Telstar Sound Drone - Magical Solutions to Everyday Struggles

Bad Afro Records (AFROCD048)

Okay, Bad Afro is back after taking a break from releasing music last year, great! Telstar Sound Drone is a psychedelic & experimental shoegazer/garage/drone/indie rock band from Copenhagen, Denmark. The band has strong ties with psych garage rock legends Baby Woodrose, as the band's lineup is Sean Jardenbæk on vocals, Hans Beck (Baby Woodrose) on drums, Mads Saaby (Baby Woodrose) on guitar, and Hobbitten from Spids Nøgenhat  and Moody Guru (Spids Nøgenhat/ex-Baby Woodrose) also help them sometimes live. They have previously released three EP's/singles and one album, all including some excellent stuff, so I was really hopeful when this promo CD arrived (thanks Lars!).

The new album has nine tracks and lasts for forty minutes. They start off with the hypnotic, hard rocking mid-tempo piece "Drugs Help" that will be released as a single  in a couple of weeks. What a great opener, expect repetition and lots of guitar & effects! "Something I Can't Place" brings to mind Loop with the hypnotic, groovy beat and loud, spacey guitars and mesmerizing vocals. Also fan's of harder rocking Spacemen 3 will for sure enjoy this album and band. Having said that, Telstar Sound Drone also know how to make chilled-out drones, and that's exactly what the third track "Dark Kashmir" is. Tremolo guitar and synths with druggy vocals, wow. The track grows later on and sounds quite a lot like some early Spacemen 3 songs. "Your Finger Stirs the Liquid Moon" is an experimental and minimal, floating track with a little bit of light, programmed beat, and "Closer Again" a dark, atmospheric and chilling piece that only last for two minutes. On "Strange Apples" the band rocks hard and fast, I love this energetic and pounding track. The mid-tempo "Mad Seeds" is perhaps closer to garage rock, but again very heady and hypnotic. "Dead Spaces" is more atmospheric again but rather experimental and psychedelic at the same time. The album is finished with the beautiful, peaceful "Lean Down on White", that brings you down from this dark and a bit claustrophobic (but highly enjoyable) trip in a soft and pleasant way. Phew!

Magical Solutions to Everyday Struggles will be released on March the 18th on vinyl and the package will also include a CD version of the album. No songs are available for the public at the moment, but you can for example download a live EP at the band's Bandcamp site for free over here. I just did! And check out my next Astral Visions show since I will for sure include a track from this great album as well...

www.telstarsounddrone.com

Goatess Takes over Finland 2016!!!

Swedish masters of doomy & heavy stoner rock will be back in Finland next week, when they play in Turku, Helsinki & Lahti. Last time they played here at Bar Loose in Helsinki and I got to tell you they were excellent, so don't miss them this time.

Check out the Facebook events for details:

11.2. Gong, Turku, w/ Desert Lord & Acid Elephant
12.2. Lepakkomies, Helsinki, Under a Freezing Sun Fest
13.2. Ravintola Torvi, Lahti, w/ Jess and the Ancient Ones, Tombstoned & Baltimor

Goatess @ Bandcamp

Under a Freezing Sun Fest, Bar Lepakkomies, Helsinki, 12.-13.2.2016

Under a Freezing Sun Fest is a new festival of slow, doomy, psychedelic and heavy stoner rock music happening at Lepakkomies, Helsinki, next week.

Here's the lineup:

Friday 12.2.

Goatess (SWE)
Tombstoned
Tuliterä
Desert Lord
United Seafood

Saturday 13.2.

Ex-Mr. Peter Hayden
Kaleidobolt
Jupiter
Musta Risti
Slug Lord 

2-day tickets' pre-sale price is 18€. At the door the admission will be 10€ / day. Pre-sale tickets available, just send e-mail to serpentsunrecords (at) gmail.com and wait for further instructions.

Here's the Facebook event:

https://www.facebook.com/events/183139978691948/

Hawkfan #44

The latest issue of Brian Tawn's Hawkwind fan magazine Hawkfan is #44 and was published in December. Most of the issue is dedicated to Dave Brock's surprise birthday party organized by the fans with help from a few insiders. On August the 16th, four days before Hawkwind's captain would turn 74, there was a money raising event for Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance at the Royal Grosvenot Hotel, Weston-Super-Mare, and Dave had promised to open the event and the band would also play there in their free-form alter ego The Elves of Silbury. That was a perfect opportunity for the Hawknerds to show their love to the Captain, get together, enjoy some great music and party.

A lot of fans had written a short text explaining what Dave and the music of Hawkwind ment for them, and Hawknerds activist Sam Kirwan had edited and produced a big book out of those as a birthday preset to Brock, and there was for example a magnificent cake, see a picture below...

You must read the mag to get the full picture of this warm, friendly and for sure fun event, I only wish I could have been there with other fans... In this issue, we also get Damnation Alley with some info on the recent Hawkwind releases, this time including only reissues and bootlegs, but very useful in any case. Great!

As always, you can get your own copy by sending Brian £1.80 within the UK, £2.80 to the rest of Europe and £3.50 outside Europe by Paypal to briantawn@aol.com. Warmly recommended for all Hawkfans out there! Also, check out the Hawkfan group at Facebook.

www.facebook.com/groups/24574969649

Lunar Miles Band - S/T CD EP

Self-released

This is the second CD EP by Lappeenranta, Finland based heavy stoner rock trio Lunar Miles Band. I reviewed their debut EP called Souls from the Moon last year, check it out over here.  This three-track EP is also out on tape and available as a digital download on their Bandcamp site, if you prefer. The band continues on their heavy, groovy and stoner rock styled path, but this time we also get some solo guitar, which is great. "...For the Undead" starts off the EP, and this even brings to mind Electric Wizard a bit with the doomy basic riff. Simple, harsh and effective. "Nightrider IX" is a bit more experimental and adventurous, but still heavy and groovy instrumental jam that also has some guitar soloing and spoken samples to add more psychedelic vibe. This is also the longest track on the EP at 6:47. The last track "Skyline Highway" is at first a slower, doomy and heavy piece that starts to rock after the beginning. Fans of early Monster Magnet might dig this! The music also gets closer to sludge, and again there's heavy solo guitar work in there as well. The band is playing live quite a lot and definitely getting better, let's hope they can get a full length album done soon.

www.facebook.com/lunarmilesband

Bari Watts - There Was a Time

Dark Skies Music (DSKCD007)

There Was a Time is the second (official) solo album by guitarist/singer Bari Watts who most of us know as the guitar hero form the excellent U.K. neo-psych/classic rock group Outskirts of Infinity. He has also played guitar in the live lineup of The Bevis Frond with his good old friend Nick Saloman, who was also part of making this this album, of course. To me, Bari has always been one of the best Jimi Hendrix styled solo guitarists, but one of his personal heroes is also Marc Bolan and Tyrannosaurus Rex. I will let Bari explain it himself (from the CD booklet): "The songs on this album are my own personal homage to the music and talent of Marc Bolan, Steve Pergin Took, Mickey Finn, Steve Currie and Bill Legend, and also to Tony Visconti, for his empathy and technical wizardry in creating the sound of both Tyrannosaurus Rex and T. Rex." Rather than recording cover songs Bari wanted to try to create his own songs in the same spirit as Tyrannosaurus Rex, and I must say that he has succeeded very well. He sings, plays guitars & Moroccan clay drums, keyboards, bongos & African talking drum. Nick plays sitar guitar on "Magic Hurdy Gurdy Man", and his The Bevis Frond companions Ade Shaw bass and clavinet and Jules Fenton drums. Jeff Dexters offers some spoken word on the title track that starts off the record. So welcome to the magical world of wizards, dragons and unicorns!

The CD includes fifteen rather short songs, the shorter ones being under two-minute and the longest bit over four-minute in length. Most of the songs are based on acoustic guitar and percussion and are rather folky in style, as you might have expected. Of course, Bari's excellent, very "Bolanisque" vocals are playing an important part, as well as his lead guitar and keyboards etc. Some of the tracks are happy and uplifting, but we also get melancholic, deep and touching songs with soulful melodies and atmospheres. I bet some people could easily think this is some recently discovered, previously lost Tyrannosaurus Rex album, the vibe really is that authentic. Several songs towards the end are more rocking in the early, original glam rock style, so more T. Rex I guess, and we also get some soaring, fuzzy solo guitar work. I got to say that it was really great to have a new album by Mr. Watts, and I'm sure the fans of Tyrannosaurus Rex will appreciate his creativity and hard work on this one. Personally, I'm really looking forward to the new Outskirts of Infinity live album recorded at Roadburn 2009 and two U.K. gigs... Sadly their bass player Terry Horbury (also in Vardis) passed away in late 2015. R.I.P. Terry, you will be missed. There will be a Memorial concert for him at The Leather Bottle in London on his birthday this Saturday, so if you can make it, please do.

You can buy There Was a Time CD (there will be a vinyl issue with bonus 7" on Black Widow Records later on!) from all over the place like Amazon, and even order it though Recordshop X in Finland. Go and get it! And if you are not familiar with Outskirts of Infinity or Bari's previous solo work, make sure you check them out at his Bandcamp site.

bariwatts1.bandcamp.com

All old Astral Visions Internet Radio Shows now uploaded to Mixcloud!

Yes, I finally made it. All my vintage shows up to show #60 are now uploaded at Mixcloud for your listening pleasure! Most shows also include rarities and some even unreleased stuff so check them out.

www.mixcloud.com/AstralVisions

Astral Visions 059 by Astral Visions on Mixcloud