Yuri Gagarin: S/T

Sulatron Records (st1405)

Yuri Gagarin, named after the famous Russian cosmonaut, is a great new heavy space/psych rock band from Gothenburg, Sweden. This debut album was originally released last year on a local label. The sound quality wasn't the best possible, so Sulatron released this remixed, much better sounding version this autumn. People really seem to dig this band since the vinyl version is already sold out! Well, I can't blame them since this is killer album. It's still available on CD, though.

The album includes just four, instrumental tracks but they are long... "First Orbit" starts off suitably with some space transmissions in Russian. The actual track begins after a while and we get some heavy guitar, hypnotic, repetative mid-tempo rhythm and space effects. This is like a mix of Loop, Farflung, Hawkwind, Monster Magnet and White Hills, I'd say and very good indeed. "Sonic Invasion 2910" is a bit faster and rocks out even more. With some Tommy Grenas vocals this would sound very much like Farflung, but the track is so trippy, heavy and groovy and includes enough of nice solo guitar so things keep interesting even without the vocals and with more or less just one simple riff. This will for sure make you bang your head! "Za Kosmosom" is a slower, but just as heavy piece that reminds me of some of the slower, meditative and not too freaky tracks by Acid Mothers Temple. It has a bit mystical atmosphere and I like it a lot too. I'm also reminded of The Spacious Mind, another excellent space/psych rock band from Sweden. The last track "The Big Rip" is the longest at 10:47 and is superb, fuzzy and phased heavy space rocking from the beginning until very close to the end before the track evaporates into cosmic space sounds. This is perhaps the most Hawkwind-like piece on the the album, but there are also some stoner rock influences in there I think. I really like the solo guitar work, once again. I hope this superb band will release more stuff soon since I just can't get enough of music like this nowadays. Be sure to check them out!

yurigagarinswe.bandcamp.com

The Legendary Flower Punk / Drory: The Time, The Place

Flower Punk (FPR 006)

This CD/download release is a collaboration of two Russian experimental duos: The Legendary Flower Punk and Dvory. These friends got together for a studio jam session on 21st of September 2014 at Boiler Records studio (St.Petersburg), and the end result is one, over 60-minute-long improvised track including two guitars, trumpet, keyboards, noises & percussion. The whole piece is very minimal and ambient in nature, and you really have to focus to truly notice all the little nuances and variations that are going on. The trumpet is playing quite an important role at times playing little melodies or giving a more freak-out free jazz vibe. The guitars keep a steady but light riff going on in the beginning, but later on the track almost evaporates into the ether. You really have to listen carefully but when you do, this is actually a very enjoyable and psychedelic experience. It's better to turn up the volume, dim the lights and relax, and just let the these weird soundscapes take you away from your normal reality. Try it, it's worth it! You can download this for free but please support the artists if you can.

www.facebook.com/thelegendaryflowerpunk 

The Grand Astoria / Montenegro: S/T

Flower Punk / Sick-o-delic Records (690 / SR003)

This is a second split release by this rather active Russian progressive, heavy and a little bit psychedelic fuzz rock/metal band The Grand Astoria. First came the split with the excellent US Christmas a couple of years ago, and now they have teamed up with Montenegro from Argentina. Both bands deliver one long track for this CD.

The Grand Astoria's "The Body Limit" was recorded in Tallinn, Estonia in February this year. It starts off with some tranquil, gentle guitar and bird-song, and grows slowly when some slow drums, quiet female singing, bass and lead guitar gets added. The mood remains the same although the track gets more intense until around the 12-minute-marker when it turns into pure metal and Kamille, the guitarist/singer starts to sing. Then we get weird, some more psychedelic instrumental passages with delayed guitar. The next vocal part reminds me a bit of some of the progressive metal bands like Queensrÿche, so if you're into that kind of stuff you'll like it. Then the track gets faster for a while, but then we get some more atmospheric stuff and the almost 30-minute track ends in a beautiful, mellow way. This is a rather massive, varied track, that's all I can say. Phew!

I got to admit that I've not previously heard about the band Montenegro from Buenos Aires, Argentina. The label Sick-o-Delic Records is also from Buenos Aires, and through their web site I was able to find some information, and what little I could understand the band was formed in 2009 and has released one full-length on the the label before this split. It's good to see that there is at least some kind of psych/stoner underground in Buenos Aires at the moment. The 18:40-long track "El Matadero" starts off with slow, fuzzy blues jamming, and in three minutes we get some laid-back vocals in Spanish. I like the chilled-out mood of this song, and the psych guitar work is pretty good as well. Before the ten-minute-marker the boys start to rock out in heavy stoner rock manner, and then some more progressive, experimental stuff follows. There's a weird, acoustic, almost classical part with some spoken word (the speech of Juan Manuel de Rosas on his rise to power at Buenos Aires government, 8th December 1829). I'm not sure how well that fits in, but then we get some fast and heavy blasting until the end. I'd like to know what this song is about, but at least matadero means a slaughterhouse and I guess the track is based on an important short story with the same name written by Esteban Echeverría in 1839 but not published before 1871 (according to Wikipedia). A pretty cool track, anyway.

thegrandastoria.bandcamp.com

montenegrorock.bandcamp.com

Sun Zoom Spark: Left for Dead

SlowBurn Records

This album started already in 2001 when John Galuska (ex-Cesare's Dog) asked Sun Zoom Spark guitarist/vocalist Eric Johnson to help create music for a larger concept idea called Left for Dead. Galuska wrote poems around the subject of death and renewal as well as recorded hours of abstract sound collage for the project. The members of Sun Zoom Spark then one night recorded a full hour of psychedelic improvisation but then the project was shelved for 13 years. This spring Johnson revisited the recordings doing editing and overdubbing the material since he found it was too good to really left for dead... And the end result is pretty stunning!

There are 12 tracks on this CD featuring three shorter, minimal and experimental tracks ("Transmissions I, II & III") and also a couple of over ten-minute-long pieces, a prototype of "Jewel of the Seven Stars" that was later recorded for a Black Sun Ensemble album and the great, closer to 17-minute progressive and varied title track of the album. Three of the other tracks are in between eight and nine minutes in length, as well. Most of the stuff in pretty slow and atmospheric and some of it has Pink Floyd vibes, the mellow eight-minute jam "Left for Life" in particular. There are lots of psychedelic sound effects and synthesizers, which is always a good thing if you ask me... "Masterpiece by Midnight" is a little more upbeat and groovier. "Volcano" is sort of heavy blues, I guess, but also rocks out. The album is finished with the airy and nice "Return to Swim". This is a very nice album that works best on headphones in nocturnal chill-out sessions with your eyes closed and mind open.

 www.slowburnrecords.net

 You can listen to the second track "Round Again" over here:

http://www.slowburnrecords.net/featured-track-2013-2014.

Cobracalia: S/T

Slowburn Records (SBR060)

After Jesus Acedo, the legendary guitarist and leader of Tucson, Arizona based psych rock band Black Sun Ensemble, died in 2013 the band didn't want to just stop playing but couldn't carry on as BSE either. So they changed their name into Cobracalia after a track on the first BSE album, and continued honoring the music and visions of Acedo in their own, fresh way. I'm glad they did, since this is a marvelous album.

First we get the Eastern tingled, rhythmical "Dandyloin" that sounds pretty much like the latter day BSE with its percussion and odd melodies and solo guitar work. Nice! "Fistful of Flowers" also includes vocals and even a chorus but the mystical vibe is quite similar to the opener. I love the violin on this one. "Arabic Satori" is at first a bit more laid-back, but gets intense and heavy in the middle sounding sort of like King Crimson. "Mandala" is a groovy and percussive track reminding some of the old BSE stuff and I like it a lot. The shortest piece is "Wrong Again" at 2:32 and it has weird, whispered vocals and an almost jazzy mood with some sax. The atmospheric and melancholic "Queen of the Night" is one of the best pieces in my opinion. The going gets wilder towards the end... "Total Internal Reflection" is a mellow keyboard-driven thing, and electronic/acoustic percussion are added later on as well as some electric guitar etc. "Egyptian Magician" is one of the highlights and has a magical, ethnic vibe with all the oud, percussion etc. but there's also some heavy guitar. "Simpatico" has a slow, dub-like beat and some electronic effects. "Lotus" has a more acoustic vibe and sounds just wonderful and refreshing. "Tijuana Mama" is a beautiful, soulful and mellow piece, and the longest track on the album called "Gas Giant" is a majestic, melancholic and beautiful tribute to Jesus Acedo bringing to mind "The Golden Void" by Hawkwind. Amazing ending for a great album! Be sure to check out this CD.

www.slowburnrecords.net 

Hotlist = Top 10!

This is the hot stuff right now at the Zone:

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Vibravoid: Rheinflow 7" EP
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Electric Orange: Volume 10
Gravmaskin: Volym 1
Linus Pauling Quartet: C Is for Cthulhu 7"
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Krautzone / Lamp of the Universe: Superkraut / Doors of Perception LP

The Green Pajamas: Happy Halloween!

Green Monkey Records (GM 1026)

This 77-minute CD includes the second, VERY limited (just 10 copies...) The Green Pajamas tape Happy Halloween! from 1984 released on CD for the first time. In addition to the eight tracks from that release there are 13 other tracks that the boys recorded on tape recorder in the basement rehearsal place around the same time thirty years ago. The three first songs have been previously released ("Thinking Only of You (Lust Don't Last)" & "All I Want to Do" on Goar EP #8 and "In the Sky" on Lee Jackson in Space compilation), but the ten other tracks are previously unreleased. Some of the songs have been later re-written/re-recorded and released on other albums, but these are the first versions and definitely capture the original spirit of this excellent psych pop/folk band from Seattle. The band uses vocals, electric and 12-string guitars, bass, drums, primitive percussion, Casio keyboards, cello and clavichord and the music already has that distinctive vibe and sound that makes The Green Pajamas so special. You can sometimes hear clear 60s influences (from the likes of The Beatles or The Byrds), but they already had something unique going on and I really enjoy listening to this CD. All the stuff is coming from cassette tapes from Jeff Kelly's drawer and had some problems in the first place, so just don't expect spectacular sound quality, although Tom Dyer from The Green Monkey has done a great mastering job.

Especially the Happy Halloween! songs (tracks 4-11 on the CD) present the darker side of The Green Pajamas (apart from "Dancing in the Jailhouse", perhaps), but there are also some happier moments in there, for example "Thinking Only of You (Lust Don't Last)". Most of the songs are relatively short, but there are a couple of longer ones as well, like the last actual track "This Winter's Night" recorded just before Christmas in 1984 with some friends joining in on chorus. After that there's still an unlisted surprise "cover track"... In summary, Happy Helloween! CD is a very welcome opportunity to hear all these wonderful songs from years ago and a must-have for any self-respecting Green Pajamas fan.

thegreenpajamas.net