Spiralism: Chakras

Inverse Records

Spiralism is a young Helsinki-based band playing hard, atmospheric, psychedelic and progressive rock and metal. Most of the time they are wondering somewhere in between post-metal and post-rock. The line-up includes two guitarist/singers (one of them also plays synthesizer), a drummer and a bass player. The vocals can be either soft and beautiful or harsh growling or something in between. This is their first album, and as such a pretty good one.

The album has seven tracks on it. "Drowning High" opens up the album with spacey ambient intro, melancholic, beautiful post-rock passages and heavier, almost sludge-like parts. This is a 12-minute track, so lots of room for variation. I like it! "Sofia" is just under five minute in length and heavy post-metal stuff with melodic vocals. "Weighting of the Heart" is another long one and has some more atmospheric post-rock parts as well as heavy parts with harsh vocals. This one has some cool riffs and also dark, psychedelic vibes and is perhaps the highlight of the album for me. "The Fool" is a very light, airy, enjoyable and laid-back instrumental that gives some time to breath. "Dust Devils" is maybe the most metallic track of the album, but there's also some relaxed synth parts and more progressive stuff. Prog metal, I suppose. There's also a great guitar solo at the end. "Gnosis" takes us into a more spiritual place. There are some pretty, soft vocals, but his track also has it's doom metal elements and some bluesy jamming. The album is finished with the beautiful and mellow "Passages of Nuit". It includes a long, hypnotic and kraut rock -styled middle-part and more metal stuff towards the end. This band also works live, so check them out!

www.facebook.com/Spiralism

 

Lumerians: Transmissions from Telos Vol. III

Cardinal Fuzz (CFUL027)

Lumerians is a mysterious band from the States. For me, they have been one of the highlights in the modern psych rock scene ever since I got a promo copy of their debut full-length Transmalinnia in 2011. They can be very groovy and cool, rock out or just float in space or experiment when needed, and I love all their releases. Their live gig at Roadburn Festival was also out of this world and totally blew me away... In 2012 the band released the Transmissions from Telos Vol. IV, that had four tracks and lasted just over 30 minutes, and this instrumental Vol. 3 was released late last year and it lasts just a little longer so I guess you could call these mini albums, although people usually consider them full albums.

"Murder Tubbs" starts off the disc with a rather slow, hypnotic groove and cool percussion and organ work. Guitar is mostly creating some background vibe with wah pedal, while synthesizers play melodies. Very nice, psychedelic and laid-back stuff! "Turiya" is a rather minimal, experimental track that has some ethnic overtones but quite difficult to pin down. Frankly, I don't enjoy this track that much. "Hook for an Eye" is again groovier stuff with lots of psychedelic elements and I like it a lot. The album is finished with the long (12:30) "Impossible Window / Caballero Futuro" that is also a rather slow, hypnotic track. The second part gets even slower and rather melancholic and atmospheric. This is a great release, but I somehow prefer what I consider their full-lenght releases: the before-mentioned Transmalinnia and the excellent The High Frontier (2013) since those albums also have faster, more space rocking and more structured songs with vocals while these instrumental Transmissions from Telos releases somehow seem a bit like more abstract out-takes although the material still is very strong and highly enjoyable. Anyway, do yourself a favor and check this great band out if you haven't already!

www.facebook.com/Lumerians

The next Dj Astro gigs

6.2.2015 private party w/ Dj Jugh...
18.2.2015 @ Semifinal, live bands Octopus Syng & Soft Power
17.04.2015 @ Korjaamo live bands Superfjord & Siinai
9.5.2015 @ Bar Lepakkomies, live bands Bongzilla (US) & Gangred

Astral Visions Radio show #57 online!

Astral Visions Radio Show - Music from Psychotropic Zone, is hosted by DJ Astro

Listen or download at:

aural-innovations.com/radio/astral.html

Playlist:

Black Lizard - "Overkill" (from V/A: Homojoulu)…
Ty Segall - "Circles" (from Mr Face EP)
Tjutjuna - "Songer Dance" (from Westerner)
Tähtiportti - "Tähtiportti III: Ikuinen talvi" (from forthcoming S/T album)
K-X-P - "She Time Travels in Every Direction Whenever She Wants" (from History of Techno)
Mooch - "Another Time, Another Place" (from Mrs Silbury's Delicious Mushroom Flavoured Biscuits)
Spiralism - "Weighing of the Heart" (from Chakras)
Dead Sea Apes - "Regolith" (from High Evolutionary)
My Brother The Wind - "Into the Cosmic Halo" (from Once There Was a Time When Time and Space Were One)
Sendelica - "Searohwit" (from Anima Mundi)
The Love Machine - "A Present to the Galaxy" (from A Present to the Galaxy)
Sounds of New Soma - "Mahatha Mavht Mittag" (from V/A: New Way of Krautrock Volume 1)
Aphodyl - "Pyramide of Slaves" (from V/A: New Way of Krautrock Volume 1)
Gong - "Shakti Yoni & Dingo Virgin" (from I See You)

Various Artists: New Way of Krautrock Volume 1

Tonzonen Records (TON-003)



Tonzonen is a new label from Germany specializing in psych, space, stoner, prog and kraut. Last year, they released debut albums by two bands on vinyl plus this compilation CD featuring tracks by modern German bands who, at least loosely, fit in the krautrock genre. I'm glad to have this album since there's some bands I had never even heard before, although I'm somewhat a follower in this scene.

The CD starts off with the 33-second-long, electronic, hypnotic and psychedelic "Underground Äxpärten Jingle" by Das Raumpiloten. Underground Äxpärten seems to be a loose psychedelic collective in Germany with a website and some parties, sounds like fun... Lover303's "Jezt Geht's Los" starts off with some electronic beats and female voice with tons of delay, but later in develops into a groovy and percussive deep space kraut rock jam also featuring electric guitar and lots of space effects. I was only familiar with this band from the Mani Neumeier's Birthday! CD where they are featured. I've been a fan of Electric Orange since the 90's though, so it's nice to notice that they are also featured on this CD with their mid-tempo track "Chorg", and I don't at least remember hearing this one before. Things get pretty interesting as the track developes... True modern masters of the krautrock world! Knall is the next band, and they offer a groovy and jamming track called "Weed Porn". Just guitar, bass and drums, but that's enough. Tonzonen will release an LP by them next month.Sounds of New Some is a new great ambient/space drone/psychedelia band that I really like. Here we get a track from their new digital EP "Mahatma Macht Mittag" and are being transported into another, strange universe. Great that this piece also has drums later on. I'm also familiar with the band called The Spacelords since they sent me some of their CD's for review a couple of years ago and I also bought their LP put out on Sulatron Records last year. "Prelude-Rhinoceros-Bison" is apparently taken from their live album , great stuff! Aphodyl is a band I had not heard about before, but fell in love with. They are included with the massive, almost half-an-hour space/kraut/psych jam called "Pyramide of Slave" and truly catch the essence of the original cosmic, free-spirited hippie krautrock ethos. Larman Clamor, another unknown act for me, ends the album with teh short but sweet "Tangerine Nightfall" that just has organ and acoustic guitar. Nice! Get this CD if you want to know what some of the modern krautrock bands sound like. And remember that there are a lot more bands to discover!

 www.tonzonen.de 

Love Machine: A Present to the Galaxy

Tonzonen Records (TON002)

This is the debut album by a young German band called Love Machine. They play a pleasant, often quite sunny and nice retro pop/rock/blues in the 60s/70s style reminding me of The Doors and the Westcoast, as well as Leonard Cohen. Even though two of the four songs are long, I wouldn't say this band is really that adventurous, experimental, cosmic or even very psychedelic. The singer has an interesting, deep and low sound but it seems to me he has not been singing that long yet. Not that he's bad at it, but the little lack of experience somehow shines though at times. Well, I guess the same goes for the whole band, but these are young guys so no wonder. They have some potential and ideas, anyway! Plus my wife wanted to know what band this was...

"Hermes Red Shoes" is the first track, and it's a laid-back, melancholic and bluesy one. It's pretty cool stuff, but I'm having some difficulties in maintaining my interest for over 11-minutes. "Flower" is the mellow, soft, summery and a bit jazzy pop song of the album. I wish they would have used real Fender Rhodes and Hammond Organ instead of the synthesizer sounds. Works okay as it is, though."The Vision How the Office Becomes a Hurricane" is a rather moody and soft track but not that spacial. Finally, the title track "A Present to the Galaxy" gets a bit more adventurous & jamming and it's 19 minutes in length. This one also has some saxophone which is great, as well as a more experimental, psychy middle part. I think the band still needs some more substance to their music (as well as for example guitar solos!) but this already is a pretty good start.

www.facebook.com/LoveMachineGermany

Sounds of New Soma: Beyond the Acid Dream

Tonzonen Records (TON001)

Sounds of New Soma is a new German duo playing spacey, psychedelic, experimental, droney and ambient music. With a band (and album!) name like that you can easily figure out where their main inspiration comes from. As the info sheet tells, "they formed Sound of New Soma in 2013 in order to materialize their tonal vision of a cosmic voyage in the aftermath of a psychedelic trip". This is their first official release, but you can also find some other stuff on their Bandcamp site. The duo of Alexander Djelassi (guitar, bass, synthesizer, effects) and Dirk Raupach (synthesizer, vocals, effects) is here augmented by saxophonist Andreas Lessenich which gives the otherwise rather electronic sounding album a sort of organic free jazz vibe.

There are four long, instrumental pieces on the album. "Zeitenraum" begins the journey in a very laid-back, floating and cosmic mode. There is no beat or any rhythm, just ambient soundscapes and sax. Nice. "Im Rausch des Alkaloids" also has some bird-song and narration in German, which works great. Towards the end, a deep, pulsating "heart" beat is added, and the very hallucinatory track grows a bit. On side B, "Traumfänger" has a bit more audible guitar and bass than the tracks on side A, but the similar, laid-back, cosmic and hazy vibe continues. "Nektar der Götter" even has something that could almost be called a guitar riff. The most cosmic old kraut rock gurus ride their long-haired heads, I suppose. I'm also reminded of the very ambient, laid-back space elements of Astralasia. This album is not for those who want their music to rock out, but if you are looking for a trippy, chilled-out, beautiful and atmospheric journey through your inner space this is the LP you need.

www.facebook.com/pages/Sounds-Of-New-Soma/618719828173832