Jalayan - Floating Islands

 Adansonia Records / Sound Effect Records (AR 045 / SERC098)

 Jalayan is a new electronic based instrumental space rock band from Italy. All the music is written by band leader, synth/keyboard player and programmer Alessio Malatesta, who also recorded, mixed and mastered the album. Other members are Vincenzo Calvano on electric and acoustic guitars, Matteo Prina on electric bass and Martino Malacrida on drums. This seems to be the band's second album. When I put the record on I'm instantly reminded of Ozric Tentacles, and they must have been a huge influence. It's not a pure copy-cat stuff, though, no worries. The sound is a bit different, but the music is very energetic and/or atmospheric, progressive and extremely well played for sure. These guys are very good professional musicians, no doubt about that! Other bands that come to mind are for example Finnish group Hidria Spacefolk, who also have enjoyed their share of the Ozrics of course.

There are eight tracks on the album that was released on CD by the Greek Sound Effect Records a bit earlier and now on two limited edition vinyl versions on Adansonia Records in Germany. All the tracks are from 5 to 7 minute in length. I really enjoy the whole album, so I really can't name any favourites! I love the pulsating, hypnotic sequencers and the soaring, superb guitar solos, as well as the ultra tight and groovy rhythm section. There are also some bit jazzy fusion elements as well as Ethnic vibes, but no Ethnic, acoustic instruments like on some of the Ozrics albums. Things get pretty trancey at times, I'd call this instrumental, psychedelic and progressive electronic space rock. The sound is crystal clear and polished. You can get the LP on clear splatter multicolor vinyl limited to 100 copies or the black one limited to 200 copies, both hand-numbered. A must have for fans of progressive electronic space rock with emphasis on programmed synthesizers!

www.facebook.com/Jalayan23/

 

Kombynat Robotron - Sponane Emission

 Clostridium Records (CR075)

Kombynat Robotron is a new German improvisational kraut/psych/space rock band formed by four guys who also play in other groups. They have taken the current scene by storm releasing several albums in a span of just a few years. I have all their LP releases apart from the debut LP Modul 12 (Tonzonen 2018) and the split with the great Snakes Don't Belong in Alaska (Cruel Nature Records 2019). If you have a spare copy of either one, please let me know! There are also a couple of tapes I'm missing.

Anyway, let's get into the music. As far as I know, all their recordings are improvisational, instrumental jams, mostly with just a couple of guitars, bass and drums. Occasionally they also use a little bit of synths and sound effects, but not that much. Sponane Emission includes six jams recorded at the band's rehearsal space in Kiel in 2019. The album has been previously released on tape and digital formats in 2020, but this amazing, high qulity release on the superb Clostridium Records is the first vinyl version. Although recorded at rehearsal facilities, the sound quality is clear and great. The music is very hypnotic and repetative and definitely gets you "in the zone". Often it is rather relaxed and floating, but there are also some a bit more rocking stuff, on "Aurora", "Meteor" and also on "Tagesdämpfung". "Nahschwund" is just a simple, short synth piece offering some early Tangerine Dream moods. If you love the modern interpretation of instrumental kraut/psych/space jamming done nowadays by bands like Kungens Män, Snakes Don't Belong in Alaska and many others you will for sure dig this band. The hand-numbered "die-hard" edition of this LP on grey marbled vinyl is limited to just 200 copies and comes with a cool slipmat, there are also 200 copies on black vinyl. Both versions include a poster and a sticker. Get yourself a copy while you can, these will sell out!

kombynatrobotron.bandcamp.com/music

Anton Barbeau – Power Pop!!! / Stranger

 Big Stir Records / Beehive (BSR-0069 / BH008)

A double dose of Ant in your face! My readers know I've been a follower of this quirky American indie psych rocker Anton Barbeau for years and years, although I don't have all his albums. Power Pop!!! was released this Spring but I just received it with his forthcoming CD Stranger. I'll just let Anton tell us what this first one is all about. “The concept is, early ABBA gets hipped to Krautrock, disavowing their Schlager roots. Drugs happen. Their tight, super-pop sound merged with the kosmische vibe catches the ear of young David Bowie who offers to produce their next record. They convince him to co-write and sing on the record, and the rest is alternate-history,”. Well said, since that's pretty much how this odd but wonderful album sounds and feels like. There are 19 tracks varying in lenght from 6 second (!) to 4:39. The lyrics are mostly very hilarious and off the wall, and so are some of the arrangements and production. Somehow it all still sounds great! Ant always has had a sense for good melodies. There is a strong 80's pop vibe going on, especially on the synth department. And there are a lot of synthesizers on the album! There also some more or less known guests on the album. One of the highlights is "Julian Cope", honouring one of Anton's heroes. I bet this must be one of Anton's weirdest but at the same time best albums! Check it out and see what it does to you.

 

The 41-minute, 14-track Stranger is a perfect continuation to Power Pop. The guest list is rather long, this time we also have for example Ant's old pal, the ex-Hawkwind and The Bevis Frond bassist Adrian Shaw  as well as Gregory Curvey both playing on "Cellar Bar". Must be about the yearly Fruits de Mer Festival hold in Wales... Despite the tittle, the music is not as weird as on Power Pop!!! but the strong 80's synth pop vibe continues on some tracks. And I like it! There is even some vocoder (on "Ant Lion"), so you know what you'll get. There is also a more rocking, heavier element in there like on "Dollis Hill Butchers" and "ICU". And yes, on the marvellous "Quick to the Basement", Jesus's coming... "Supercube City" is perhaps one of my faves, very groovy and psychedelic lyrics too... There are a couple of Lennonesque ballads and shorter experiments for good measure. It's hard to decide which one of the albums is better, let's just say get them both! Stranger won't be released until December the 9th, though, and you can only listen to one track at the moment. The CD comes in a thin cardboard cover but that's cool.

Oh, I almost forgot: you can also hear Anton play guitar on my latest Astral Magic vinyl LP Magical Kingdom, and he will be featured on a couple of tracks on my future album (Sacred Mysteries).

www.antonbarbeau.com/ 

Us and Them — ...And I Observed the Blue Sky

 Withdrawn Music (006)

Wonderful news: another great folk rock album by Swedish husband-and-wife duo Us and Them! This is the third full-lenght album by them but there are also several singles and EP's and one 10" on various labels like Fruits de Mer (just try to locate a copy of their cover 7" of soundtrack music from The Wickerman called Summerisle, It's amazing!). Us and Them really can make soulful, soft, touching and mesmerising music and the new album is no exception.

There are 11 new tracks on the 41-minute CD, all written, arranged and produced by the duo. A couple of songs have been released before as digitall singles. They sing and play everything except some keyboards on "Where Wonder Comes From", "Evening Song" and "In Between Times" that are by Per Lindblom. The beautiful melodies are leading the main role like usual, and the vocals of Britt really touch your soul. Most of the stuff is pretty melancholic, but there are also some more uplifting songs like "Looks Like It's Clearing Up" and "In Bube" that also have drums. Also the somehow ancient sounding "A Blessing of a Curse", one of my favourites, and the pretty track "August Evenings" have percussion. The music is very acoustic in nature with a strong emphasis on beautifully and skillfully played acoustic guitars. The title track is more piano-driven, though. There are some subtle psychedelic elements from now and then but not too much as well as some baroque pop vibes. There's also some strings, Fender Rhodes and vibes sounds, for example. The production is crystal clear and superb, so this is an amazing and very enjoyable album in all aspects. Warmly recommended for chilly Autumn evenings sitting by your fire place.

www.facebook.com/usandthemmusic

 

Moksha - S/T 2CD-R

 Self-released (MOK001)

 

So, why would anybody review a twenty-ear-old limited CD-R reissue of a very rare tape release from the late 80s, one might ask? Well, I'll give you a few reasons. Moksha was an electronic, psychedelic and spacey music project featuring English synthesizer and keyboard player Seaweed before he joined Ozric Tentacles or even the fierce psychedelic freak-out band Thunderdogs. I was lucky to see Thunderdogs when they played with a freak-circus and became a fan immediately, the Ozrics of course have been one of my favourite bands since the early 90s. Not even many of the Ozric Tentacles fans know anhything about Moksha, though, and I feel it's time to change that since this is really good stuff! I just received this double CD-R from Seaweed's partner Claudia (thanks a lot!). It was apparently released in 2002 in a limited edition of just 100 copies, but according to Discogs there was alsa a re-issue (with catalogue number MOK001A). There is very little information about the band or recordings, but the players are Seaweed (Kork Poly 800/Roland JX8P, Korg MS20, EMS Synthi AKS and Roland TR707) and Quiller (Roland D50 and Roland SH101) as well as Gabi (ambient flute). The recordings were made direct to stereo with no overdubs, accoring to a rumour at a London flat of Joie Hinton.

Okay, so how does it sound? There are 13 instrumental tracks heavily influnced by Tangerine Dream and Tim Blake, also the more electronic side of Gong I suppose. I really like the spacey vibe of the album and some of the excellent playing reminds me of Seaweed's later work in the Ozrics as well. Most of the music is pretty ambient and chilled-out in nature, but there are also some faster, more energetic pieces like "Mushroom House". The drum machines are not too prominent, the sequencers and synthesizer sounds are always playing the main role. The sound quality is surprisingly good for an over 30-year-old home/rehearsal space recordings, no problem there. This is very hypnotic, spacey and psychedelic stuff and deserves to be heard by a bigger audience, I think. Maybe is is time for a remastered 2LP version? I would definitely buy it! Very cool stuff. Not sure how to obtain a copy of this CD-R, since Seaweed nor Moksha seem to have any kind of website, so good luck.

Custard Flux - Phospherus

 Self-released

Phospherus is the fourth album by Gregory Curvey's (Detroit, Michigan) acoustic, psychedelic progressive rock project Custard Flux. I got to know him around 15 years ago when he started to send the The Luck of Eden Hall albums for review. I just loved them, and still do! Nothing has been heard of The Luck of Eden Hall for five years, that's when the split album with Red Sun was released on VE Recordings in Italy, but I'm happy Curvey is still making music. He has also performed and recorded with the Welsh space rockers Sendelica, among others. I'm also proud to say he has recorded some excellent guitar etc. tracks for my own Astral Magic project too!

Anyway, let's consentrate on Custard Flux now... It's been two years since the previous album Oxygen was released (read my review here) and besides driving his Harley Davidson and doing beautiful renovation work etc. Gregory has also written, recorded and mixed another killer set of new songs. The main idea still is to use mainly acoustic instruments (piano, hapsichord, harmonium, guitars, autoharp, drum kit, percussion) and vocals to make progressive rock music. Electric guitar is only being used for some of the solos. Like before, we have some guest musicians: Vito Greco on guitars and Portuguese guitar, Timothy Prettyman on double bass, Mars Williams on saxophones and another keen Astral Magic collaborator Jay Tausig on flute and backing vocals. Great! Especially the saxophones and Portuguese styled guitar give the album some new angles.

The 80-minute opus has 12 tracks on it. Some are around 10 minutes, some less than 5, but all are excellent. I love the way Curvey is able to use catchy choruses, weird scales and chords, very progressive rhythms, eerie atmospheres and psychedelic vibes and often within just one song! He is just such a talented multi-instrumentalist that I'm left in awe. So, usually you would think that using mostly acoustic instruments would lead to making a more folk oriented album, but this is definitely not the case with Custard Flux, although there are bits of that too in the mix. There is usually a lot of stuff going on in one track, some of it also pretty hectic, but luckily there is also time to chill out and relax. It is pretty hard to think of any other bands or artists that would sound like this, but some elements remind me of The Beatles, King Crimson and some others. There must also also be some more modern influences I can't really point out. This is very unique, interesting and great sounding music, anyway, and warmly recommended for all the adventurous listeners out there! The CD and limited edition (250 copies) LP will both be available iat the end of December, but you can pre-order right away. Just do it!

www.facebook.com/custardflux/

 
 

Dark Sun Bandcamp changed into Astral Magic Bandcamp!

 

I just changed the Dark Sun Bandcamp site I've also been using for Astral Magic to:

 

https://astralmagic.bandcamp.com/ 

 

This means the old release links to the old site won't work anymore, unfortunately. But you will find everything from the new address. It was time to let Dark Sun go... I still sell that stuff too, of course!