This is a promo CD copy of a forth-coming 7" EP by Spurious Transients, a Welsh band started by Gavin Lloyd Wilson (guitar, bass, electronics) and now also featuring Paul Williams (guitar, bass, electronics), Jake Caswell (drums and percussion), Jaamie' Sen (lead and rhythm guitar), Doug Bransden (saxophone) and Phil Harris (sitar and tanpura). I just reviewed the band's debut full-length CD last month, check it out here. This new EP includes three instrumental tracks combining kraut rock, prog, psychedelia, electronica and jazz to a pleasant, atmospheric and uplifting mix. First we've got a new track called "Planet Cantaloupe" that starts off in a mellow, soft way, but starts to rock out a bit more after one minute. It has a jazzy, jamming mode that I really enjoy, and sitar and tanpura also add in some ethnic colours. Great! "Gitarau Cosmig" is more guitar-oriented (digital, acoustic & Ebow guitars), a bit folk-rocky piece that also has comic, swooshy synths and drums. Very nice. The EP is finished with a two-minute "Planet Cantaloupe (Reprise)" that brings to mind the hazy moments of Gong... The band will play at Fruit de Mer's / Sendelica's The 13th Dream of Doctor Sardonicus: A Festival of Psychedelia in Cardigan, Ceredigion, Wales this summer and hopefully the 7" will be ready by then! Gavin is also a part-time member of Sendelica and if the EP cover seems familiar it might have something to do with the fact that it was made by Morvenna Richards who has also produced several Sendelica album sleeves and gig posters. If you wish, the band has some copies of this promo CD for sale on their Bandcamp site already.
This 36-minute 12" is the third release by Finnish occult/doom/psych band Mansion. I guess this four-tracker released already in December 2014 could be called as a mini LP. The clear vinyl limited to 100 copies came with a cool glow-in-the-dark slip mat, but is of course already sold-out. You can still purchase the black vinyl version limited to 250 copies and both versions also include the tracks on CD and come with additional inserts. Very nice!
The disc starts off with the pretty slow, doomy and heavy "Child Preacher". I love the dark melodies, powerful chorus and vocals on this one! The atmospheric "Uncreation" is the longest track at 12:51 and it starts off very slowly and quietly with quiet organ sounds. The guitar riffs remind me of old Candlemass which is never a bad thing... Excellent vocals again! "I Am the Mansion" is at first just dark, cool synth/organ stuff but starts to rock slowly after one minute. Another slow, gloomy doom track with great chorus. Later on there are also some faster NWOBHM styled banging, cool! The album is finished with the nine-minute "Divining Rod" that has a mysterious, heavy, dark and sort of psychedelic vibe all over it. This one has some great solo guitar work as well. What an excellent ending for this superp mini album! Can't wait for the debut full-length that should be ready soon...
Check out my Astral Visions Radio Show #58 @ Aural Innovations!
Astral Visions Radio Show - Music from Psychotropic Zone, is hosted by DJ Astro
Playlist:
Follakzoid - "Electric" (from III) K-X-P - "Obsolete and Beyond" (from forthcoming album III Part 1) Black Lizard – “Perfect Dope” (from Solarize) Domovoyd - "Ambrosian Perfume" (from forthcoming S/T album) Acid King – “Center of Everywhere” (from Middle of Nowhere, Center of Everywhere) Mind Mountain - Astraeus” (from Split 7” with Carlton Melton) Gnod - "Breaking the Hex" (from Infinity Machines) Jet Jaguar - "Starlost" (from Mysteries of Antimatter) White Manna - "Dunes 1" (from forthcoming album Pan) Glowpeople – “Happen” (from Happen…) Papir meets Electric Moon - The Papermoon Sessions – “Powdered Stars (Live)” (from Live at Roadburn 2014) The Red Plastic Buddha - "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun” (from free download) Eternal Tapestry - "Wild Strawberries” (from Wild Strawberries) Lamp of the Universe - "Celestial Forms" (from The Inner Light of Revelation)
This is what I played at our first Club Mathmos last Friday:
Lamp of the Universe: God of One
Föllakzoid: Electric
White Manna: Pan
Aqua Nebula Oscillator: Turn on Your Mind
The Bevis Frond: Begone
The Black Angles: Sunday Evening
Giobia: Electric Light
Jacco Gardner: Clear the Air
Camera: Synchron
The Cosmic Dead: Gustav Björnstrand
Dead Skeletons: Dead Comet
Hawkwind: Magnu
Assemble Head in Sunburst Sound: Sunshine
Goat: Disco Fever
Hexvessel: Your Head Is Reeling
Sun Dial: Exploding in Your Mind
Pyramidal: Black Land
Porcupine Tree: Track Eleven
Vibravoid: She's Just 13
Polska Radio One: Fractalized Sky
Hawkwind: Psychedelic Warlords
Hills: Rise Again
Astra: Barefoot in the Head
St. Mikael: My Dream
Not a bad start for our new club, although there were some chaos and techical problems at the beginning since the PA etc. is not working properly... There really should be a house sound guy to take full responsibility that everything works okay!!! But the owners couldn't care less.
The bands still all gave us great performances, thanks to them and all the people who paid the ticket and took the ride!
This is what I played at Korjaamo´s Kulmasali, not that much time to spin records but anyway:
Astralasia: Rangoon
Master Musicians of Bukkake: Arche
Kosmischer Läufer: Flucht aus dem Tal der Ahnungslosen
Camera: From the Inside
Wooden Shjips: Contact
Motorpsycho: Überlanger of A Billion Bubbles in My Mind
Ozric Tentacles: Sploosh!
Tame Impala: Elephant (Todd Rundgren Remix)
Itäväylä: Future Boogie
Lumerians: Dogon Genesis
Polska Radio One: The Fractalized Sky
Kraftwerk: Radio-Activity
Air: Don't Be Light
K-X-P: Obsolete and Fire
Tähtiportti: Tähtiportti III Ikuinen talvi
Hawkwind: Master of the Universe
It was a very cool night with great gigs by both bands featuring very nice projections! Here are short sections I shot with my mobile phone:
Club Mathmos is a new music club in Helsinki focusing on different kinds of psychedelic music. The first club night is on 24.4.2015 and takes place in Side Club, that is located inside Pub Pete on Hietaniemenkatu 7. Side Club used to be called Dark Side before the renovations. The club opens at 21:00 and closes at 03:00.
On Friday the 24th, we will have four live bands, two of them duos.
What can I say about Vibravoid from Düsseldorf, Germany? Since I bought a 2LP version of their debut album 2001 when it originally came out in 2001 on Nasoni Records (the first CD version being released a year before on Triggerfish Music), I've been deeply in love. Who else would put out a limited edition of their debut with two differently coloured LP's with exactly the same songs and in same order but the other vinyl playing from inside groove out? These guys must be very high and cool, I though, and still do. The album included such instant psych hits as "She Is Just 13", "Lovely Lady Deb O'Nair" and "Ballspeaker" and definitely got my attention. Since then, I have bought all their releases immediately when they became available, and I'm so glad that I have since their limited edition stuff is nowadays sold-out already on pre-order and you can expect to pay astronomical prices on Ebay etc. I have also been lucky enough to see the band's highly psychedelic live show and met them personally on several occasions the first time being the Nasoni Records 10 Years Birthday Party in Berlin in 2006, and my mind is permanently blown. This band has had an integral part in the revival of the original psychedelic era of the 60s with also some influences of kraut rock and Spacemen 3. My favourite band of the modern age!
What I have here is a very cool promo edition of the re-mastered and expanded 2CD and 4LP versions that will come out around the 8th of May with loads of extra goodies, especially if you pre-order which is highly recommended. Both formats will of course include exclusive bonus tracks. Even this promo copy is loaded with cool inserts, a booklet and optic art gizmos, so I'm really excited! Stoned Karma also threw in a bonus live DVD... This is quite different to receiving a dull download/streaming link that I mostly just forget about! This is the real deal, music from the aether having taken a physical form. This is the way to treat a reviewer! The original album included nine songs, and the 2CD first offers all those in remastered form and in slightly different running order starting with "She Is Just 13" instead of the experimental "Three Minutes for Free Tibet". These tracks now sound a lot better than the original versions. Then there are alternative/demo versions of "Lovely Lady Deb O'Nair", "Mystery Ship", "Ballspeaker", "Psychodrome" and "Three Minutes for Free Tibet" that are very interesting to hear, since they are rather different. A real treat is the 2015 version of "She Is Just 13" that finishes off the first CD and will also be included on a forth-coming Stoned Circus Radio Show - 20th Anniversary compilation LP.
The second disc starts with seven live tracks recorded at Swamp Room Happening 2001 in Germany. I'm really digging these early live recordings with great sound quality! "Three Minutes for a Free Tibet" is used as an intro, and then the band blasts off into "She Is Just 13" and "Ballspeaker". After that it's time to chill out with "Mystery Ship", and then they freak out with "Astronomy Domine" by Syd's Pink Floyd, who clearly are one of the main influences of Vibravoid. Great! "Vivid Vision" rocks hard and the long "Void Vibration" is dreamy, celestial, spacey and divine as usual. Then we get four early demos from the 90s! "Genesis of Dreams" is a short experimental instrumental, "Psychodrome" sounds pretty much like Spacemen 3 with very different vocals, "She Is Just 13" is pretty rough and primitive and the earliest demo from 1993 "Journey to the Centre of the Sun" lasts for 23 minutes and is a real trip also including some sitar! 2001 is one of the best records ever released and this new expanded edition is essential for every self-respecting psychedelic rock collector. Don't miss out!
This is the first full-length album by Helsinki based instrumental, psychedelic space metal band Tuliterä. Some of the tracks have been released before on the band's two EP's but these are new versions and edited down a bit. The line-up has gone through some changes since the band finished this CD: they have dropped the keyboard player and also have a new drummer making them tighter live than ever. Anyway, let's focus on the album here.
A new track "Percolator" starts off the album in a rather atmospheric mode with trance-inducing programmed stuff, space sounds and beautiful guitar. It does get heavier towards the end, though... A great intro that builds up the excitement! "Alpha Blade" must be one of the oldest TT tracks the band still plays live, and it sure makes the crowd wild every time! This piece really rocks through space and time and has rather progressive parts as well. "Jagat" is another track from the 2008 Alpha EP and it's also fast and energetic, but not that complex. This makes you bang your head! "Firedew" is a new track that begins in a tranquil, somehow Twin Peaks inspired mood, but soon they add the metal guitars and drums, and then things get more progressive and adventurous. There are some great melodies in this one, and in the end everything cools down again. "Cetus" is the shortest track on the album at only 2:41, but it's still long enough for the boys to create very cool mental spacecapes. Originally on the EP it was the first part of the dreamy, psychedelic and mysterious"Voidborn", one of my favourite tracks that has Jaire from Octopus Syng on sitar to add a certain amount of mysticism and Eastern vibe. Some of this reminds me of the third and last album by Kingston Wall, so I'm in heaven... "Star Rodeo" is a fast, tight, furious and pretty short (4:18) heavy metal onslaught with some cool and fluent solo guitar work. "The All-seeing Delirium" (originally from Alpha EP) is the longest track at over 14 minutes and it's one of Tuliterä's master pieces if you ask me. The majestic melodies, powerful riffs, hypnotic electronics and pounding rhythms make you dizzy, and there's also plenty of spacey, ambient landscapes in the middle. Wow! "Menticide" begins in the Ozric Tentacles style but gets heavier and darker. Phew... The last minute or so is just weird effects. I'm really happy that the band succeeded in making this great sounding full-length after a bit of bad luck. They are on fire with the new line-up so support these great musicians and buy their album and go and see them live when you can! Their next gig is this Saturday at Galaktus Festival in Helsinki. Hopefully, Tulikaste will also be released on vinyl later on...
Psychotropic Zone has relocated again, so if you're thinking about sending me some music to review (physical copies HIGHLY preferred...), please contact me first to get the new address.
This is the third album by Cherry Choke from the UK. Those who are familiar with the band and former groups of the leader Mathew Bethancourt (The Kings of Frog Island, Josiah, The Beginning) know exactly what they will get: great, psychedelic fuzz/stoner/garage rock with excellent song-writing and musicianship and a strong vintage rock vibe, not forgetting the occasional dark, occult themes. The three-piece recorded the album at Colour Haze's analogue studio in München, Germany, for a warm and fuzzy sound that fits the music perfectly.
The disc starts off with the very cool, mid-tempo track "Rage On". The backwards guitar in the very beginning brings to mind On Trial and Baby Woodrose and Lucifer is mentioned in the first line... A nice combination of acoustic guitar and heavy psych guitar licks. Mat's strong and soulful vocals again bring to mind the mighty Cream a bit... "Mindbreaker" is a fast and energetic fuzz rock hit that really works great. "Black Annis" offers some heavy blues stuff and also has some organ, while "Used to Call You Friend" is a bit more original, melodic and interesting. "Hypnotize Me" is just an acoustic reprise of the first track, but "Where the Sun Rises" is a dark and mysterious, instrumental psych trip also including sitar. "6ix and 7even" starts off with some moody, Deep Purple styled organ, and gradually start to rock out. This is the longest track on the album at 7:27 and also one of my favourites including some very groovy playing. "My Mind to Lose" is about loosing your mind and pretty heavy and dark stuff. The end-part somehow reminds me of Lynyrd Skynyrd? The last actual song is the melancholic acoustic track "Discarded Hearts", but after a little pause we get some weird experimental stuff (tape echo?) to get lost in... Another excellent album by Cherry Choke, check it out you stoners and lovers of the heavy fuzz guitar with great vocals!
Jet Jaguar, who took their name form the Godzilla movie, is a US based space rock band deeply inspired and influenced by science fiction, Hawkwind/Robert Calvert and Chrome/Helios Creed. With those obsessions and lots of imagination and talent of their own it's impossible to go wrong and I must say I really like this band! Free Space and Billion Year Spree are their first two albums originally released over ten years ago, and Mysteries of Antimatter is a brand-new one after a long hiatus or, in this case, deep-freeze might be a more suitable expression. All their albums have only been self-released on CD apart from Space Anthem, a collection of live tracks from 2004 and studio outtakes over a period from 2002 to 2004, that was also released on 2LP by Black Widow.
I have reviewed the first two albums when they originally were put out, so I won't go into detail now. Both Free Base and Billion Year Spree have been remastered and revisualized and sound a lot better than before. Track titles like "Brain Stun", "She's an Alien", "Beam Me to Mars", "The Scanner", "Future Martyr on Supersonic Waves", "The Last Kings of Space", & "Chrononaut" might give you a good insight of what's going on. The main themes are robotics, nuclear, holocaust, cloning, cryogenics, information overload, artificial intelligence as so on. There are heavy, energetic, acid punky, pounding and even catchy rock songs with lots of phaser & other effects as well as more ambient, synthesizer-driven pieces. The vocals are often heavily manipulated in the Chrome style. For some reason, two tracks from Free Base have been dropped, namely "Squids in the Matrix" and the Hawkwind cover "Orgone Accumulator", but there are still 12 songs left so no problem. The tracks have also been placed in a bit different order, but the main feel of the album is almost the same, I think. The track list on Billion Year Spree has been edited a bit as well, three songs have been left out and two new ones been added at the end (the short space ambient "Chrononaut" and an excellent cover of Hawkwind's "Lord of Light". Great stuff, get it now if you missed out in the first place! Also available as downloads.
Mysteries of Antimatter comes with a sexy space lady cover and includes 13 new tracks and a cover of "Superior Catholic Finger" by the mighty Helios Creed. The album was mastered by Alisa Coral (get well soon Alisa!), and sounds superb. The band just takes on where they left six or seven years ago without any problems. Their heavy, energetic, robotic and mind-expanding sound has remained pretty much the same, as well as the sci-fi themes in the songs like "Planet of the Vampires", "Rocket Boy Meets Saturn Girl", "Starlost", "Workin' in the Asteroid Mines", "Invasion Mutation" and "Destroy All Planets". The overal vibe is perhaps even closer to Helios Creed and Chrome than before, twisted, heavy, rocking, spacey and weird. I love it! The songs are pretty short as always, all in the range of 1:40 to 5:21. I really like all the tracks, but my favourites at the moment might be the tight and fast "Stingray Eyes", more Hawkwindish "Starlost", "Invasion Mutation" and the slow and creepy "The Negative Ones". Highly recommended for all fans of Chrome and Helios Creed and heavy, acid punky and experimental space rock in general!
Last year's Roadburn Festival treated all the fans of psychedelic, instrumental, kraut/space/stoner rock oriented jam rock really well: not only did we get to hear a set by Sula Bassana (Germany) and TWO sets by Papir (Denmark), there was also a live set by The Papermoon Sessions, where Papir and two out of three members of Electric Moon (Sula and Lulu, 2/4 of Sula Bassana live band) joined forces with the added bonus of synth master Mogens from Øresund Space Collective at the Afterburner on Sunday! Needles to say, I was really looking forward to all these shows and enjoyed them very much. Papir, Electric Moon and Mogens had already had one jam session together in Copenhagen, which spawned the excellent studio album The Papermoon Sessions in 2013, and this was the second time they played together. Considering that, it's amazing how well they linked together, must have been telepathy in the ether! So, there were two guitarists (Sula also played some Casio and effects), two bass players (Lulu using more effects), the drummer of Papir and Mogens on synths. What a combination!
The album is comprised of two massive, over twenty-minute-long improvisational jams, that really blow your mind and take you to outer space. The first one is called "Powdered Stars" and that's a very suitable name I tell you... Nicklas from Papir plays more solo guitar and really flies high, while Sula mostly creates some heavy, fuzzed-out, psychy guitar layers. Lulu plays distorted, hypnotic and rather minimal bass lines like usual, which works great with Christian's more complex, cleaner bass. Christoffer is a superb, creative drummer and master Mogens takes care of the spacey synth sounds. Superb! "Blazing Milky Way" (another great track title) starts off with subtle, spacey and tranquil doodling, but grows gradually into amazing heights, and then cools down again during the last five or so minutes. Amazing stuff! The CD is already available for example from the Sulatron Records online shop, the limited vinyl version will be ready next month. Don't miss out on this one!
Nothing psychedelic here (well, we did play Hawkwind's Sonic Attack as our intro tape live...), but there is a compilation CD called Scars 1988-1990 out now on Spanish Extreem Music by my very first band Oppression. The band started in late 1987 and I was the singer from the beginning until mid 1989 when I was replaced by another bloke.
The style was thrash/speed metal and got darker, heavier and more complex and progressive on the way.
Moon Duo: Shadow of the Sun LP + 7"
The Amazing: Picture You 2LP
The Bevis Frond: Inner Marshland 2LP reissue
The Myrrors: Arena Negra LP
Black Lizard: Solarize LP + CD
Acid Mothers Temple and the Melting Paraiso U.F.O.: High on New Heaven Live in New Haven 3LP
V/A: The Reverb Conspiracy Volume Three 2LP
Eternal Tapestry: Wild Strawberries 2LP
Papir: Live at Roadburn 2LP + 10"
Tähtiportti: S/T LP
