Sendelica - Cromlech Chronicles III

Regal Crabomophone (winkle 32)

Welsh space rock masters Sendelica really seem to enjoy the atmosphere at Mwnci Studios in Western Wales since this is the fourth album they have recorded there. This time the just over one hour of new music is spread onto three 10" colour vinyl discs just for the fun of it! As always with these Cromlech sessions the core band (guitar, bass, drums, sax) is helped by guests (Gregory Curvey from The Luck of Eden Hall as the second drummer and Roger Morgan on keyboards). This time there is no singer involved.

The album starts off with the heavy space rocker "BS". Some Black Sabbath and Blue Öyster Cult influences in there, perhaps? Sounds great, anyway. "Slow Burner" is a long, slowly evolving piece that has great rocking, slower stuff as well as some more ambient ending. I really like the vibe of the track. "12 Shades Revisited" is of course a return to the theme of a track originally released on the band's 2007 album Entering the Rainbow Light. Very cool, blissful stuff with jazzy saxophone. "Teifi Marshes" is another rather peaceful track but this time in a more positive, sunny mood. The longest track on the album is the 14:40 "Star Flower Blossom" that builds up really slowly and gets more intense towards the end. Things come to an end with "Lost City of Cardiza" that has an experimental intro and then gets pretty heavy and pounding. Another killer piece of psychedelic space rock! What can I say, Sendelica has done it again and produced a well-balanced, interesting, amazing and highly addictive album with great musicianship and production values. The 3D cover art will for sure look good as well. Just go and get it!

www.facebook.com/Sendelica-191174294239796

Sky Saxon and The Vibravoid - A Psychedelic Testament

Clostridium Records (CRCD00)

"This album is more than music, this album is a religious experience and a trip into the psychedelic mind of Sky Sunlight Saxon". So true... Just sometime before his death the legendary The Seeds singer Sky Saxon visited Germany with his trusted guitar player Atomic and recorded some loose, jam-based tracks with Germany's number one acid rock act Vibravoid. Some of these recordings were originally released on the sold-out and and very collectable Poetry of Love LP in 2010. Now all the recordings are available for the first time on this superb 80-minute CD! There are four more tracks and "Look What the Bombs Have Done" is presented as a longer, unedited version. The tracks are also in totally different running order, so that "The Psychedelic Mind of Sky Saxon" that opened up Poetry of Love is now the last track, a true testament. Hurray!

The album starts off with the slow, beutiful and melancholic "A Kettle of Tea" where Sky pours out his soul with great, deep lyrics. Previously unreleased, acoustic and folky "You Can Let Love Start" is next and works out okay. The album's only cover track is "Born to Be Wild" and I like the dirty, chaotic acid rock version the band offers. It doesn't really matter if Sky is sometimes a bit late or early with his vocals... The almost 23-minute "Look What the Bombs Have Done" is the album's dark space rock jam and trippy as hell. "Sun King" is perhaps my favourite of the "new" songs and has beautiful Mellotron work on the intro. This one gets you to the spheres for sure. Another long unreleased track "Wipe Your Eyes" comes next and rocks a bit in the hypnotic space/krautrock style. Excellent! "I See Your Face" is already familiar to those lucky enough to have A Poetry of Love and what a great, psychedelic jam this is! The really weird and experimental "The Psychedelic Mind of Sky Saxon" is probably the most "out-there" track on the album and a great way to end the ceremonies. All in all, I must say that I'm really happy that this CD finally saw the light of day as it truely is a magnificent, psychedelic testament to one of the greatest minds in psych and garage rock.

www.skysaxon.com

www.vibravoid.com

Automatism ‎- From The Lake

Tonzonen Records (TON 039)

Fans of Swedish improvisional, instrumental space/psych/krautrock band Kungen's Män will be delighted to know that two of the members are also playing in a band called Automatism. Mikael Tuominen plays the guitar and bass, Hans Hjelm the guitar, phin and synthesizer and the other members are Gustav Nygren (New Rose, ex-Borås Energi) on bass and guitar and Jonas Yrlid (Partikel) on drums. There are also three guest musicians on board on percussion, drums, drum machine and synthesizer. All the six tracks on this debut album were improvised in the studio and later some overdubs were added to a great effect.

I really like the mellow, blissful and somewhat jazzy mood most of the tracks have. They make you float in a pleasant, hazy dreamstate, even if the beat might be a bit faster like on the long, excellent opener "Standing Wave". The shortest track "October Swim" has some Dungen / The Amazing vibe. The over 12-minute "Propeller Propulsion" has a mekanik, hypnotic krautrock beat and brings to mind NEU! a bit which is never a bad thing in my books. Really great going, actually! Maybe my favourite on the LP. I do really enjoy all the other tracks as well, though. All in all, this an absolute must for all lovers of modern improvised space/kraut/psych rock music so make yourself a big favour and check the band out! Both the CD and LP editions are limited to just 500 copies.

www.facebook.com/automatismband