Dj Astro to dj at the Pentagram/Satan/Spiritus Mortis/The Order of Israfel/Satan's Fall show in Helsinki this Saturday!

I'm thrilled to announce that I will be djing at the Pentagram show @ Nosturi, Helsinki, this Saturday 12.11.2016! Get your tickets now since this will be an event not to miss...

I will be spinning the best doom/metal/heavy psych available to human ears starting at 20:00.

Showtimes:
20:30 SATAN'S FALL
21:15 THE ORDER OF ISRAFEL (SWE)
22:00 SPIRITUS MORTIS
23:00 SATAN (UK)
0:15 PENTAGRAM (USA)

www.facebook.com/events/1085189201562800/

 

The Honey Pot - Ascending Scales

Fruits de Mer Records (winkle 25)

Fruits de Mer Records with their sister labels have been very productive  since their inception in 2008. What would be a better way to celebrate the 100th release on the label than to make excellent psychedelic musicians to record a great double LP with original and classic tunes and inviting lots of friends of the fish to join the mind-altering ride as guests! This is exactly what happened and the result will see the light of day next month with Ascending Scales, one of the best albums in 2016.

The Honey Pot is an U.K based psych rock/folk band featuring FdM / Mega Dodo heroes Icarus Peel and Crystal Jacqueline, who are very capable of creating marvellous music by themselves. On this album their band is joined by many famous musicians like Dick Taylor (The Pretty Things), James Lowe (The Electric Prunes), Tom Newman and Peter Cook (July), Tony Durant (Fuchsia), Nick Saloman and Adrian Shaw (The Bevis Frond) as well as lots of little more underground and modern artists that have been connected to Fruits de Mer. Even 12 of the 14 tracks on this 80-minute album have at least one guest musician on it!

Right away from the opener "1969" starting off with a small spoken piece by James Lowe it's clear that this album is a winner. "Solomon Deep" sounds a bit like Bo Diddley's "Who Do You Love?", so Dick Taylor's great guitar solo fits like a glove. "Love Is Green" with Jack Ellister on guitars is a beautiful, folky tune. Anton Barbeau's vocals are perfect for the rather cheery and up-beat psych pop piece "Dr. Crippen's Waiting Room", originally by Orange Machine. One of my faves on this album! The spooky "Can't You See the Witch" (The Ruttles) rocks out great with synths by Cary Grace, another highlight on the first album. The July guys are a great match to the mellow, a bit bluesy "Half a Memory", a new song written for this album. Then it's time for some folk vibes again with the Pretty Things classic "Sitting Alone". Wonderful female vocals (four different ones) on this one! The seven-minute "I've Been So Tired" is one of the most psychedelic and experimental tracks and originally from Mordecai Smyth's first album. There's also some sax by Tabatha Smyth and very psyched-out solo guitar work. Very nice!

The second slap of vinyl starts off with "Time Machine" by Stray. Ade Shaw is playing bass and Nick Saloman does the wonderful guitar solo when the track really starts to rock out. I can never get enough of his guitar! "Lucky Spaceman" has Curvey from The Luck of Eden Hall on vocals and guitar and I like it a lot. "Rainy Day Mushroom Pillow" (Strawberry Alarm Clock) gets a very special and atmopsheric treatment with Steve Palmer from Mooch playing some exotic whistles and pipes from his large ethnic instrument collection. "America" is a tune we all are familiar with, but it still sounds somehow fresh in here. Then it's time for a The Honey Pot original "Into the Deep" and it sure is a great track as well. I love there spacey sounds and theremin and the guest on this one is Bruce Woolley (from Buggles). Tony Durant from Fuchsia is saved for the last and "River Runs By" joint written by Icarus Peel and Tony for this release is a wonderful, peaceful way to end the trip. There are no fillers on the album, so 80 minutes go by in a lovely haze and wonder. The mix of old and new songs and inclusion of so many superb guests makes this a very interesting and enjoyable experience. Just get this marvelloous album!

www.facebook.com/thehoneypotband

Various Artists - Plankton - A Fruits de Mer Collection

Record Collector Magazine / Fruits de Mer (?)

I feel a bit weird reviewing an album that was originally released three years ago, but what an excellent compilation this is. Record Collector honored (and quite rightfully too!) Fruits de Mer Records in 2013 by releasing a vinyl compilation of the first dozen FdM releases with all tracks remastered, and it surely was one of the best releases that year for me even though I of course had all the original cover EP's. This great LP also got a one-sided 7" with a Pretty Things track on it and was limited to 500 copies. Now the album is available again but now through Fruits de Mer and on CD, but limited to just 300 copies!

The cover track selection is totally superb, and you just can't wrong with bands like Schizo Fun Addict, Stay, Vibravoid, Us and Them etc. Okay, so as you know, the key is that modern artists perform the psychedelic treasures from the past, but you can also find two 70s cult acid folk heroes on the disc: Mark Fry doing a new version of his sublime "Dreaming with Alice" and Alison O'Donnell doing a lovely cover of Nick Drake's "When the Day Is Gone". Since things are never too smooth and clever with Fruits de Mer, they have used the very same, and really awesome, cover art than was used on the original LP, so the bonus Pretty Things live track is not even mentioned, and the label story inside the open gatefold by Fruits de Mer's Keith is almost unreadable for most people over forty. But these are just minor things considering how wonderful it is that you can now get all that great music easily even if you don't have a vinyl player and at a great price too.

www.fruitsdemerrecords.com/planktoncd.html

Hotlist November 2016!

High there! I was too busy last month to even put out a hotlist but here's my top ten at the moment (in no particular order):

Baby Woodrose - Freedom LP + 7"
Blown Out ‎– New Cruiser LP + CD
Kandodo / McBain ‎– Lost Chants/Last Chance 2LP
Vibravoid ‎– Wake Up Before You Die LP + bonus live LP
Various Artists ‎– Magnetic North LP
Flowers Must Die ‎– Sista Valsen 12"
Our Solar System ‎– In Time LP
Seedy Jeezus with Isaiah Mitchell ‎– TranquonautsLP
Lamp Of The Universe ‎– Hidden Knowledge LP
Sendelica ‎– The Pavillion Of Magic And Trials Of The Seven Surviving Elohim 2LP

Astral Visions #69 online now!

Astral Visions #69 finally online with cool psychy tracks by The Astral Army, Goat, Kremlin, THE CULT OF DOM KELLER, Flowers Must Die, Gong - Band, The Fërtility Cult, Katla, Sundarata, The Orange Drop, TEKSTI-TV 666, Narcosatanicos, Sherpa, Cary Grace, Steve Hillage, Paul Marcano and Light Dreams, Ahkmed & Neil Anderson. Let the journey begin...

www.mixcloud.com/AstralVisions/astral-visions-69

Playlist at Blowup II Festival, Korjaamo, Helsinki, 14.10.2016

I had a really great time at the second incarnation of Blowup last weekend! It was so cool to meet so many friends old and new and hear some of the heaviest and best bands ever. I was the dj on Friday and this (I think...) is what I played:

Sleep of Monsters - The Devil and All His Works (thanks again Sami...)
Black Sabbath - Lady Evil
Flowers Must Die - Taskig Stämning Annars
Aluk Tolodo - Burial Ground
The Cult of Dom Keller - Broken Arm of God
Celtic Frost - Procreation of the Wicked
Seremonia - Hasiskultti
The Cosmic Dead - Gustav Björnstrand
Angel Witch - Angel Witch
The Skull - The Skull
Aleister Crowley - Excerpts from the Gnostic Mass
Kikagaku Moyo - Green Sugar
Minami Deutsch - Futsu Ni Ikirenai
Baby Woodrose - Reality
Coven - White Witch of Rose Hall
Black Widow - Come to the Sabbath
Blue Öyster Cult - Don't Fear the Reaper
Mercyful Fate - The Oath
Blood Ceremony - Return to Forever
Aphrodite's Child - The Four Horsemen
Mana Mana - Mikä on sun taivas
Earthless - Acid Crusher
Bathory - Enter the Eternal Fire
Venom - Manitou
Moon Duo - Sleepwalker

Thanks a lot everyone involved! Again next year?

Uluru - Imaginary Sun

Tonzonen Records (TON 018)

Uluru is a new psychedelic stoner rock band from Instanbul, Turkey. This is their first full-length album released on two different limited vinyl editions on the excellent Tonzonen Records. You can also get this as a double CD including two EP's: Imaginary Sun and Dazed Hill (seven tracks in total), and this LP version has five of those tracks. Two shorter pieces, the title track "Imaginary Sun" and "Set Loose" from Dazed Hill are missing from the LP. Confused yet?

So what do we have here? Long, instrumental tracks of rather heavy and gloomy, but also atmospheric stuff played by a trio of guitar, bass and drums with no (noticeable) overdubs. So it's all real and pretty simple yet effective played with a lot of emotion. These young guys know their shit and can play, and the music they make is rather interesting, but not really that psychedelic or spacey. The first track "Uluru" is slow and sort of bluesy, apart from the faster ending. "Demon Spirit" is similar in style, but has more soloing and also more laid-back jam parts. Cool! "Elegy" is one of my favourites with a bit mystical, melancholic and spiritual vibe. I'm somehow reminded of Finnish band Kingston Wall, very nice! Another slow piece. The almost 11-minute "Dazed Hill" starts off side B and yes, slow jamming again. Some excellent vibes in this one as well, although they might have done something different by now like exploding my brain with some faster psych rocking. Okay, they sort of do that after the seven-minute-marker actually when the track grows and gets more intense! More of that, please. The LP is finished with the dreamy "Blind Camel" that has some Oriental touch. I wish they would use some more Turkish / Anatolian influences since I think that would make their music more unique and memorable. There are just so many bands playing this kind of heavy instrumental jam music, that's it's easy to get lost in the middle. Anyway, Uluru is a very promising band and everybody into atmospheric, psychedelic stoner/hard rock should check out this album.

ulurutrio.bandcamp.com