James Ketchum and Leon Hu reside in different parts of the world – Pamplona, Spain, and Davis, California, respectively – but recording under the name Mondo Lava, the duo create a sound that’s wonderfully cohesive and uniquely trippy. Following Parrot Head Cartridge (2014) and Ogre Heights (2018), they’re back with Utero Dei, another journey into the world of loops, distortion, and wild stylistic jumps. Releasing music once again on the Chicago-based experimental imprint Hausu Mountain, the heads of that label describe James and Leon’s music much better than any mere music journalist can, referring to the new album as “beautifully fried excursions” and “humid rainforests of sound”.
There is a definite sense of playfulness to what Mondo Lava do here, and sprawled across two discs, there’s so much to get lost in that it’s simply an embarrassment of riches. While the title track kicks off the album with ocean waves and mysterious, almost funereal organ chords that sound like a church service from a half-remembered dream (aided by jaunty, seemingly out-of-place handclaps), it isn’t long before gears begin shifting, as “Chickens in the Barn” sounds like a muddied, underwater dub excursion into the Champs’ “Tequila” and “Vulva Dei” is a synth-fried prog landscape.
While relatively uncluttered tracks like the playful synth adventure of “Melmoth’s Wandering Boogaloo” and the druggy “Village Idiot Walking Around with a Flower Balanced on His Nose” give the listener something airy to grasp, there’s no shortage of cluttered, gleefully overstuffed collages to work with. “Golem Boogie,” meanwhile, is a noisy funk workout, while the gurgling, rapid-fire bass line of “Decalcified Pineal Gland” seems to reach into the inner depths of hell.
Part of the pleasure of Utero Dei is seeing where Mondo Lava will go next. It’s experimental, often abrasive stuff, but the journey includes many curious detours. The fretless bass of “Venus of Willendorf” uses New Age as its sonic template, while “Brass Fields” revels in rainy field recordings under a simple, deliberately paced guitar/synth melody, but soon falls apart and ends up unfettered and cacophonous.
The common thread throughout this loose, rebellious record is a constant willingness to experiment and leave nothing off the table. By the time the closing track, the horror-laced, psychedelic-drenched “Holy Rollers” rumbles its way across the speakers, listeners have been put through the ringer. As Mondo Lava, James Ketchum and Leon Hu are at the forefront of truly adventurous experimentalism. Utero Dei is wild, often puzzling, but a whole lot of fun to get lost in.