Dr Space's Alien Planet Trip Vol 7 - Space with Space III

 Self-released (OSC 2023-LSO18)

Okay, this is the seventh Dr Space's Alien Planet Trip album and the third with Norwegian bass player Hasse Horrigmoe. Dr Space (Scott Heller) plays synths, Mellotron and Hammon organ. The almost 70 minute albun has six long, very hypnotic, repetive and monotonous instrumental pieces. There are no beats, just some sequencers/arpeggiators give sort of rhythm at times. A simple bass line is often repeated to infinity with spacey synth sounds going all over the place. Mellotron and Hammond offer some variety. Some people might find this boring, but it gives a very weird, other-dimensional vibe that I enjoy! This is definitely not for you, if you want pretty melodies and standard song stuctures, but if you enjoy more abstract and out-there soundscapes you should definitely check this out. Extra points for the amazing cover design by Dave Graham! The CD is a limited edition of 100 copies.

 

drspace1.bandcamp.com/music 

Empty House - The Golden Hour

 Echodelick Records / Worst Bassist Records

The Golden Hour is the second solo LP by Fred Laird (ex-Earthling Society, Tara's Bulba, Artifacts & Uranium etc.) under this monicker. Fred has also recorded quite a lot of stuff for my psychedelic project Astral Magic. There are also a couple of tapes and a CD(-R?) I have not even heard. Unlike on Mushin (Echodelic Records 2022) that had three long, ambient pieces, The Golden Hour includes nine shorter tracks that are more in the vein of latter day Earthling Society stuff. So, experimental and World music /folk oriented but also more krautrocking. And I love it!

Fred plays guitars, bass, bouzouki, Turkish saz, organ, piano, harpsichord, pennywhistle, percussion, drum programming, samples, synthesizer, coral sitar, Hulusi, PO133 Street Fighter and electronic tanpur while Nick Raybould just adds djembe and shaker on "Invisible JuJu". The album has a wird, otherwordly and esoteric vibe, and although the instrumental tracks are relatively short they surely form their own universes. The sound is not too polished but rather home-grown that adds a charm of it's own. There's a wonderful loner psych vibe going on throughout the album and a suitable amount of variation on the music. My only worry is that it is already too late to find a copy of this lovely album since it seems to be very limited edition but I will start searching right NOW!

https://emptyhouse.bandcamp.com

Jupiter - Uinumas

Self-released

 Uinumas is the fourth album by this great Helsinki based heavy progressive psych rock trio. I have been following them since the beginning and it's been an interesting journey. At least to my ears they have a style of their own but obviously they also have their influences. I guess it's safe to say they have gone into more progressive direction with this new album, but some of it is pretty heavy too. They have progressed as musicians and the vocals are getting bette rand better too. 

There are seven tracks on the album. The A side ("Relentless", "Lumerians" and "After You") follow each other seamessly forming a very nice, constantly changing arch. The energetic bass line of "Skylined" at the start ob side B brings to mind Rush. No synthesizers though, sadly... They would fit in perfectly. "On Mirror Plane" is had more energetic bursts as well as more tranquil parts in good mesure. It strange thet the band's songs seem longer than they actually are. Not because they are boring, on the contrary, bacause they are always evolving and changing with only some parts showing up again. That makes it hard to really get to know the music, but obviously there will also be more to dig into in time. Some Kingston Wall vibes flow by for a moment, and soon the album is finished after some full-energy blasting. I will need to listen to this many times to really get into the bottom of it, but I can honestly say that it's a great and interesting album with lots of talent! Release date for the LP limited to 300 copies is 29.2. and you cab pre-order NOW!

jupiterhobo.bandcamp.com/music

 

Doctors of Space - A Change of Labcoat

 Doctors of Space Music (DOS-006)

Yahoo, a new album by the spacey doctors from Northern Portugal! The good doctors Space and Weaver and here helped by their assistant Hasse Horrigmoe on guitar, mix an mastering on the third track. I like the title of the albun that maybe refers to the fact that Martin Weaver is not playing guitars or bass in this project anymore, just drum machines and synths. Scott gets to play his new toys Hammond XB-2 and Mellotron, and they sure sound great. Of course modular and other synths are also operated to reach the full out-in-space experience.

We have five, long and improvisation-based instrumental tracks that sometimes have repetitive, hypnotic grooves and sometimes just float in the ether in trippy, experimental and ambient way. "Forward Thinking" even sounds like primitive techno... I love every moment of it so 70 minutes go in a flash. The sound is really great, I think. Very cool stuff!

doctorsofspace.bandcamp.com/music

 

Øresund Space Collective - The Linquini Sessions

 Self Released (OSC2023-LS016)

I guess this is the latest OSC release and initially the limited edition CD was only available for the Bandcamp describers (something I might also have to figure out for Astral Magic?). Anyway, as a long-time friend of Scott Heller aka Dr Space I've been following the saga of the space ship OSC since the beginning and the band never stops to blow my mind!

 

You would think that if the band has to go back to 2016 jams in Denmark to gather  stuff for a CD there would only be some mediocre left-overs available. But no, this is pure killer psychedelic space rock! The band on this release was: Tim Wallander - drums, Magnus Hannibal - guitar, synthesizer (1, 3), Hasse Horrigmoe - bass (1), guitar (2), Jonathan Segel - lap steel, farfisa, violin, guitar, KG Westman - guitar (1, 2), synthesizers (3), Jiri Hjort - bass (2, 3) and Dr Space - synthesizers, which of course helps. We've got three long jams in 54 minutes. "Nero" starts off as a weird, sort of alternative reality Western soundtrack where alien cowboys fly and cows have antennas and stuff. After ten minutes the track finds a new direction and gets groovier. Very cool! "Al Pesto" is a slow, melancholic track that brings to mind some classic stuff by Pink Floyd (or even 70's Rainbow!). Might also work for the end scene of some Italo Western where everybody but the sad hero are dead or something... Great vibes, nevertheless, and something different from OSC as far as I can remember. Lovely guitar work and the organ sound is lovely. Of course the trcak evolves and turns into something Santana might have done in 1972. The longest one is the 21:12 "Gamberi" that starts off softly in Pink Floyd style. Later on they kick in some speed and get really energetic. Very nice playing by everybody! All in all, this is a great CD by this excellent improvisational jam group, get it while you can.

 oresundspacecollective.bandcamp.com/

 

The Fishheads - Lobster Basque Replica

 Fruits de Mer Records (crustacean 100)

This is the 100th "Crustacean" release  so congratulations seem to be in order! The Fishheads is a crazy project started by Marc Swordfish with other Astralasia members and friends and they have previously released a 7"/CD package on Fruits de Mer (check out my review over here). Anton Barbeau is featured again as well as Icarus Peel. but the legendary Simon House makes his debut in the project! Not sure what he plays though, maybe some violin. This time we'll get an LP plus CD. I'll have to wait for my order from Shiny Beast to be able to say much of the remix CD with one bonus track, since this promo pack only includes a CD-R of the LP, so let's concentrate on that.

The first three songs are early Pink Floyd covers and who can ever get enough of those? Not me, when they are done in such an elegant and wonderful manner, that's for sure. It's great to hear my pal and Astral Magic collaborator Anton Barbeau sing "See Emily Play" and "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun", both among my Floyd favorites. Amazing versions too, love the Mellotrons etc.! "Set the..." is as hypnotic and mystical as ever. I guess Icarus sings the other two songs on side A, another great singer or course. "Remember a Day" is a brilliant tune too and ah, so beautiful, and this version is a great homage. Mighty Baby's "Egyptian Tomb" ends the A side of the album in a groovy way. The B side is filled with an over 20-minute "Oops! Something's Coming from Another Planet", what a cool title... It starts of with a theme from West Side Story but then turns into a monstruos jam session like only Sworfish and his friends can achieve. Phew, what a trip... Warmly recommended!

www.fruitsdemerrecords.com/basque.html 

The Bevis Frond - An Introduction to The Bevis Frond

 Fruits de Mer Records (intro 3)

 

The Bevis Frond from the UK has been one of my favourite bands for 30 years, so all new releases by Nick Saloman & co. are always a big deal for me! Fruits de Mer Records are celebrating their 15th year of existence this year and launched a new series of introductory compilation releases of some of the most well-known and best artists they have worked with along the years. These are actually CD-R's, so not real CD's and unfortunately no vinyl releases of these exist at all. But these are great way to put together many of the tracks by the artists that have been released on Fruits de Mer albums and singles plus some! This time we also get three previously unreleased Bevis demos which of course make this album a must-have for all Bevis fans out there. But I have to say that even without those this is a one killer compilation!

The album includes 16 tracks in total including six covers and 10 Saloman originals. The longest one is the almost 24-minute guitar freak-out "China" from Sideways compilation, other covers include Sky Saxon song "Creepin' Aroun" and "Glass Onion" by The Beatles.  Besides the three unreleased demos the only ones I did not have before were "Condition Blues" and "Not Until I feel It", both from the rare Friends of the Fish III 7" lathe-cut that was only sold at The 19th Dream of Doctor Sardonicus Festival in Wales this year. The only goddam Bevis Frond single along with the previous Bevis 7" from the 2019 festival I'm missing from my collection... So I'm definitely happy to have the tracks here! Cool, rocking home demos, I love them. I used to be able to get all the Fruits de Mer Records (and The Bevis Frond too) releases but with these festival-only rarities it has been impossible for several years which is sort of sad... Well, on the other hand it is maybe healthy to just realize your collector ambitions can't be fulfilled anymore, maybe it's time to focus on other things! Sorry, I seem to be rambling here... Anyway, this is a great compilation for both die-hard fans and maybe even those new to the sounds of The Bevis Frond so just go and order it! Shiny Beast is your place in the EU, in UK Fruits de Mer still delivers the goods. Oh by the way, if you happen to be in Germany this week, The Bevis Frond plays at Cairo, Würtzburg on Saturday.

bevisfrond.bandcamp.com/