IT’S never been easy taking the experimental rock route ? not back in the swinging 60s and certainly not in today’s processed, trend-conscious musical environment. Yet, through the ages, progressive and space rock bands have triumphed, and importantly, their music has endured. Which is why Pink Floyd, Rush and Yes albums don’t end up in the bargain bins.

Locally, it’s hard to find an outfit that doesn’t walk the well-trodden path – fashions from the West continue to dictate musical tastes, whether mainstream, alternative or underground. Witness the number of nu-metal and rap-rock acts that have proliferated in the local music scene in the last half decade. Few have dared to be different.

There have been exceptions, though, like Damn Dirty Apes (if they can be called local, since half the band wasn’t), now defunct and, sadly, leaving behind a legacy that will, in all possibility, be forgotten well before this decade is out.

A couple of years ago, with their eponymous debut EP, and despite the somewhat meandering potpourri of musical noises and effects they contrived to put together, DDA had a good section of the local indie scene looking its way. The musical message, despite the rawness, was promising enough.

The recently released Ape Kill Ape is DDA’s first full-length offering, although the band itself has called it a day. It certainly is a more focused effort, with more attention paid to song-based concepts and recording. Given DDA’s space-rock roots, it’s not surprising to find various-era Pink Floyd inflections co-existing with the white-noise leanings of Sonic Youth.

What emerges is a more structured approach to sonic mayhem – it doesn’t dominate, but is an underlying basis for the melodic guitar chord-play and occasional, mostly forgettable, vocals (Dream and Wisdom). I found a good part of Ape Kill Ape to be musically infectious (Billions of Blistering Blue Barnacles, Adorable, Rebel Scum, Feedbach) – there’s an almost hypnotic aura about the chunky chords, and brooding bass and drum foundation. Conventional lead guitar playing is mostly absent; instead, Ape Kill Ape is crammed with effects and moods.

What jarred, for me at least, were the occasional out-of-tune guitars (seems that was part of DDA’s sonic arsenal) and the overcooked feedback at the end of the album (“what’s that awful noise?” was my other half’s reaction). Still, I can live with these because DDA is more musically adventurous here than most things I’ve heard of late, especially brewed at home.

If you have a craving for music that hovers between the fringes of space and psychedelic rock, give DDA a spin – look past the album’s shortcomings, and you’ll realise why it’s a pity DDA is no more.