#FeatureFriday: Too Many People by San Kazakgascar

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Too Many People by San Kazakgascar

Too Many People is varied, with many dynamic shifts and flavors. While the overall sound is a slow-cooked psychedelic glaze, there are bits of heavy Middle-Eastern dirge “Path of the Python”, funky free jazz blowouts “Slimester Slickster”, bare folk “Suburban Bluffs”, and hazy jangle “Heart of Dusk.” – Bandcamp

Too Many People by San Kazakgascar is a heady mix of  psychedelia, glam rock, middle eastern drones and eastern European folk. It’s a groove very firmly in the vein of GOAT or those early 70s Krautrock bands. It mixes synths with organic instruments and field recordings

It knows when to sit  on an idea and ponder. In my mind it’s almost like a bird flitting from one musical tree to another, landing in the branches and taking in it’s surroundings, seeing what is around to consume. Each piece of music is different but there is a strong connection between all these pieces. They all develop, build on the theme introduced or hinted at. The arrangement and mix in these recordings is almost like an extra member of the band. I het the feeling seeing this band live would be an entirely different experience. These songs given oxygen to fly on stage would be something else I expect.

I know that this kind of style maybe isn’t for everyone but it I dig it. To the core it holds a real tight rope on it’s musicality, it cruises along and for me is one of those albums that when it finishes I’m never ready.

Untidy Music

“Too Many People” is an album I have mixed feelings about. On one hand, it sounds great! It has a wide variety in styles, all expertly crafted and executed. On the other, this variety also means, that this piece doesn’t work for me as an album. The individual tracks are so wildly different, that I feel like the cohesion is lacking; like these are different parts with little connective tissue between them, except for a vague psychedelic sound.

However, as I said earlier, these individual songs sound fantastic! Some make use of middle-eastern scales, others are folk or country inspired. There’s ‘70s style funk and ‘80s electro rock in there; and while offering a pretty full soundscape overall, all of the instruments are clearly separated and easily identifiable in the mix. It sounds like music that was meant to be listened to as a recording, if that makes sense, because the stage itself is contracting and expanding almost at will, ranging from wide and open to compact and intimate.

Overall, I enjoyed this album. Instrumental pieces like this with a middle-of the road tempo always feel like an invitation to soak in their atmosphere and to leisurely take your time to smell the proverbial roses. I only wished, there was more of a clear through-line, connecting the tracks just a little bit more. While the different sounds are engaging, this keeps it from feeling like a great album, merely a very good one.

Florgoth

Updated: April 10, 2026 — 5:09 am

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