnotic meditation. Alex Howard‘s tenor saxophone on “Side A” immediately hooks your brain, Anthony Abbatangelo‘s bass and synths blow peyote smoke in your face, Tyler Bontje‘s drone guitar keeps you just on edge, and Jason Chow‘s jazz drumming holds you on the Earth so you don’t drift off to Jupiter or somewhere else.
The low rock elements come out hard on “Side B,” which sounds like a long Morphine cut recorded in a Marrakesh speakeasy in the back of a spiritual bookstore run by a old man who might be a wizard and his wife who might be a succubus.
This is good, groovy, and trippy. I hope they come out with a full-length album soon.
Keep your mind open.
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