Not blowing any minds here, except for maybe those that haven’t listened to Can or Tago Mago before. To be fair, I hadn’t listened to Tago Mago since I was a senior in high school, and back then my brain was not ready for it. I don’t know exactly what recently brought me back to listen, but oh boy am I glad I did. Tago Mago is slowly becoming a top favorite “re-discovery” for 2022, a year where I’ve already listened to 100+ albums from the 80s. Tago has got me excited about my eventual pursuit into the 70s, and I’m not even halfway finished with my 80s list. Lordy.

Getting into the music at hand, namely this monster track “Halleluwah”, I mean – wow. Nearly 20 minutes of psychedelic freakout and groove. It more or less stays on the same vamp and loop that the beginning of the song starts with, but features so much adventurous soloing and expansion of ideas to make this long track feel much shorter than it actually is. I made an observation that this album came out roughly a month after Funkadelic’s Maggot Brain, meaning that some kind of wicked funk juju was in the air, coalescing in pockets around the globe, being felt in different iterations and disciplines. Music that feels so effortlessly human, in all of its eccentricities. A human connection that plunges into the brain, unlocking something primal within. Primordial grooves.

This return to Tago Mago has definitely got me excited to listen to more (I’ve already been back on Ege Bamyasi, but need to check out their other records too – shout out to Wyatt for stressing that I get to Future Days, especially “Bel Air”). The record is 51 years old now. Give it a listen. You’ll be surprised to hear how modern it still sounds.