Hawkfan #40 out now.

Brian Tawn has been busy again, and the new issue of his long-running Hawkwind fan mag Hawkfan just dropped through my mail box yesterday. This is issue 40, and concentrates on the Hawkeaster 2014 weekend. And it sure sounds like it was a fun-packed, friendly and personal event! Even though I have never been able to make it to any of the special Hawkwind celebrations, it feels so good to read about them. Luckily Hawkwind will play in Finland again next week at the H2Ö festival in Turku so I will get to see them again!

There is also a short Damnation Alley going through some of the latest Hawkwind related releases, also the new Spirits Burning 2CD. Please support Brian and order your copy: including postage, it's £1.80 within the UK, £2.80 to the rest of Europe and £3.50 outside Europe. Paypal to briantawn@aol.com.

The Spacelords: Synapse

Sulatron Records (st1403)

I have really enjoyed the three previous self-released albums (two studio CD’s and one live CD-R) by this psychedelic space rock trio from Southern Germany, so it’s really nice to also get a cool limited vinyl album by them! Their drummer is also now playing in Electric Moon, and here Marcus also uses his voice a bit, although the music is almost instrumental. Other members are Klaus on bass, synthesizers and effects and Hazi on guitars and effects.

The album includes just four long, jamming tracks. The title track starts off the LP and is at first quite spacey and floating although groovy somehow reminding me of 90’s UK space rock gods Ship of Fools as well as the Ozrics. The track gets a bit heavier in the middle and there are also some more progressive passages. A very nice opener! ”Sitarguitar” begins in a very tranquil and ethereal mood but the slow beat is added rather soon. You can chill out for about six minutes but then things start to happen… ”No 2” has lots of synthesizers and this is another very nice, mellow and hypnotic track that strangely but effectively uses the melody from ”Song of the Volga Boatmen”, a well-known traditional Russian folk song, at the end. The LP ends with ”Pyroclastic Monster” that also has some manipulated voice by the drummer. I’m even getting some Hawkwind vibes later on, when the track speeds up and starts to really rock out, great! I really like this band, check them out. They will get you somewhere out there…

www.thespacelords.com

Deep Space: Through the Haze

Sulatron Records (st1401)

Deep Space is a psychedelic acid rock band from the birth place of psychedelia: Austin, Texas. You can hear the influence of the old gurus like 13th Floor Elevators, but unlike bands like The Black Angels, Deep Space doesn't really write catchy tunes with sweet melodies but concentrate on long, trippy, heady and repetitive excursion into the center of the mind. And I like it! This is their debut vinyl album. The band sadly got some bad reputation due to their main man Robbie D Love pretty much fucking everything up at Berlin Psych Fest that he was organizing earlier this year, but I'm not the one to blame anyone on the catastrophe since I don't know the details and there might have been lots of bad luck, legal issues, lack of experience, being too out-of-it etc. involved. But I know a lot of bands and fans are upset. Anyway, let's leave that subject and check out this cool album instead!

There are five tracks on the marbled vinyl limited to 500 copies only. They start off with a heavy rocking "Work" that sounds pretty much like Wooden Shjips, White Manna or bands like that and I'm already hooked. One riff with lots of acid fuzz guitar, a steady beat and hypnotic vocals is all it needs. "Vibrations" is a longer (11:15), slower song that also has some early Spacemen 3 vibes. Very nice and heady stuff, that also has some variation with an atmospheric jam etc. The A-side ends with a sort of 60s garage rock styled, faster "Inner Light" that also some organ. Things get pretty wild here... "Motorcycle" (not a Wooden Shjips cover) is the longest track at 15:30. This one sounds very mystical and hazy, almost like The Doors on some of their slower, dreamier and hypnotic songs. I like the cosmic spoken word on this one. Very trippy shit! The album is finished with the nine-minute "Lady Heroine" and this one is in the Velvet Underground vein and has again some pretty psychedelic guitar work. I hope the band can work out the problems and carry on since this actually is a pretty solid and psychedelic debut album.

www.facebook.com/deepspaceflight

Electric Moon: Mind Explosion / Innside Outside

Sulatron Records (st1402-2) / The Great Pop Supplement (GPS 114)

Okay, here we have two latest offerings by German free-form heavy space/kraut/acid/stoner rock pilots Electric Moon. Dave and Lulu have now scored a permanent drummer it seems, since Marcus Schnitzler has been around for some time now as well. And he's the right man for the job, no question about that!

Electric Moon is a live album released on CD (March the 7th) and 2LP (April the 11th). The CD is strictly limited to 500 copies and the marbled vinyl 2LP in open gatefold to 1000. This album includes a wild live concert from Feldkirch, Austia, at the end of their 2013 European tour. The band is in excellent mode and really rocks and freaks out! Despite the somewhat primitive recording technique the sound is really good (mastered by Eroc as usual) and when you put the volume up you feel like you're experiencing this live in the front row. There are four long improvisations all filling up one side of the double vinyl. "Trip to the Moon" starts off the gig with the usual, monotonic and hypnotic way with lots of spacey effects on top of the heavy jamming. Dave (Sula Bassana) also has a Casio Organ that is clearly audible at the end. Great! "Kaleidoscopeephole" begins in a very tranquil mood but starts to rock slowly around the three-minute-marker. Its effect on the human brain is pretty kaleidoscopic alright... Just close your eyes and you will start to see colorful patterns! As usual, they pretty much stay in one chord, though. "The Picture" starts with a simple bass line by Lulu and it's another heavy, hypnotic rocker but with somewhat more groove and some stoner rock vibes. I'm reminded of Monster Magnet a bit, although this is of course purely instrumental and more psychedelic. Great track! The title track "Mind Explosion" finishes off the album in a very cosmic, psychedelic and magnificent way. This is the fastest jam on the album and gets pretty wild... The audience seems totally out-of their minds after this one!


Innside Outside is the brand-new album and will be released on limited coloured vinyl only in a week or two. I first thought that this was a studio album since the promo sheet didn't mention it being live but live it is. This is the first album to be released in the UK, where they have been touring successfully for a couple of year now, so I guess they're getting bigger... This time the cover art is by Ulla Papel, not Lulu Artwork!, but she's still responsible for the layout. This album has only two tracks, but they are very long as always... "Innside" starts off peacefully with some spacey effects and floating organ and builds up slowly into a slow, heavy and mesmerizing groove. It has a very trippy, almost narcotic quality that puts you in deep trance. Things get a bit faster and more energetic later on, and I love it! "Outside" on the B side might be the less cosmic of the tracks but this rocks in a psychedelic stoner rock way. This one is suitable for some serious head-banging as well! Very intense stuff by the band. Both of these releases are highly recommended for the fans of the band.

www.electricmoon.de

Hotlist

The Oscillation: Cable Street Sessions 12"
The Spacelords: Synapse
Ethereal Riffian: Aeonian
Telstar Sound Drone: Feel It/Someone 10"
A. R. Machines: Die Grüne Reise
La Piramide de Sangue: Sette
Crystal Thoughts: Becoming Acid 10"
White Manna: Come Down Safari
Electric Moon: Mind Explosion
Circle (Ex-Falcon): Leviatan

E-Musikgruppe Lux Ohr: Spiralo

Svart Records (SVR 2869

E-Musikgruppe Lux Ohr from Turku, Finland, is your perfect Time Machine to the cosmic and ambient electronic music of old-time Berlin-school masters like Klaus Schulze and Tangerine Dream.  This is their second studio album on Svart Records and before that they have released one live album.  Live performances seem to be very important for this great band and also Spiralo first began as an improvised live set they played at their concerts during the late 2011 and early 2012. Lux Ohr then decided to re-create the set and release it as their second studio album. Like Kometenbahn (2013) Spiralo is only out on limited vinyl edition (300 x black and 200 x transparent red).

If you are  fan of experimental, adventurous & spacey ambient music played with analogue and digital synthesizers, sequencers, drum machines, organ, keyboards & a little bit of atmospheric guitar, you will love this stuff. Your personal trip to the moon and beyond is guaranteed when you put a copy of this album on your turntable, turn the lights off and just chill out to the music. The album includes just one instrumental track "Spirallo", that is decided in equal parts on sides one and two. Side one is full of very hypnotic and also psychedelic synth/sequencer etc. moods, and I can only hear some gentle guitar after about ten minutes. The track cools down for the last three minutes or so, and you can hear the guitar more clearly. Excellent! The space journey continues on side two, first in a pretty minimal and experimental way. Slowly some beat comes through and we speed through the galaxies with lasers blazing. This part also has some superb e-bow guitar by Kimi, great! What a great album, just go to their Bandcamp site and listen for yourself!

soundcloud.com/e-musikgruppe-lux-ohr

Playlist @ Bar Loose, Helsinki, 26.6.2014 (Octopus Syng, Rambamalam, Debbie Fox)

Dj Astro playlist:

Brayan: Cool Kids Vibrate with the Universe
The Luck of Eden Hall/Victoria: Dandy Horse
The Black Angels: Diamond Eyes
Giobia: Electric Light
Vespero: Anpeilen!
Lumerians: Dogon Genesis
Dead Skeletons: Dead Comet
Temples: Mesmerise
Tame Impala: Apocalypse Dreams
Vibravoid: Colour Your Mind
Jacco Gardner: Chameleon
Moon Duo: I Can See
Superfjord: Love Supreme
The Oscillation: No Place to Go
Tuber: Sex and Depression
The Raveonettes: Sinking with the Sun
Papir: I
Vibravoid: Listen, Can't You Hear
Camera: Ausland
Eat Lights Become Lights: La Kraut III
Roky Erickson: Two Headed Dog
Rättö ja Lehtisalo: Valonnopeus
Baby Woodrose: Nothing Is Real
Me and My Kites: Back When I Came
Temples: Colours to Life
Telstar Sound Drone: Feel It