Mark McDowell - Freedom Tapes

 Self-released

Freedom Tapes is the brand-new experimental psych rock/pop/folk album by Mark McDowell from Bristol, U.K. I was first introduced to him when Fruits de Mer put out a wonderful split 7" with him and Octopus Syng in 2013. I also reviewed his 2018 album Dark Weave (Friends of the Fish) and liked it a lot. I did miss his album Breakthrough in 2020, somehow. Anyway, let's see what we've got here this time.

The album includes 10 tracks, most around the 4-minute-marker in lenght. Most have a rather organic, acoustic feel, but sometimes Mark also rocks out. He sings, plays guitars, keyboards, drums & percussion. The collaborators are Pete Westaway: synth, John Hymas: strings and Juliet Winter: words, love and high vibes. There are some wonderful melodies and psychedelic effects that always makes this kind of music interesting and mesmerising for me. The music also has a hypnotic vibe. We have a couple of instrumentals on board too for a good balance. Especially the 6-minute "Zodiasi" is a real trip. The music was first recorded on cassette tapes and then manipulated and put together again digitally for a great, warm and sort of experimental result. I like Mark's music and his vocals and I think this album will be an important part of my Summer 2022 soundtrack. Check it out!

https://markmcdowell.bandcamp.com/

 

Astral Magic - Magical Kingdom out on Tonzonen Records June the 17th!

My psychedelic project Astral Magic will release a new album next month! Magical Kingdom will be out on coloured splatter LP limited to 500 copies. It is the first Astral Magic release on the amazing German label Tonzonen Records and will include a Bandcamp download card. This can be considered Astral Magic's first psychedelic, spacey PROG rock album and it is quite different to the stuff released before. Fans of Pink Floyd, Eloy, early Yes and Hawkwind should definitely check it out.

The guest musicians on this album are Jay Tausig (US, drums, guitar, saxophone, flute), Gregory Curvey (US, guitar, glockenspiel), Peter Dingham (UK, guitar), Markku Helin (FI, guitar), Anton Barbeau (US, guitar) and Perttu Lindberg (FI, drums). The album was mastered by Eroc for maximum sound quality. The painting used on the cover art is by Finnish psychedelic artist Vesa Peltonen. You can pre-order the album now from the label's web shop or Astral Magic's Bandcamp site and also listen to three of the tracks online.