Spurious Transients: Planet Cantaloupe EP

Self-released (SPTRCD002)

This is a promo CD copy of a forth-coming 7" EP by Spurious Transients, a Welsh band started by Gavin Lloyd Wilson (guitar, bass, electronics) and now also featuring Paul Williams (guitar, bass, electronics), Jake Caswell (drums and percussion), Jaamie' Sen (lead and rhythm guitar), Doug Bransden (saxophone) and Phil Harris (sitar and tanpura). I just reviewed the band's debut full-length CD last month, check it out here. This new EP includes three instrumental tracks combining kraut rock, prog, psychedelia, electronica and jazz to a pleasant, atmospheric and uplifting mix. First we've got a new track called "Planet Cantaloupe" that starts off in a mellow, soft way, but starts to rock out a bit more after one minute. It has a jazzy, jamming mode that I really enjoy, and sitar and tanpura also add in some ethnic colours. Great! "Gitarau Cosmig" is more guitar-oriented (digital, acoustic & Ebow guitars), a bit folk-rocky piece that also has comic, swooshy synths and drums. Very nice. The EP is finished with a two-minute "Planet Cantaloupe (Reprise)" that brings to mind the hazy moments of Gong... The band will play at Fruit de Mer's / Sendelica's The 13th Dream of Doctor Sardonicus: A Festival of Psychedelia in Cardigan, Ceredigion, Wales this summer and hopefully the 7" will be ready by then! Gavin is also a part-time member of Sendelica and if the EP cover seems familiar it might have something to do with the fact that it was made by Morvenna Richards who has also produced several Sendelica album sleeves and gig posters. If you wish, the band has some copies of this promo CD for sale on their Bandcamp site already.

spurioustransients.bandcamp.com

Mansion: Uncreation EP

Mansion Records (MR002)

This 36-minute 12" is the third release by Finnish occult/doom/psych band Mansion. I guess this four-tracker released already in December 2014 could be called as a mini LP. The clear vinyl limited to 100 copies came with a cool glow-in-the-dark slip mat, but is of course already sold-out. You can still purchase the black vinyl version limited to 250 copies and both versions also include the tracks on CD and come with additional inserts. Very nice!

The disc starts off with the pretty slow, doomy and heavy "Child Preacher".  I love the dark melodies, powerful chorus and vocals on this one! The atmospheric "Uncreation" is the longest track at 12:51 and it starts off very slowly and quietly with quiet organ sounds. The guitar riffs remind me of old Candlemass which is never a bad thing... Excellent vocals again! "I Am the Mansion" is at first just dark, cool synth/organ stuff but starts to rock slowly after one minute. Another slow, gloomy doom track with great chorus. Later on there are also some faster NWOBHM styled banging, cool! The album is finished with the nine-minute "Divining Rod" that has a mysterious, heavy, dark and sort of psychedelic vibe all over it. This one has some great solo guitar work as well. What an excellent ending for this superp mini album! Can't wait for the debut full-length that should be ready soon...

www.facebook.com/mansionalma

Astral Visions Radio Show #58 @ Aural Innovations

Check out my Astral Visions Radio Show #58 @ Aural Innovations!

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

 Playlist:

Follakzoid - "Electric" (from III)
K-X-P - "Obsolete and Beyond" (from forthcoming album III Part 1)
Black Lizard – “Perfect Dope” (from Solarize)
Domovoyd - "Ambrosian Perfume" (from forthcoming S/T album)
Acid King – “Center of Everywhere” (from Middle of Nowhere, Center of Everywhere)
Mind Mountain - Astraeus” (from Split 7” with Carlton Melton)
Gnod - "Breaking the Hex" (from Infinity Machines)
Jet Jaguar - "Starlost" (from Mysteries of Antimatter)
White Manna - "Dunes 1" (from forthcoming album Pan)
Glowpeople – “Happen” (from Happen…)
Papir meets Electric Moon - The Papermoon Sessions – “Powdered Stars (Live)” (from Live at Roadburn 2014)
The Red Plastic Buddha - "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun” (from free download)
Eternal Tapestry - "Wild Strawberries” (from Wild Strawberries)
Lamp of the Universe - "Celestial Forms" (from The Inner Light of Revelation)




 Please go here to download or have a listen:

aural-innovations.com/radio/astral.html

My playlist at Club Mathmos, Side Club, Helsinki, 24.4.2015

This is what I played at our first Club Mathmos last Friday:

Lamp of the Universe: God of One
Föllakzoid: Electric
White Manna: Pan
Aqua Nebula Oscillator: Turn on Your Mind
The Bevis Frond: Begone
The Black Angles: Sunday Evening
Giobia: Electric Light
Jacco Gardner: Clear the Air
Camera: Synchron
The Cosmic Dead: Gustav Björnstrand
Dead Skeletons: Dead Comet
Hawkwind: Magnu
Assemble Head in Sunburst Sound: Sunshine
Goat: Disco Fever
Hexvessel: Your Head Is Reeling
Sun Dial: Exploding in Your Mind
Pyramidal: Black Land
Porcupine Tree: Track Eleven
Vibravoid: She's Just 13
Polska Radio One: Fractalized Sky
Hawkwind: Psychedelic Warlords
Hills: Rise Again
Astra: Barefoot in the Head
St. Mikael: My Dream

Not a bad start for our new club, although there were some chaos and techical problems at the beginning since the PA etc. is not working properly... There really should be a house sound guy to take full responsibility that everything works okay!!! But the owners couldn't care less.

The bands still all gave us great performances, thanks to them and all the people who paid the ticket and took the ride!

Dj Astro's playlist 17.4.2015 @ Korjaamo (Siinai & Superfjord)

This is what I played at Korjaamo´s Kulmasali, not that much time to spin records but anyway:

Astralasia: Rangoon
Master Musicians of Bukkake: Arche
Kosmischer Läufer: Flucht aus dem Tal der Ahnungslosen
Camera: From the Inside
Wooden Shjips: Contact
Motorpsycho: Überlanger of A Billion Bubbles in My Mind
Ozric Tentacles: Sploosh!
Tame Impala: Elephant (Todd Rundgren Remix)
Itäväylä: Future Boogie
Lumerians: Dogon Genesis
Polska Radio One: The Fractalized Sky
Kraftwerk: Radio-Activity
Air: Don't Be Light
K-X-P: Obsolete and Fire
Tähtiportti: Tähtiportti III Ikuinen talvi
Hawkwind: Master of the Universe

It was a very cool night with great gigs by both bands featuring very nice projections! Here are short sections I shot with my mobile phone:

A new psych club starting in Helsinki on 24.4.: Club Mathmos!

Club Mathmos is a new music club in Helsinki focusing on different kinds of psychedelic music. The first club night is on 24.4.2015 and takes place in Side Club, that is located inside Pub Pete on Hietaniemenkatu 7. Side Club used to be called Dark Side before the renovations. The club opens at 21:00 and closes at 03:00.

On Friday the 24th, we will have four live bands, two of them duos.

 -Hazard Wings
Psychedelic, punky hybrid of The Stooges, MC5 and Hawkwind!

- Ghost Of Jack Nance
Noisy, harsh and primitive alternative/shoegaze rock in the vein of Jesus and the Mary Chain.

- Mysterose Garden
Deep, beautiful, spiritual and meditative ambient music for the New Age psychonauts.

-Rower

Experimental duo that even we don't know much about...

Dj Astro wll be playing some great psychedelic rock.

Tickets (at the door only): 6€ + door money.

Get in through Pub Pete.

Here's the Facebook event link.

You are all welcome!!!

Vibravoid: 2001 - 15th Anniversary Deluxe 2CD Edition

Stoned Karma Records (SK007CD)

What can I say about Vibravoid from Düsseldorf, Germany? Since I bought a 2LP version of their debut album 2001 when it originally came out in 2001 on Nasoni Records (the first CD version being released a year before on Triggerfish Music), I've been deeply in love. Who else would put out a limited edition of their debut with two differently coloured LP's with exactly the same songs and in same order but the other vinyl playing from inside groove out? These guys must be very high and cool, I though, and still do. The album included such instant psych hits as "She Is Just 13", "Lovely Lady Deb O'Nair" and "Ballspeaker" and definitely got my attention. Since then, I have bought all their releases immediately when they became available, and I'm so glad that I have since their limited edition stuff is nowadays sold-out already on pre-order and you can expect to pay astronomical prices on Ebay etc. I have also been lucky enough to see the band's highly psychedelic live show and met them personally on several occasions the first time being the Nasoni Records 10 Years Birthday Party in Berlin in 2006, and my mind is permanently blown. This band has had an integral part in the revival of the original psychedelic era of the 60s with also some influences of kraut rock and Spacemen 3. My favourite band of the modern age!

What I have here is a very cool promo edition of the re-mastered and expanded 2CD and 4LP versions that will come out around the 8th of May with loads of extra goodies, especially if you pre-order which is highly recommended. Both formats will of course include exclusive bonus tracks. Even this promo copy is loaded with cool inserts, a booklet and optic art gizmos, so I'm really excited! Stoned Karma also threw in a bonus live DVD... This is quite different to receiving a dull download/streaming link that I mostly just forget about! This is the real deal, music from the aether having taken a physical form. This is the way to treat a reviewer! The original album included nine songs, and the 2CD first offers all those in remastered form and in slightly different running order starting with "She Is Just 13" instead of the experimental "Three Minutes for Free Tibet". These tracks now sound a lot better than the original versions. Then there are alternative/demo versions of "Lovely Lady Deb O'Nair", "Mystery Ship", "Ballspeaker", "Psychodrome" and "Three Minutes for Free Tibet" that are very interesting to hear, since they are rather different. A real treat is the 2015 version of "She Is Just 13" that finishes off the first CD and will also be included on a forth-coming Stoned Circus Radio Show - 20th Anniversary compilation LP.

The second disc starts with seven live tracks recorded at Swamp Room Happening 2001 in Germany. I'm really digging these early live recordings with great sound quality! "Three Minutes for a Free Tibet" is used as an intro, and then the band blasts off into "She Is Just 13" and "Ballspeaker". After that it's time to chill out with "Mystery Ship", and then they freak out with "Astronomy Domine" by Syd's Pink Floyd, who clearly are one of the main influences of Vibravoid. Great! "Vivid Vision" rocks hard and the long "Void Vibration" is dreamy, celestial, spacey and divine as usual. Then we get four early demos from the 90s! "Genesis of Dreams" is a short experimental instrumental, "Psychodrome" sounds pretty much like Spacemen 3 with very different vocals, "She Is Just 13" is pretty rough and primitive and the earliest demo from 1993 "Journey to the Centre of the Sun" lasts for 23 minutes and is a real trip also including some sitar! 2001 is one of the best records ever released and this new expanded edition is essential for every self-respecting psychedelic rock collector. Don't miss out!

www.stonedkarma.com/vibravoid