Samsara Blues Experiment - One With The Universe

Electric Magic Ride (EMCD07/EMLPX)

Samsara Blues Experiment was formed in 2007 by ex-Terraplane guitarist Christian Peters. Their 2010 debut album Long Distance Trip has already gained a sort of cult status in the heavy psychedelic blues/stoner rock circles and you can expect to pay over 100€ for the original green limited edition LP. After that debut the band has released two studio albums and one live one as well as a couple of EP's. After a few years' break (while Christian was doing solo stuff as Surya Kris Peters and getting deeper into Eastern spirituality) Samsara Blues Experiment is back and they sound better than ever.

The new album released in April (yes, I'm very late again, sorry...) includes five long tracks. First we've got the long opener "Vipassana" that takes us out for a meditative flight on mystical, ancient flying machines. This track is a real trip and brings to mind 90s Finnish cult psych/prog rockers Kingston Wall although this also has some heavier parts. Excellent! "Sad Guru Returns" starts off with a spoken sample and then the heavy blues rocking begins. Some killer stoner riffs as well as more atmospheric stuff in this nice instrumental track! "Glorious Daze" is a more laid-back, slow tune that gets you into dreamy, meditative state while it grows. This has some similarities with Colour Haze as well as classic hard rock bands I guess and also some sitar and electric piano etc. Cool! The longest piece is the 15-minute title track that starts as very melancholic and instrumental. After some cool, psychedelic jamming things get more intense and there is also some vocals and then they turn then song into blues and then into groovier rocking. The album is finished with the emotional and pretty progressive "Easter Sun & Western Moon" that has some nice keyboards and organ as well. The track gets heavier along the way. This is a great ending for an amazing, powerful album that comes highly recommended. Get it on vinyl, CD or digital!

sbe-official.tumblr.com

Dj Astro's next gigs...

I'm very happy to announce that I have two cool shows to dj in Helsinki pretty soon! I will be spinning vinyl in these events at the legendary Tavastia venue:

Magma (FR) & Circle @ Tavastia, 26.10.2018

Moon Duo (US), Ghost World & UF Ojala @ Tavastia, 14.11.2018

Arc of Ascent - Realms of the Metaphysical

Astral Projection / Clostridium (AST013 / CR0000030)

Arc of Ascent from New Zealand is a sort of heavy stoner/doom metal version of Craig Williamson's cosmic, hypnotic and spiritual psych folk solo project Lamp of the Universe. This one is more like a real band though and also plays live gigs sometimes. On this new album Craig is joined by his mates Matt Cole-Parker and Mark McGeady. All the songs are written and produced by Craig. This is the band's third album and probably the best so far.

Most of the six songs are slow, hypnotic and heavy. "Set The Planets Free" starts up the ceremony. As is typical for Arc of Ascent, there are crushingly heavy, repetative riffs but also enough melody, variation and psychedelic elements to keep things interesting. I really prefer melodic vocals to creepy crawls or screaming also in doom metal context and Craig is not only a killer player but also an excellent singer for this kind of stuff. Anyway, the opener has a strong Black Sabbath vibe and I like it a lot. "Eye of the Sages" sounds like some of the traditional doom metal bands like Candlemass and has quite a lot of solo guitar work as well. Cool! "Haxagram" is closer to stoner rock and even reminds me of Loop. A bit more psychedelic vibes on this one, great! "In the Light" is another heavy and dark traditional doom track and has some killer riffs and hounting keyboards as well. My favourite still probably is the album's shortest track "Benediction Moon", you just can't stop headbanging to this one! Craig took out his beloved sitar for the last, long track "Temple Stone", but the more laid-back intro soon gives room for some Reverend Bizarre styled heavy pounding. The sitar makes a slight come back in the middle and then things get really heavy again. At the end the track gets some organ sounds and slowly and emotionally dies away little by little. What a great ending to a superb album! Craig has released the album on CD on his own Astral Projection label and there are three different, limited vinyl editions on the amazing Clostrudium. Recommended!

www.facebook.com/ArcofAscentNz 

Sidewalk Society - Strange Roads: The Songs of Rolled Gold

Fruits de Mer Records (crustacean 81)

Sidewalk Society is a power pop trio from Long Beach, California. They seem to be somewhat obessessed with 60s freakbeat/mod/psych rock which sort of explains this album. On Strange Roads: The Songs of Rolled Gold the band covers tracks by 60s UK mod/soul/pop/garage rock band The Action. The twist here is that these tracks are not their big hits but sort of "lost songs" recorded in 1967-68 as demos only and not released until the mid 90s. Sidewalk Society used their imagination as to what these great tunes might have been like if they would have been fully developed and I bet they had lots of fun in the process.

Now, I got to confess I've not heard the original The Action demos but what Sidewalk Society has done with these songs is just marvellous. I tend to prefer the up-beat, energetic psych pop tracks like "Love Is" but all the 14 songs sound fantastic. There are lots of excellent melodies and harmonies and some of the tracks also are more orchestrated (just check out "Things You Cannot See" for example). This is not really that psychedelic or mind-expanding but wonderful, melodic and catchy music that makes you feel good and (mostly) happy. Sidewalk Society have done a great job and I really dig their playing and singing too. Get this golden coloured vinyl album if you like 60s mod stuff with excellent, modern production!

sidewalksociety.bandcamp.com

Hotlist September

These were the hottest slabs of wax for me last month:

Domboshawa - Minds Electrix
Vibravoid ‎– A Night At The Museum
Manilla Road ‎– To Kill A King
Earthless ‎– Live At The Freak Valley 2015
Gnod ‎– Live At Roadburn 2012
Lord Vicar ‎– Gates of Flesh
Dungen ‎– Häxan (Versions By Prins Thomas)
Albinö Rhino - Riff Religion 12"
Karakorum - Beteigeuze
White Hills ‎– Pulse 7"  

 

Øresund Space Collective ‎– Hallucinations Inside the Oracle

Space Rock Productions (SPR045)

Although Øresund Space Collective mastermind Dr. Space has relocated to a remote, higher plane location in the universe the Danish/Swedish psychedelic space rock collective seems to still keep themselves busy. Over 50 musicians have played in this band since its inception in 2004. This 80-minute CD / 2LP was recorded almost a year ago at the Black Tornado Studio in Copenhagen. Hallucinations Inside the Oracle features just half of the members that played on the Different Creatures, Ode to a Black Hole and Visions of.... albums and has a sort of different aura to the other releases. I'm not saying the other albums are all similar, of course, but this still has a vibe of its own. It has more sitar and violin than ever, and is pretty laid-back, deep, spaced-out and spiritual.

There are only three tracks on the album. The longest, last piece "The Oracle" has been of course edited into two parts for the second LP. Side A is filled with "Reflections in the Minds Eye". The listener is immediately transported into some otherwordly, Eastern-tingled magical place. Sitar is the main isntruments as the synths and guitars create the backing drone and cool ethnic percussion the heart beat. Later on we also get some cool, slow lead guitar work. The very end is super spacey. Amazing and very hypnotic! B-side's "ESP (Extreme Spatial Perspective)" is more electronic, heavier and up-beat in nature. The beginning brings to mind some of the faster tracks by Eloy or Hawkwind which is great. This is what space rock should feel like! Before six minutes on the journey the track cools down and we get some cool jamming and very trippy atmospheres. Things get heavier and more intense again towards the end. In the end there is just that pulsating sequence again. Another killer OSC space jam for sure! The last, monstrously long (well, over 40 minutes!) "The Oracle" starts off with a synth drone, and then the sitar makes a mighty return. There is also some very nice violin and the track slowly builds up when the drums join in slowly. Things get a bit weird and loose at one point, and then there is more form and direction again and we get some guitar as well. Later on there is also some more rocking, majestic modes that I enjoy very much. The chilled-out, spacey ending has again some great violin that brings to mind Simon House. What a nice trip this is!

The CD comes in 8-panel digipack and is limited to 500 copies. The 2LP has two editions: black vinyl limited to 200 and coloured one limited to 300. The artwork by Ed Unitsky is just brilliant! The release date is October the 11th and you can preorder from the band's Bandcamp site for example. Highly recommended!

www.oresundspacecollective.com

Karakorum - Beteigeuze

Tonzonen Records (TON027)

It always warms my heart to find young guys playing early 70s styled progressive rock and when they do it well I'm in love. This German-based quintet called Karakorum can handle it! Looking at the great cover art by Dale Simpson you might expect something really psychedelic and trippy, but the three parts of Beteigeuze are much closer to the original prog giants like Gentle Giant, Genesis, King Crimson, Yes etc. I think this has much more UK than kraut flavours. Of course there are some mind-blowing elements in there as well.

All the five guys are singing and they are much better than your average prog youngsters these days. The instrumentation includes guitars, bass, drums, organ, electric piano & synth etc. so nothing new there but that's enough to make an old-school prog album. I'm not going to go through all the three parts here minute by minute. Let's just say that there are lots of different stuff in there: emotional, pretty, heavy, progressive, demanding, trippy, experimental and funny. Yes, even funny, and on purpose. These guys are great musicians and have open, adventurous minds so almost anything can and will happen. If you prefer short, simple pop songs or hypnotic, repetative beats this is not for you but if you are a fan of '69-'74 era classic progessive rock I recommend you check this debut album out. The cool looking orange-black marbled vinyl is limited to 500 copies and comes in very nice open gatefold including an inlay. Also available on CD.

www.facebook.com/karakorumband