Sidewalk Society - An Introduction to Sidewalk Society

 Fruits de Mer Records (intro 6)

This great power pop trio from California loved their 60s mod/freakbeat/garage/psych influences from the US and UK. They were frequently involved with Fruits de Mer since the 2010 compilation LP A Phase We're Going Through until they went on indefinitive hiatus some time ago. Well, until sort of now, of course, when this double CD-R compilation was released last month.

The first disc features all the band's individual tracks for Fruits de Mer (mostly covers, 11 in total) plus nine bonus tracks that are all their own compositions. They cover for example The Bee Gees, Bowie, The Kinks, The Small Faces, The Pretty Things etc. and do a wonderful job at it. Six of the bonus tracks are from their 2012 album Venus, Saturn and the Crecent Moon. Then we get two demos of tracks from the same album plus a short piece recorded for the Strange Brew broadcast. There's lots of stuff to love here! The second disc includes their complete remake of the Strange Roads album by The Action, first time on CD format! I have previously reviewed that album, so please read my thougts over here. 

www.fruitsdemerrecords.com/sidewalkintro.html

 

Vibravoid - An Introduction to Vibravoid

 Fruits de Mer Records (intro 7)

Okay, I have a confession to make. Vibravoid from Germany is the best band that has ever released anything on Fruits de Mer and one of my favourite bands ever... With one constant member Christian (Dr.) Koch they have been around for 35 years and released a massive back catalogue also including numerous remakes and reissues. Vibravoid is one of the leading acts in the psychedelic rock in general and everyone into psychedelia and krautrock, old or new,  really should check them out.

This double CD-R compiles some of the best covers the band has recorded for Fruits de Mer on the first disc and some live versions (including previously unreleased) and studio album covers on the second disc. Many of the original limited edition 7" and LP releases are now almost impossible to get at reasonable prices and are totally essential, so it's very cool that you can now hear some of the best pieces in a very economic and easy way. 15 tracks in total on disc one, I love every minute of it. We have covers of Pink Floyd, Can, Amon Düül II, Iron Butterfly, Traffic, Kraftwerk, even Eddie Cochran etc., you name it.

The hard-core fans like me who already have everything are probably most intersted in the previously unreleased live stuff on disc two. "Colour Your Mind" was recorded at The Cavern Club in Exeter in 2016 and has a really great sound. Very cool version! "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" from Film Museum in the band's hometown Düsseldorf in 2017 rocks like hell... All 12 minutes of it. Then we are back at The Cavern Club with over 15-minute long version of "Mother Sky", splendid. "No Silver Bird" is from the 2011 Burg Hertzberg Festival and might be a different mix to the one from the live albun the band released from that gig. "Incense and Peppermints", "Magic Mirror" and "Oscillations" are the covers released on two of the band's studio albums in 2008 and 2013 and they are amazing versions for sure.

All in all, this is great album to get into Vibravoid and even if you have most of the stuff this makes a great listening experience. Just get it!

www.fruitsdemerrecords.com/vibravoidintro.html

www.youtube.com/@VibravoidOfficial 

Positive Wave - Metsälapsi

 Humu Records (HUMU041)

Positive Wave is a Helsinki-based prog rock band that has been active for a long time. For some reason some bands like them need a decade or more to make an album, and the self-titled debut was released already in 2010. They have had some draw-backs though, mainly the untimely passing of their original keyboard player Jani Häggblom in 2022. Jani is still very strongly present on the new album. So what can I say about the band? Like their name suggests, they spread positive vibes through their warm, happy and pleasureable music. The vocals of their charismatic and lovely singer Susan Karttunen are in Finnish, but don't let that stop you from chcking out their stuff even if you don't understand a word.

They are often labeled as progressive rock band, which is mostly true. They also play around with reggae, afrobeat and other world music as well as folk, funk, jazz, pop and a bit of psychedelia. I guess Wigwam is one of their influnces, but there must be lots of others as well like Santana. There's a certain early 70's vibe in there, but especially the latest stuff also has some more modern elements, so you can't really just label them as relics. All the 11 tracks on the CD are very well written, arranged and performed. These guys are really good players and can keep the stuff interesting and uplifting. Susan is one of the best female singers in this genre in Finland, for sure. The album took a long time to finnish, but it was worth it. It sounds just great, and I also love the suitable drawings by Eetu Pellonpää. If you like positive, nice progressive, creative and versatile music, this is a must.

www.positivewave.net

Astral news, good and bad...

 Hello and Happy New Year!

Some Astral news. Bad news first: my Facebook accounts are frozen, so my almost only channel for promoting my music is down again after hours and hours of hard work of getting connected to like-minded people again. A Bummer. I hope I can get it back this time, but let's see. That's the reason I'm now asking for help in spreading the message and sharing this post to all possible social media sites you are on, thanks and astral blessings to all those who are ready to help!

No new Astral Magic releases in the near future, but our album with Jay Tausig and Bridget Wishart as Astral Hawk Machine should be out soon on LP and CD. More news a.s.a.p. Also the true heavy space rock album Into the Cosmos should finally be out on LP and CD later this year. Just wait until you hear that one! There might also be a new Astral Magic magazine with a new compilation and at least one more Astral Magic album this year. Probably more, you know me...

Then to the good news: we have a new project album ready now; Chakra Vimana - Feed My Soul. Chakra Vimana is a new modern & jazzy prog/psych/space rock project by Shane Beck, Mark Cook and Santtu Laakso with special guest Steven Leak. Debut album Feed My Soul will be released in 2025. Album design by Andy Wainwright. We are now in the process of finding a record label for the album, please be in touch if you have any ideas?

You can listen to an album sampler on our bandcam site:

chakravimana.bandcamp.com

We also have a new Facebook site (Mark had to start again after mine was frozen yesterday):

 facebook.com/chakravimana/

 Mark also did a cool video of the album sampler:

 

Astral Year 2024

 It’s been another very productive year for me in 2024! These are my all releases on Astral Magic Music this year. In addition, I play synths on one track on the new Sendelica album Requiem for Mankind. That’s all, I think…

My New Year’s resolution is to cut down on my releases… I might do some other projects with other people or let real labels put out my stuff but releasing this much stuff without any distribution or real help from anyone is just insane and has to stop… We are living in hard times and people just don’t have money to spend on music like they used to, it seems. Sad but true. I won’t stop making music just yet, though! Thanks to all collaborators, my small but loyal fanbase, dj’s and reviewers for support, I love you all.

Happy Holidaze and Astral Blessings for everyone…

astralmagic.bandcamp.com

Elske & The Vagabonds - Travel Songs EP

 Seaheart Music (EV001)

Okay, this CD EP was released already in 2022, but I still promised to write a review when I received a copy from Elske after her solo gig at Love Potion Club in Helsinki a few months ago, so here we go. I must admit I had not heard of her or her little band before that event. My friend Jaire (Octopus Syng) just suggested Elske to organizer Daisy to fill in for another artist that could not come and Elske bravely accepted the offer on that very same day! Brave lady. And I liked her gig too!

This 14-minute EP has four folk/Americana songs all penned by the singer/guitarist Elske Seaheart. Other musicians are Noora Nurmi (backing vocals and percussion), Joakim Lehikoinen (guitars), Veikko Pohta (bass, hey, I know this guy!) and Elisa Järveläinen-Koivusalo (violin). "My Heart Is Gone" is a nice mid-tempo Americana/Country Rock song with great chorus. Also some Latin influences in there. I must say that I still really prefer the touching, somehow innocent sounding folky love song "Thinking of You". Very emotional, somehow, and the vocals pour into your soul. Even though this is not that melancholic I notice tears falling form my eyes, not sure why... "Travel Song" is again more into the Country/Americano style and not really for me, although it's still a cool song. "Close to Happpiness" closes the EP with sad but sweet moods and my eyes are getting wet again. Wonderful folk song with 60's/70's vibe. Very beautiful chorus on this one. I really enjoy the playing and especially Elske's vocals. I hope these guys will release more stuff soon!

www.facebook.com/elskeandthevagabonds

Antero Mentu - Näin unta kaukaisesta maasta

 Eclipse Records (ECD-2024215)

Antero Mentu is a Finnish guitarist/sitar player that has mixed experimental/ambient sounds with ethnic folk influences and rock and jazz elements for many years now. This is his fourth solo album and he has also recorded and performed in various groups. On this album he plays guitar, electric guitar, keyboards & percussion and is joined by Jesper Anastasiadis (contrabass), Amanda Blomqvist (drums & percussion), Markus Pajakkala (flute) and Otto Eskelinen (shakuhachi, keyboards & percussion).

The under 40-minute album has just six tracks, "Unia I-VI". It's all instrumental, dreamy, warm and very pleasant sounding, soft and jazzy stuff. The album starts off slowly and organicly. Then we go into more mysterious dreams in part II. III is more up-tempo going with a bit ethnic vibe. Nice mix of folk and jazz. "Unia IV" is rather minimal and tranquil, lovely. It grows a bit along the way and is rather long at 7:37. "Unia V" is a very ambient piece and the last, long track rather hypnotic and psychedelic, maybe my favourite. It gets close to some post rock bands later on, I think. All in all, this is a very enjoyable and dreamy album and recommended for fans of jazzy folk vibes with psychy touch. The CD comes in digipack that also includes a booklet with cool paintings from all over the place and time.

anteromentu.bandcamp.com/music