Hardal: Nasil? Ne Zaman?

“The secret of Hardal’s small popularity,” the label explains, “is that in 1979 the Turkish rock scene was comatose.” Nasil? Ne Zaman? was the first of the band’s two albums, and it’s a game rowl of psych, with the guitar scratching its tiger claws across the scenery (“Bir Yagmul Masali”) and making wee-wee howling noises (the title track). A sinister, spaced-out laugh comes out from nowhere at one point, then vanishes forever. It’s not as striking as the other 1970s Turkish albums that have been re-released over the past few years, not as pure and intense as Selda Bagcan, and not as paisley as Edip Akbayram. Hints can be found of the electro-eighties here and there, mainly in its keyboard, but Nasil? sounds less like a transitional album and more like the end of an era, the winding-down of psych, not the growth into something new.