I have started making some of my releases available in physical form from Kunaki Products (US)! They produce the goods very fast and I'd recommend all American fans to use it while I am not able to mail anything to the USA right now from Finland.
So far I have added all the six Strange Vibrations albums and In Space We Trust by Astral Magic since all the artwork on those was put together by me so I could transform it to jewel case format. Expect more stuff soon, also an exclusive tape compilation in the works!
You can already access and play the virtual cassette version of the compilation Wormhole Full Of Wonders here:
Quite a lot has happened in the Astral World since the latest blog release in October. Since the first actual CD release on Astral Magic Music, Astral Magic - The Chosen Ones has been sold-out for a long time I decided to do something about it. Rather than just to re-release it, I got an idea to make new versions of the best tracks and release it under a bit different name: The Ultra Chosen Ones. I recorded some new stuff to ten of the tracks and remixed them. My old friend Juha Takalo, who designed The Chosen Ones CD art also made new artwork for this release. Both lathe-cut LP and CD-R (with two bonus tracks) are ONLY available from elasticStage.
There were two new releases on 5.12.2025, the last Bandcamp Friday of the year. Astral Magic - Weird Encounters and Alternative Realities (ASTRAL058) was the end result of a long process started already at the beginning of 2024. I wanted to continue the Astral Magic magazine that was put out with the compilation tape Meetings with the Universal Mind in 2022. In the end I had to make it happen myself, of course with the help of Andy Wainwright doing the design. Weird Encounters is partly a compilation as well, but also includes some brand-new stuff. All the 13 tracks on the limited-edition CD have never been released in physical format before. The Bandcamp download also includes the booklet Visions from the Future in PDF form. To have the booklet also in printed form, it was added to the lathe-cut LP version that has partly different tracks... Only available from elasticStage.
What comes to our new project Strange Vibrations, things have progressed as well. After Higher Dimentional Beings there have been TWO more albums! V was released as a limited edition (50 copies) real CD in cardboard cover and lathe-cut LP only available from elasticStage again. The latest addition to the S. V. album family is Out of My Mind, that in physical form is only available from elasticStage, both as a lathe-cut LP and a CD-R.
I have been busy making new music with Paul Roland and another album with Bridget Wishart is also taking form. Other stuff has also been made with other musicians, of course. Check out for example Tomplex. I will also be on the next release by Dreaming Apparition, together with Shane Beck and Kevin Erhardt-Hansen.
The long-awaited Astral Hawk Machine album (a collaboration with Jay Tausig, Bridget Wishart and Santtu Laakso) should finally be available next week! There will only be a CD (300 copies) release at the moment, out on Italian Black Widow Records.
Good news is that the next Astral Magic release Into the Cosmos will be out on the 6th of February on LP (200 copies) and digipack CD (100 copies) on Astral Magic Music! Both formats have already been manufactured so no more delays with this heavy, psychedelic space rock masterpiece! Check out the opener on YouTube:
Like I said in the previous news post, a new album by our side-project Strange Vibrations was released today to celebrate yet another Bandcamp Friday! Only 50 copies on factory-made CD-R and of course digital.
I also did a very different "Single Mix" of the album's last track "Children of the Perpetual Echo" that was released into the wild digitally last week. This version has sort of a 60s psych pop feel, I think? The original version on the album is more ambient in nature.
Check out the song at YouTube (for example):
There is nothing new out from the mothership Astral Magic, but as you might have noticed, I have put A LOT of old, sold-out stuff and vinyl debuts available to elasticStage with the help of Andy Wainwright (cover art on most) and Jonathan Segel (vinyl mastering for the lathe-cut versions).
I have ordered copies of each one to myself, but have not received all yet. But what I do have have been of high quality although being an on-demand thing and all products being done one-by-one there might sometimes be some mistakes. No worries though, elasticStage has a very fast and friendly customer support and if you receive something faulty they will send replacement a.s.a.p.
Almost all the sold-out CD-R's are now available in new packaging and the vinyl LPs available are:
As soon as we get the album artwork done, you will also be able to order LP copies of Cosmic Energy Flow, End of Time, Strange Sensation, Sacred Mysteries and Floating in Space! Happy daze are here!
If you have been wondering, then yes, there will also be an Astral Magic album out later this year.
Weird Encounters and Alternative Realitieswill be out on the 5th of December, the last Bandcamp Friday of the year. It is a weird hybrid of a new studio album and a compilation. The CD (100 copies in digipack) will include 13 tracks that have never been available in physical format before.
The CD tracks:
1. The Worm (Astral Magic Wormhole Remix) 6:04 2. Programmed Reality (New Song) 13:08 3. Colors Behind My Soul (Remix) 6:15 4. A Lucid Trip (Remix) 4:48 5. Lurking in the Dark (Home Studio Version) 5:38 6. Taste of Sunlight (Home Studio Version) 5:08 7. Psychic Resistance (Home Studio Version) 4:57 8. Mind Eater (Home Studio Version) 6:50 9. Remember Your Roots (Home Studio Version) 4:38 10. Emerald Tablet (Home Studio Version) 4:13 11. Longing for the Stars (Astral Magic Remix) 4:12 12. Solarwind (Astral Magic Remix) 4:29 13. Kingdoms in the Sky (New Song) 7:02
A lathe-cut LP with a 12-page booklet where the Astral Magic saga continues from the Astral Magic magazine released on 2022 will be made available through elasticStage. The LP version will have partly different track list, none of the tracks have been available on vinyl before:
The LP tracks:
1. The Worm (Astral Magic Wormhole Remix) 6:04 2. Programmed Reality (New Song) 13:08 3. Mind Melt Machine (L’Autre Monde Mix) 3:24 4. Heady Daze 4:20 5. Colors Behind My Soul (Remix) 6:15 6. A Lucid Trip (Remix) 4:48 7. Kingdoms in the Sky (7:08)
After years of waiting and fishing for labels, I have also decided to finally release the heavy space rock album Into the Cosmos by my own on Astral Magic Music. So LP and CD with bonus tracks coming out in early 2026! Other thing worth mentioning is that I have started album projects with two of my old collaborators, some exciting details will be given out at a later date...
Dr Space (Scott Heller) played a solo gig at his local pizzeria in Portugal last March and this limited edition CD is composed of material he prepared and rehearsed in his studio before the performance. Also the gig was recorded but the rehearsal material was better so it got released instead. I'm glad that this was the case as this CD sounds fantastic! Scott really is getting better and betters with his ultra-spacey soundscapes.
All the nine tracks (from "Ambient 1" to "Ambient 9") were started with arpeggios from Novation Ultranova, Nord Lead 2 or Poly D and Scott then played his modular synths, digital Mellotron etc. on top of them. This results in very hypnotic, mesmerizing atmospheres with at first no actual beats or anything else except the synths. A drum machine makes an appearance later on. I really enjoy listening to this amazing sounding CD on headphones in vertical position with my eyes closed. It surely takes you to places, just like this kind of music should. I'm sometimes reminded of early 70s Klaus Schultze (just listen to "Ambient 3", for example) which is definitely a bad thing. Also Tangerine Dream comes to mind and I know Scott is a big fan. This is still original enough and not that many people make music like this nowadays. Can't wait to jam with Dr Space in this studio one of these days! You can also hear his synths on a recent Astral Magic album Wizard's Euphoria, a few CD's still left. Scott also has some over here!
Some cool Astral Magic news! First of all, the latest releases include a limited edition factory-made CD-R of the latest Astral Magic album In Space We Trust! I'm really happy with how it turned up. Get it from:
Another recent, Astral Magic related release is Feed My Soul, a debut album by our project Chakra Vimana. It is out on the excellent Tonzonen Records from Germany on coloured LP and CD, both limited to 300 copies. Available from all good psych stores and mail-order companies! Also of course directly from the label and from Chakra Vimana, Herd of Instinct (US/Canada/Mexico) and Astral Magic (EU/UK) Bandcamp pages.
The latest release on Astral Magic Music is the digital Astral Magic Remixes II single of two tracks from the forth-coming Strange Vibrations album (out 1st of August). Check them out here!
Astral Magic has started to work with elasticStage, an on-demand CD-R/lathe-cut company from the UK. I am really excited about the opportunity to make some stuff available this way! There are already 11 sold-out, rare CD-R albums in better packaging available again form the elasticStage Astral Magic page:
The next phase will see the vinyl releases of In Space We Trust, Black Floyd's Trinity (also CD-R coming up), Wonderland and Dance of Destiny. Also some other old albums will be available on LP as soon as we get them mastered for vinyl and artwork modified as well. How cool is that?
I have just received some lead guitar and violin tracks for the new album from my trusty collaborator Jonathan Segel. I will try to mix "In Space We Trust" by the end of the week and send the stuff back to Jonathan for mastering.
The plan is to release it on the next Bandcamp Friday, 2nd of May. Since hardly anybody seems to buy albums anymore, this will only be a limited, factory-made CD-R release of 50 copies. But it will be great stuff, I tell you!
I might release an (amateur...) video before the release date.
Please check out the video for the title track of the next Astral Magic album Dance of Destiny! The album will be out 7.3.2025 and available on limited edition CD and digital download. Would also fit on LP, if some label is interested?!
Other news is that I just got frozen in Facebook again after a few group postings... Seems useless.
Oh, the Chakra Vimana album will be released on Tonzonen Records on 23.5.2025! 300 copies on coloured vinyl and also on digipack CD. I'm so excited!
Here's translation for those who do not speak Dutch for some reason:
Astral Magic from Finland is the solo project of bassist Santtu Laakso, a member of the psychedelic space rock band Dark Sun, which was founded in 1991.
On September 30, 2020, he released his first solo album, Pathway To The Stars, followed by 65 more digital releases, some of which were also issued on LP and CD through Space Rock Productions, Sapphire Records, Clostridium, Tonzonen Records, and Aumega Project. On March 6, 2025, Dance Of Destiny will be released on his own label, Astral Magic Music, both as a CD and a digital download. The album features eight tracks, with Laakso playing all the instruments himself, except for track 2, where his son Anton contributes on Moog.
The album opens with Intro - Open The Portal, a fantastic up-tempo krautrock piece, followed by the title track Dance Of Destiny, a brilliant space rock song with a steady tempo and a catchy recurring rhythm influenced by the music of Hawkwind. Next is Distortion In Space-Time, a fantastic up-tempo progressive rock track with an Eastern vibe, space rock influences, a swinging rhythm, and tempo changes, followed by We Plunge Into Chaos, an excellent melodic space rock song with light space rock elements and an infectious rhythm.
In Transmission Psi, Astral Magic delivers a delightful, Eastern-sounding track at a moderate tempo, reminiscent of In The Labyrinth, while Slumber Of The Ancient Ones offers an outstanding space rock song with a not-too-fast pace and a hypnotic rhythm that induces a light trance.
The album continues with Zep Tepi, a swinging, up-tempo space rock song with an infectious recurring rhythm that makes it impossible to sit still, and concludes with Last Days Of A Time Cycle, a delightful electronic track at a moderate tempo, which could easily have been performed by Kitaro.
Dance Of Destiny by Astral Magic contains eight outstanding tracks, primarily categorized under space rock. I thoroughly enjoyed this remarkable album and highly recommend it to every fan of the genre.
Okay, so what is Strange Vibrations and how it came into existence?
A couple of weeks ago, I received my first new synthesizer for a few years, Stylophone CPM DS-2
Analogue Drone Synthesizer, to be exact. Of course I had to try it
out... In a couple of days I ended up with nine experimental tracks all
started with the CPM DS-02. I added other synths and then decided to ask
Shane to join in, since this kind of experimental stuff always is more
interesting (to me, at least) with some spoken word. This time I gave
him all the subject matter ideas beforehand with some links to
get inspired. Shane did a great job very fast as usual, and really
delivered the goods like I knew he would! Later I added more stuff like
electric guitars and more synths, even some percussive things. Now this
all started to sound like something that should get out there...
I had recently decided not to put out new Astral Magic releases as often
as before, so an idea was received from my friend Jaire to release this
under a different project name. That I way I could still keep my
promise without cheating (much...)! I decided to call this new project
Strange Vibrations according to one of the tracks, and Shane liked that
too. To shake things even more I did remixes of two of the most "normal"
tracks and put those out first as
"Astral Magic Mix" single. I added bass guitar and my vocals to these
single versions, two of the most recognizable elements from Astral Magic
that I have decided never to use in Strange Vibrations to keep some
distance.
Jonathan Segel helped us a lot by mastering all the stuff while I came
up with all the dodgy artwork myself (Andy was too busy making three
different designs for my other projects...). Getting confused? No
wonder... Anyway, this is more or less how it all happened. I hope you
like it! The album will be out on March the 7th only on Bandcamp (and maybe YouTube) as digital download and limited edition of 33 copies on home-made CD-R. There will also be a new Astral Magic CD Dance of Destiny available then. The Longing for the Stars / Solarwind single was released last Friday when Bandcamp donated all their share to victims of the Los Angeles fires, you can hear and buy it here:
Some Astral news. Bad news first: my Facebook accounts are frozen, so my almost only channel for promoting my music is down again after hours and hours of hard work of getting connected to like-minded people again. A Bummer. I hope I can get it back this time, but let's see. That's the reason I'm now asking for help in spreading the message and sharing this post to all possible social media sites you are on, thanks and astral blessings to all those who are ready to help!
No new Astral Magic releases in the near future, but our album with Jay Tausig and Bridget Wishart as Astral Hawk Machine should be out soon on LP and CD. More news a.s.a.p. Also the true heavy space rock album Into the Cosmos should finally be out on LP and CD later this year. Just wait until you hear that one! There might also be a new Astral Magic magazine with a new compilation and at least one more Astral Magic album this year. Probably more, you know me...
Then to the good news: we have a new project album ready now; Chakra Vimana - Feed My Soul. Chakra
Vimana is a new modern & jazzy prog/psych/space rock project by
Shane Beck, Mark Cook and Santtu Laakso with special guest Steven Leak. Debut album Feed My Soul will be released in 2025. Album design by Andy Wainwright. We are now in the process of finding a record label for the album, please be in touch if you have any ideas?
You can listen to an album sampler on our bandcam site:
It’s been another very productive year for me in 2024! These are my all releases on Astral Magic Music this year. In addition, I play synths on one track on the new Sendelica album Requiem for Mankind. That’s all, I think…
My New Year’s resolution is to cut down on my releases… I might do some other projects with other people or let real labels put out my stuff but releasing this much stuff without any distribution or real help from anyone is just insane and has to stop… We are living in hard times and people just don’t have money to spend on music like they used to, it seems. Sad but true. I won’t stop making music just yet, though! Thanks to all collaborators, my small but loyal fanbase, dj’s and reviewers for support, I love you all.
Okay, a few words about the next releases, then! All these will be out on the next Bandcamp Friday 6.12.2024.
Wizard's Euphoria is a brand-new album that we have been working on with Dr. Space (Scott Heller), Jonathan Segel and Shane Beck. The music varies from electronic and hypnotic atmospheres to more rocking stuff. Some great songs in there! 100 copies on digipack CD and digital download.
Mental Collapse Harness My Whispering Words Agents of Entropy Abyss of the Soulless Deranged Memories Wizard's Euphoria Voice of the Sleeping Sitar This Fluid Motion Lead Me to The Sky Shaman's Lullaby
Echoes form a Star Cluster is done together with Shane Beck. It has new versions of some tracks that have previously beenw released on Shane's solo albums but most are totally exclusive to this release. Some really trippy and hypnotic stuff on this one! Just 50 copies on home-made CD-R, 70 min of music.
Echoes from a Star Cluster Voice of the Cephalopod This Reflection When Planets Copulate Psychedelic Butterfly This Sphere of Magic Exploding Sun Invoking Persecution Pondering Below the Mist Alluring Slow Jam This Bleeding Sunset Whispering Eyelids Shadow Garden
Eternal Flashback / Exploding Flowers split CD-R is a factory-made disc including these two Astral Magic related project albums that have previously only been available on digital download. Both albums have just one, almost 40-minute long piece! 75 copies made.
Out of the blue, my personal Facebook and Instagram accounts as well as Astral Magic (and all other...) accounts were deleted. I have no way of getting them back, so goodbye evil Meta Universe.
Well, more time for real life and making music, even if not so many people will hear about it anymore!
Since my main marketing tool is gone now, let's try this... Get all four albums on either of these pics for 30€ plus postage. Email me at astralzoneblog @ gmail . com
You can also contact me through the Astral Magic Bandcamp site:
Quite a lot has happened in the wonderful world of Astral Magic since my last post.
Since the Astral Magic with Paul Roland - Mind Melt Machine CD EP there have been already SEVEN new releases!
Strange Sensation CD, limited to 100 copies, was released in April the 5th. This album is a sort of successor to Am I Dreaming?, so more in the vein of 60s/70s psych/garage rock. Jaire Pätäri from Octopus Syng plays the drums, and the CD also includes a unique mix of Mind Melt Machine from the previous EP as a bonus track. Also featured are Perttu Lindberg – drums on “You Can’t Hear Me” and Jasmin Anglén – backing vocals on “Haunted Mansion”. Eye-popping cover art by Andy Wainwright, as usual.
Then we released a very limited edition home-made CD-R The Secret Paths: More Rarities with Shane Beck. This one has new versions of tracks that were originally made for his solo albums as well as plenty of totally new stuff. Very deep and psychedelic!!! Still a couple of copies left, but be quick...
Cruising the Celestial Highways has been in the works for years... It is the instrumental krautrock album of Astral Magic! It was ment to be an LP release but we'll have to settle for a limited edition CD for now. Just 100 copies in cool digipack.
The Highwaymen:
Santtu Laakso: music, mix, production, bass, synthesizers, motorik beats.
Jay Tausig: live drums, guitar, saxophone.
Pete Bingham: guitar.
Fred Laird: guitar.
Jonathan Segel: mastering.
Andy Wainwright: cover design
Shadows over Jupiter was originally released on tape in 2021. I also made a 2LP version with three extra tracks, but it has proved to be too expensive to manufacture... I recently decided to remix all the tracks for a better sound quality. So a limited CD edition called Shadows over Jupiter Remixed was put out. Art by the original graphic designer Juha Takalo. Some great and quite different Astral Magic stuff on this one. Also features Jay Tausig and Fred Laird! Just get it.
After Shadows over Jupiter Remixed I decided to do limited edition of the previously vinyl only 2022 album Magical Kingdom
on factory-pressed CD-R. Just 50 copies and going fast! Some fans do
not buy vinyl and have been asking for this, so... And with three bonus
tracks!
Floating in Space is a long-time project with my old friend Vesa Partti. We started it in 2021 or 2020 but it was put aside for some time... We finally decided to release it this Summer! First a digital single of the title track, then the whole album on limited edition CD. Vesa plays all the guitars and also does some vocals. I just love this album!
Floating in Space CD also includes the latest single recorded in analog studio with the Kultti-25 guys Tapio and Aki and some new faces: Joonas Soini on another guitar and the legendary Pentti Dassum on modular synths! The single Emerald Tablet / Taste of Sunlight (in My Mouth) was released in digital form last Friday but unfortunately the lathe-cut 7" version is a bit delayed. There will be only 50 copies of these made! Amazing art again by Andy on Floating and the new single...
I recently went to UK for almost two weeks. I visited the wonderful Kozfest for the second time, hang around with my friends Custard Flux and also finally got to Cardigan, Wales, for the Fruits de Mer Records festival 20th Dream of Dr Sardonicus. I also had a dj slot there playing only Astral Magic stuff! What an amazing journey… Astral Magic compilation Different Dimensions was included in the goodie back, I think I have sold all my copies now.
Other forthcoming releases include the CD's Interstellar Relations and Those Who Came from the Stars as well as a limited edition 10" lathe-cut version of the Mind Melt Machine EP with Paul Roland... Stay tuned!!!
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