Astral Magic with Oz Hardwick - Adventures in Subarachnoid Space to be released tomorrow!

 

Honoring the tradition, there will be a new release tomorrow for the Bandcamp Friday in October! This is a sort of special release since it's the first collaboration with writer, photographer and musician Oz Hardwick from York, UK. The music on the whole album Adventures in Subarachnoid Space was written to back sci-fi themed short stories by the good professor Hardwick. The limited edition (100 copies) digipack CD also comes with an illustrated, 16-page booklet including the 12 writings. All artwork is by Andy Wainwright and looks very spectacular to say the least.

In addition, the CD has the recent Space Station Mars / Galaxy Race single with Bridget Wishart and Dr Koch/Vibravoid as bonus tracks, first time on CD! These are slightly different versions as well. The CD will be available from the Astral Magic Bandcamp site, of course, but Oz also has some copies to sell in the UK. Do not miss out!

 

 

 

Out now on Astral Magic Music!

 

Hi there!

Some new releases out now. After the digital single The Ego Tunnel, the album Astral Architects was released on the Bandcamp Friday, 4.9.2026. CD comes in cool digipack with stunning artwork by Andy Wainwright. Just 100 copies made, get it from here. Also lathe-cut vinyl available on demand from elasticStage, UK.

This album started when I got my first wah pedal ever and got a bit carried away... Jonathan added some more guitar and viola, Shane did spoken word for one track. This album rocks pretty hard! 

Another release for the September Bandcamp Friday was Strange Vibrations - Psychic States. It's me, Shane and Jonathan, just like it should be. I personally liked this album so much that I put it out as a factory-made digipack CD-R, limited to 50 copies only. Only available from the Astral Magic Bandcamp site over here.

I have already a new Astral Magic album with oz Hardwick coming out in a couple of weeks and then we have the Bridget Wishart solo album (check out the single mix video below...) on Halloween but more on those later... Keep on spacing out by spacing in!

Best wishes,

Santtu 

 

Pinhdar - Comfort in the Silence

 Friends of the Fish 26

This Italian duo is sort of a wild card on Fruits de Mer Records: they are definitely not psych, prog, garage, space or krautrock. I'd say they are closer to 80's UK Goth/synth/Darkwave with some trip hop elements. Not bad, in any way, but definitely something else that we (or at least I) have gotten used to with FdM, Friends of the Fish etc.

The album includes nine dark, dreamy,  mostly mid-tempo pieces created with synths, electric guitars, drum machines and female vocals. I like the soundscapes they make and the vocals are excellent too, but somehow this does not really make it for me. I guess this is just not my kind of music, since I can't really pinpoint anything wrong with it! Lee Pomeroy of Archive apparently plays some bass on the album, if that rings to a bell (I've got no idea). The album was mixed by Ian Caple (Tricky, Martina Topley-Bird). The album is also available on CD from the band's web site.

www.fruitsdemerrecords.com/comfort.html

 pinhdar.com
 

Man & Machine - Earthman 10" EP

 Friends of the Fish 94

 

When I first heard "Earthman", the beautiful and hypnotic opener of this EP I fell in love and knew I had to get it. It somehow reminded me of Steven Wilson in his dreamy, semi-acoustic Porcupine Tree mode, even the vocals. Man & Machine is a solo project of Tom Roche from Airdie in Scotland. He started already 15 years ago to record his tunes with the help of producer Stuart MacLeod, but apparenly this limited edition (300 copies) 10" vinyl EP is his first release.

So, the opener is perhaps my favourite, a really great track with wonderful vibes. "Sleepyhead" is a more acoustic number, rather melancholic and peaceful. Loving the soft vocals, again. "Otherwordly" is another pretty acoustic track with some electronics, but this time instrumental. "Lost at Sea" is another winner, melancholic and beautiful stuff. At first think of "Solitude" by Black Sabbath but with a few more chords and modern sound. I like when the drums join in after two minutes and the song starts to evolve more. Very nice! The shortest piece on the EP is the two-minute "Safespace" that starts with some organ sounds and vocals and then we get some acoustic & backwards electric guitars etc. The EP ends with another version of the opener, "Earthman (Lost In Space)" and it's really a more spaced out, instrumental mix that I also enjoy a lot. I recommend that you buy this 10" as soon as possible, since when the big audience hears this everyone will want to have it!

 

www.fruitsdemerrecords.com/earthman.html 

manmachine3.bandcamp.com/album/earthman-ep 

  

Molesom - Unsound Vol. 1

 Roth Händle Recordings (RO43)

Molesome is one the projects of Swedish drummer/multi-instrumentalist/producer Mattias Olsson. He used to play in Änglagård and a dozen other bands. Lately he has been the drummer for Øresund Space Collective and he also has a jam project Obygden with another OSC member and frequent Astral Magic collaborator Jonathan Segel. This year he played a couple of show here in Finland with Jonathan and Donald Lupo which was nice.

I think Unsound Vol. 1 is the eight Molesome album. The ideas for the music comes from Mattias, but he has a large number of friends involved who have helped to "made them grow and flourish", like he says in the booklet. Musically this is a rather varied and multi-faceted think that is hard to pin down. It is rhythmic, Mattias being a great drummer, progressive, modern sounding but with ancient vibes, jazzy, spacey, ambient and a lot of other things. There are elements of classical music and for example "Alabama Bound" would be a perfect fit for a modern Western or a Tarantino movie. There's also some world-music vibes. There are (naturally) lots of drums and different kinds of percussion, drum machines, keyboards and synthesizers, cello, flute, bass, electric guitars, saxophones, pipe organ, sitar... Some of the tracks are instrumental, but several also have female singers and two male. The album is very well produced and sounds amazing. All in all, this a great and enjoyable listening if you like varied, adventurous music that might sound like something you've never heard before. Check it out!

 roth-handle.bandcamp.com/music

 

Astral Magic & related news

  

Hi everyone!

Time for some news. The latest single from the forthcoming Astral Magic with Paul Roland album is the title track ”Light of the World” released digitally on Summer Solstice to celebrate the longest day of the year in Northern hemisphere.

Listen:

 astralmagic.bandcamp.com/track/light-of-the-world-single

The whole album will be released on the next Bandcamp Friday 7.8. All music by Paul Roland and Santtu Laakso, lyrics by Paul Roland.

 

Other credits:

Paul Roland – vocals, acoustic guitar, keyboards.

Santtu Laakso – backing vocals, bass, synthesizers, keyboards, percussion, samples, production, mix.

Jonathan Segel – electric guitar, violin, mandolin, mastering.

Jasmin Anglén - backing vocals.

Anton Sailo - broken kannel.

Juha Takalo – cover design.

The initial CD pressing is 100 copies and the album will also be available from elasticStage in the UK in lathe-cut vinyl version.

 

 

Other stuff coming out later this year is a new Strange Vibrations album Psychic States, a very limited Dr Space meets Astral Magic CD-R and the collaboration with Bridget Wishart and Steve Bemand…and of course also a new Astral Magic album Astral Architects! More on those later.

Dr Paradiso Meets Dr Space - Liquid Planetscapes

 Self-released (DPMDS001)

 

Dr Joe Paradiso has been building one of the largest modular synthesizer for over the past 50 years. In March 2025 Dr Space visited him and they recorded together improvised modular synth jams and this CD includes the "Movement 13 (Swampworld)". It's the first release of these sessions and lasts for 80 minutes. On CD it's just one massive slab of pulsating and bleeping synths, on Bandcamp it had to be divided in three sections due to size limit. It's a continuous mass of several drones and bleeps all run through numerous effect pedals. Inside the cover Dr Space explains a bit the creating and recording process which is quite interesting. It's hard to find any melody or even rhythm from this very experimental and droney piece but if you are okay with that and enjoy this kind of electronic ambience you might enjoy it. Definitely spacey and weird! Just 100 copies made so act fast if you want one.

drspace1.bandcamp.com