Syrenomelia - A Rose Shattered

Human Hox (HHX001)

Some of you might remember Wim Lankriet's project Magdalena Solis from my old Psychotropic Zone reviews. This Belgian artist has now evolved into Syrenomelia. The music is maybe a bit less spacey, psychedelic and dark now but still very melancholic and atmospheric.

A Rose Shattered is the debut single by Syrenomelia and available as a limited CD-R and digital download through Bandcamp. I guess you can say that it is mix of Gothic rock, alternative rock and melodic metal, although not being overtly heavy. The title track begins in a very emotional, gloomy way. The string sounds and vocals (about a toxic relationship between a mother and her daughter) fit in perfectly and the track soon gets more powerful and intense. Cool! "Like the World Outside" has a ghostly vibe with its, at first whispered, vocals and dark keyboards etc. This reminds me of some of the 90s Gothic rock bands, not bad at all. In the middle the track sounds almost like funeral doom metal, so I guess this IS as dark as Magdalena Solis after all... The track has a very gloomy, menacing feel to it, like something very bad is about to happen. If you like dark, melancholic, eerie and atmospheric music you should definitely check out Syrenomelia.

www.syrenomelia.net

The Legendary Flower Punk - Wabi Wu

Tonzonen Records

The Legendary Flower Punk from St. Petersburg, Russia is sort of hard to pin down. They are not overtly psychedelic or spacey, not main-stream, not pure jazz, funk or trance but maybe still all those things and a lot more. They can play in a very progressive style and know how to jam and rock out. Some of the stuff is also rather experimental but still really not that hard to digest. We know the guitarist Kamille also from his main band The Grand Astoria who are, at least at times,  a bit heavier than TLFP. Other main members are Mike Lopakov (bass) and Nick Kunavin (drums) and Wabi Wu also features a large cast of guest musicians from the Russian music scene (sax, electronics, flute, synths etc). Fans of Ozric Tentacles will be delighted to know that Ed Wynne plays a great guitar solo on "Hexagram"!

To me the band are at their best in the danceable up-beat tracks like "Prince Mojito" and "Hexagram" that bring to mind bands like Maserati and, espacially the last mentioned, also The Ozrics. The track "Aki Kaurismäki" has gained some momentum in the Finnish press since it's sort of homage to the famous Finnish film director and also includes some samples from his movie "Hamlet liikemaailmassa". It is also a pretty nice track, I must add! Some of the tracks are pretty close to jazz/rock fusion stuff with saxophone and overall jazzy motives and moods, but "Trance Fusion På Ryska" also has some, dare I say, disco elements. Somehow the band makes all these different influences work together. I'm sure there's a lot of stuff to discover for repeated listening times and you won't get bored fast with this album. It has a fresh, inspired and varied vibe to it and the sound quality is super crisp and clear. Well done guys! So far the album is only available on Bandcamp as a digital download but an LP release will follow early next year on the marvellous Tonzonen Records.

www.facebook.com/thelegendaryflowerpunk

Zone Six - Kozmik Koon

Sulatron Records (st1905/st1905-2)

Wow, a new studio album by German impro-spacerockers Zone Six! I've been a fan since the original debut album in 1998 so I'm very excited... The line-up is now Rainer Neeff: guitar, fx (The Pancakes, ex Embryo), Komet Lulu: bass, fx, voice (Electric Moon, Krautzone) and good old Sula Bassana: drums, synths, organ, mellotron, e-piano and a-guitar (Electric Moon, Interkosmos, Krautzone, ex Liquid Visions etc.) and together this trio makes wonders.

The trippy first track "Maschinenseele" is some of the best hypnotic psych rock I've heard this year. After the spacey, tranquil beginning the track grows and pulsates in your mind like a good, heavy and colourful trip! The use of acoustic guitar and wordless human voice gives it more texture and mellotron adds a celestial bonus level. I love this! "Kozmik Koon" is another long killer tune but this time a bit faster and groovier stuff. Makes you want to party in space! Thinks get slower and weirder later on... Then it's time for a couple of shorter, experimental tracks. "Raum" sounds like early Pink Floyd and The Spacious Mind making rough love under heavy medication while "Still" is a sort of 60s oriented, beautiful and dreamy piece. "Song for Richie" is the album's longest track at almost 14 minutes and it's a real mind-journey. The spoken-word stuff fits in perfectly. A very cool, spacey and trippy jam oozing lysergic energy and psychedelic vibes indeed. In summary, Kozmik Koon is another improvised masterpiece by Zone Six and I'm sure all lovers of cosmic, hypnotic, instrumental space rock will like it a lot. Available on vinyl and CD, just go an get it!

www.facebook.com/zonesixz6

Pavallion / Automatism ‎– Purple Ground / Sonar 10”

Tonzonen Records (TON062)

Here’s a cool new split 10” release on the excellent Tonzonen Records. Pavallion’s ”Purple Ground” is softly pulsating psychedelic post rock with some more intense elements. I like the vocals on this one and the overall vibe is just great. This is truly a pleasant listening experience from Germany.

Sweden's Atomatism on the flip side offer us a very enjoyable, rather relaxed jam called ”Sonar”. The mood is rather sleepy and dreamy but there is also a certain krautrock like beat in there. This very nice, atmospheric instrumental is a superb pairing to the Pavallion side and together they from a nice little 10” split. There are only 300 hand-numbered copies of this one so once again: please hurry up!

www.facebook.com/pavallion

www.facebook.com/automatismband

Sounds of New Soma - Nachdenken über Rolf​-​Ulrich Kaiser

Tonzonen Records ()

SONS keep up their rather hectic release schedule of great, experimental, psychedelic, mostly electronic kosmische ambient krautrock. The cover art of course is a remake of the classic krautrock compilation Sci Fi Party that was released on the the legendary Kosmische Musik label in 1974. Famous German writer and  producer Rolf​-​Ulrich Kaiser was the mastermind behind this and many other projects, hence the title of this release that is apparently very influenced by the original electronic Kraut scene.


This time we've got mostly shorter tracks and there are nine of them. The overall vibe of this album is very relaxed and spacey and also rather quiet and minimal. This is perfect music to put on your headphones, lay down, close your eyes and start dreaming. This is very meditative, instrumental music and the synthesizers and sequencers of Dirk and Alex are at points augmented by jazzy saxophone, guitar, drums etc. by guest musicians. There is also some narration in German on a couple of tracks. The very nice "Luftikus" is closer to the folkier side of of the Krautrock element. The titles like "Kaiser's Kaffee" and "Komische Kuriere" emphasize the effect of the "good old lysergic times" on the band's music. The longest track is "Kinder der Geburtstagspresse" that also has a drum beat. The last, beautiful and dreamy track "Verschollen" is a nice tribute to all the original musicians and inner space astronauts that we have already lost in time and also has some wordless singing. All in all, Nachdenken über Rolf​-​Ulrich Kaiser is a great tribute and homage to the kosmische music of the past as well as a very successful update on the genre. Warmly recommended!

 www.facebook.com/SoundsOfNewSoma

Maat Lander / Sounds of New Soma - Split LP

Tonzonen Records (TON075)

This is a marvelous new split album by two of the most interesting modern instrumental psych/space/krautrock/ambient/electronic bands. On side A we get more of the rock thing with three previously unreleased tracks by Russian's Maat Lander. When you have members from bands like Vespero and Re-Stoned you just can't go wrong and Maat Lander definitely does the job with flying colours again. SONS is for sure one of the leading acts in the more "kosmisch" school of mind-altering ambient music at the moment and I have loved their every release.

At first, Maat Lander show us the "Maat's Way" with a peaceful beginning that shortly builds up into a cool Ozrics styled groove. The Fedotov brothers tight rhythm section and cool, spacey electronic sounds is a perfect match to Ilya's very fluent, soulful and imaginative guitar playing. "Volga Dream" is a slower, atmospheric trip deep into your mind, just close your eyes and let the music take you on a journey. "Lunar Module" has a cosmic vibe from the beginning, the hypnotic beat starts after the two-minute-marker. Very nice yet again, we are floating in space!

SONS deliver us three a bit shorter (for them, anyway!) tracks all in between 5 and 6 minutes in length. "Auf Fart" starts off their side with beautiful, tranquil synthesizers staying rather minimal and ambient all the way. "Radweg ins Glück" is next and this time we also get some Tangerine Dream styled sequencers and laid-back guitar. Very mellow and pleasant stuff! "Ab Fart" ends the B side in similar mode, but now there is also some faint electronic beat. These three tracks seem like three parts of a one long piece since they flow together so nicely and put you in a cosmic dream state. Wonderful! If you want this superb split LP you'd better hurry up since it's limited to just 300 copies and already sold-out at source.

maatlander.bandcamp.com/music

www.facebook.com/SoundsOfNewSoma

Psychic Lemon ‎– Freak Mammal

Drone Rock Records ‎(DRR030)

Freak Mammal (must mean us humans?) is the third studio album by Cambridge based space/kraut/psych rock group Psychic Lemon. It follows the splendid live album Live At The Smokehouse that the band released earlier this year. I've been a fan since I first heard the band's little more prog oriented, eponymous debut album in 2016 and have loved all releases. Psychic Lemon's brand of psych/space/krautrock is never a direct clone of any other band as they do have a direction of their own to go and I like it.

This new album released on two limited vinyl editions, CD and digital download has seven rather long instrumental tracks on it. The space party begins with the over 10-minute, hypnotic "Dark Matter". I love the heavy, modern krautrock style here. Things get pretty fuzzy and wild so this is not for the faint-hearted. The even longer "Seeds of Tranquility" is a bit more peaceful, dreamy and also very hypnotic track with repetitive bass line, psychedelic guitar and cool percussion. There's also some spacey synthesizer for a good measure of course. This long cerebral jam reminds me of some of the old White Hills stuff a bit. "Afrotropic Bomb" is a more explosive, wild thing again, for fans of The Heads and A.M.T., perhaps! Also "Free Electron Collective" is an energetic, freaky mind-blaster that works really well. "White Light" is fast, pounding & powerful space rock the way it should be. Mugstar at their best comes to mind, wow! Another killer album by this great band. I hope I get to see them live one of these days.

www.facebook.com/psychiclemon