Various Artists - Head Rush 3LP + CD

Fruits de Mer Records / Strange Fish (strange fish twenty-two) 

 

Fruits de Mer continues their very popular Head series this time with mostly tracks by modern artists that are highly inspired by the motorik style of early 70s Krautrock of NEU!, Kraftwerk, Harmonia and Can. And what a marvellous, massive package of goodies this is! We are already familiar with talented artists and bands like Jay Tausig, The Lost Stoned Pandas, Moon Goose and The Legendary Flower Punk, but this tribute 3LP + CD features lots of Fruits de Mer debutants, which is always interesting. Many spaceheads of course already knew acts like Tara's Bulba, Sonic Trip Project, Culto al Qondor, Psychic Lemon etc. since they present the cream of the present underground psych scene. Anyway, I learned a few new names and I'm sure you will too!

Many of the tracks are pretty faithful to the early 70s kraut ethos but some also have a bit more modern take on the motorik what comes to sound and instrumentation. I think that is a good thing to have some variation. It's also nice to have a good balance of instrumentals and songs with (at least some kind of) vocals. There are 22 tracks in total, seven on the bonus CD. All others are original takes on the krautrock tradition but the CD is finished with a 30-minute live version of Harmonia's "Watussi". I won't even try to pick out any favourites since Keith has done such a great job choosing the tunes here that there are definitely no fillers included, just pure killers! I'm sure this amazing various artists album will be spinning a lot at appreciating homes around the world this summer, let's hope the last 100 or so copies missing in transit will soon also be found!

www.fruitsdemerrecords.com/headrush.html

Dark Bottle ‎– Krautbilly Freakout

 Hulina Records (hulina-022)

Krautbilly Freakout is the latest album by Tampere based punk-folk/psych-country and doombilly band Dark Bottle. You might remember my review of their debut Five Euro Pizza picture LP looking just like a pizza I reviewed five years ago. The band has (luckily) gone into a bit more psychedelic and darker, harder direction. This CD album includes just four long tracks and our old friend Scott "Dr. Space" Heller plays modular synths on two of them.

The slow, moody and dark Irish traditional "Molly Malone" starts off the album in an almost doomy atmospheres. Heavy stuff with a droney ending! Then it's time for an original sung in German. "Die Bibliothek von Babel" is a nice folk song and Scott's windy synths add a cool spacey layer. I really like the vocals on this one. The track was originally recorded by Don's old experimental post-folk duo The Fractal Cauliflowers. "The Sun only Shines when I Leave" rocks out more and has funny lyrics based on truth about Don's work trips. Cool guitar solo! "Make Finland Rake Again" is the fastest song and and makes you want to have a beer or ten and boogie along. Spacey synth makes it a bit like space rock which is cool! Definitely the most psychedelic track here and my favourite. All in all, this is a nice and cool little album worth checking out if you want to hear something a bit different.

darkbottle.bandcamp.com

 

And Then You Die - Electric Uterus

 Skithund Records

 

Hailing from Vaasa, Finland, noisy and dirty industrial band And Then You Die celebrates its 30 year birthday with a new album called Electric Uterus. The album includes seven cold, nihilistic, harsh and dark new tracks that will make your soul turn black.

The short "Dodesmarsch" starts off the album with screaming sirens and gloomy vibe. "Fuck Your Sacrifice" is perhaps my favourite song. It has droney synths, pounding industrial drums and hypnotic guitar patterns as well as ice-cold vocals. Great! "Postum" is boogieing in the bit minimal,  harsh industrial style. "On the Rim" has some treated spoken word at the beginning and then a groovy beat starts. I'm somehow reminded of Sweatheart, a bit of Americana vibe but all done in an experimental, noise rock style. Next is the more electronic and bit dreamy "Shit That Floats". I like the way the track grows towards the end. Without the distorted vocals this might be Depeche Mode or something, a cool song. "Right Now" is a dark and experimental soundscape that later turns into groovy, pounding alternative/industrial rocking. The album is finished with the weird and sad "Stairway to Disappointment". At the moment the album is only available on streaming and download services but there are plans to also put out a limited CD edition, so watch out for that!

www.skithundrecords.com/artist-pages/atyd/ 

 

 

Saturnia - Stranded in the Green

 Sulatron Records (st 2102)

It's definitely no secret that I've been a big fan of Saturnia for the last 20 years. I think I have reviewed all the albums as well. I've also been in contact with Luis Simões since the beginning although we have never met in person. It was close once when I was visiting Portugal a few years ago and only later heard that he was recording a new album close by... Oh well, maybe one day. Our relationship got deeper when he recorded sitar, tabla, gong, tambourine and tampura for my instrumental Astral Magic track "Shining Ice" (his title, by the way) released on the brand-new CD The Chosen Ones. He made the track so much better... Anyway, Saturnia is definitely one of the best psychedelic acts I know and Stranded in the Green is the latest, eighth album by the multi-instrumentalist Simões and his first one on the great Sulatron Records.

 

Stranded in the Green, released on vinyl and CD, has seven new tracks.  The early albums also included elements of electronic music, but this is not the case anymore. The opener "Pan Arrives" is a a short occult intro into the hypnotic, groovy psych rock masterpiece "Keep It Long". Sitar and soft, cool vocals are some of the trademarks of Luis and that's what you get here as well. I really like the rhythms, synths effects and backwards guitar solo too, of course. Excellent! "Fibonacci Numbers" is a bit more chilled out, affair with some early 70s Pink Floyd vibe. "Smoking in the Sun" is even slower, very dreamy and wonderful piece that is simple but very effective and trippy. "When I'm High" starts off with some beautiful piano and the mellotron, nice vocals, psych effects and everything else makes it a really great song. "Supernatural" is the longest piece on the album at almost 14 minutes. It starts off as a pieceful folk song with acoustic guitar, bird-song and atmospheric vocals etc. Amazing! The song has three different parts all very mesmerising and up-lifting. I love the synths and keyboards on this one as well. After the eight-minute-marker the track speeds up and I'm getting some early 70s prog rock vibes, wonderful. This must be one of the best Saturnia tracks ever, it is just perfect! The album is finished with "Butterfly Collector" that sounds like a lost track from Obscured by the Clouds sessions (but maybe better...). What a magical way to end this marvellous album! It is only April but I can safely say that Stranded in the Green will be one of the best albums of 2021.

www.saturniamusic.com

 

Doctors of Space - Covid Sessions

 Self-released

 

Covid Sessions is the second album by the duo Doctors of Space from Portugal. The duo is formed by Astral Magic collaborators Martin Weaver (guitars, bass, beats, ex-Dark & Wicked Lady) and Scott Heller (synthesizers, Øresund Space Collective etc.). They released this album already on Bandcamp last year and here's my review, but now it is also available on limited CD (100 copies only!) with extra tracks and new, better artwork!

I recommend you to buy the CD if you like improvised, psychedelic and spacey freak-outs. Be sure to also check out the recent Roadburn Redux show the band did and just added to their Bandcamp site since it rocks!

doctorsofspace.bandcamp.com/

 

Aural Hallucinations - Hearing What You Want to See

 Self-released

 

Hearing What You Want to See is the second album by Portuguese space project Aural Hallucinations. The project features Matt (ex-Elder) on multiple instruments (Synths, guitar, drums, bass, vocals) and Dr Space (Øresund Space Collective, Black Moon Circle, Doctors of Space) on synthesizer and mixing with Luís Antero contributing some field recordings . You can check out my review of their debut album over here. This is a very trippy, spaced-out ambient affair and soon released on very limited (100 copies only) CD. 

Scott aka Dr Space has done some cool narration at the beginning to add a story to the very experimental, weird soundscapes. This is very cool! I wish they would be some at the end as well. For Bandcamp the individual pieces of this 78-minute, continuous journey have been divided for four long tracks, parts 1 - 4. There is also a little bit of beat in there somewhere, but mostly we float in ambient space for the whole journey. I hope this album will also see a 2LP treatment one of these days, it sounds great.

auralhallucinations.bandcamp.com

 

Astral Magic - The Chosen Ones pre-sale started on Bandcamp! The album will be released on May the 7th on strictly limited edition CD of JUST 100 copies. The cost of the 80 min CD is 10€ + postage. You can of course purchase a digital download as well for only 7€.

 

This album features several best tracks from the previous digital-only releases (all remastered and edited, some remixed) and loads of great new tracks. Mostly on the electronic side, but there is also good old space rock, krautrock, mystical ethnic vibes etc.

 

The guests on this album are Jonathan Segel, Luis Simões, Fred Laird, Kimi Kärki and Pete Bingham...

You can already stream four of the new tracks and a few old ones and download them upon purchase!

 

There is also a link to pre-save the album on Spotify, Deezer and Apple Music:

orfeolab.lnk.to/TheChosenOnes