Hubardo is the sixth album, a concept double album, by Kayo Dot, self-released and funded through pre-orders on frontman Toby Driver's Ice Level Records in 2013. It is the follow up to Gamma Knife, which was released in 2012. It is Kayo Dot's longest album and its first double album, and contains aspects of black metal, post-rock, jazz fusion, and chamber music. It is considered a throwback to maudlin of the Well and early Kayo Dot recordings, containing much more metal-style harsh vocals by Driver and collaborator Jason Byron than any Kayo Dot album. It also contains much more repetition, Read more on Last.fm.
Look: I like dissonant, avant-whatever albums. I understand that bands of this nature are doing something totally other than trying to work around a single melody; they’re trying to create a larger experience both within a song and over the context of entire albums. I have the patience to deal with that, and I very often enjoy it. I like Kayo Dot, in particular.
“Hubardo”, though, is a sad story. Save for just a few moments, every idea is long-winded and confusing, with all the instruments playing out seemingly sporadic ideas. Tension in abstract music relies on the moments of cohesion. There is no relief here.
The mild praise this album is getting only makes sense to me if I assume that folks are taking what doesn’t make sense (i.e. this entire album) and assuming that it’s too brilliant for them to grasp immediately. Instead, I’d say there are way too many good avant-rock records to spend time making sense of this mess.