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 

Øresund Space Collective - Espaço 3

 Self-released (OSC2026-LS024)

 I got this latest OSC CD from my good friend Scott Heller aka Dj Space when I visited him and his wife in Portugal a few weeks ago. As you can see, it's the third in their Espaço (= space) series, meaning it has long, peaceful improvised tracks that better work on CD than vinyl. What's new is that this is the first time to have also some banjo on an OSC album! Donald Lupo, a banjo player living in Tampere, Finland, was featured in these sessions along the main-stays Dr Space, Jonathan Segel (violin, lap steel, guitar), Jiri Hjorth (bass) and Mattias Olsson (drums, Mellotron).

 The closer to 40-minute "Espaço 3 (Trials of Fears)" starts out the album in a relaxed, minimal and ambient way. Drums join in only later on. Very nice and floating! "Beauty in the Hairs of the Back" is a shorter, "only" seven-minute, soft jam with mainly violin and some child-like devices/sounds. Pretty and relaxing. The last piece "Warpled Cactus Roots" has some sound of rain at the beginning. Now you can really hear the banjo too. A darker, slow and creeping vibe here. Slowly the jam grows a bit and quiet drums join in. Some nice banjo in there. Later it gets into 5/4 going with some cool leads by Jonathan. Lot's of interesting stuff in almost 24 minutes and maybe my favourite of the three tracks. 

This was released on the last Bandcamp Friday at the beginning of the month and there are not that many copies left so act fast if you want one! Great cover art by David Graham again and Jonathan has mixed the album really well.

oresundspacecollective.bandcamp.com/ 

 

Space Depris - Sighting

 Fruits de Mer Records (strange fish 28)

Space Depris is a German jam rock band that I never really got into. You know, one of those bands that sound good enough and might work live at some hippie festival in Germany but that you do not necessary need to buy on vinyl even though some of your friends do like them. They have released many albums since the 90's and as far as I know all their music is instrumental and jam based in the early 70s vein with guitar, bass drums and organ/keyboards. Long jams that sometimes get psychedelic and spacey but usually stay more in the progressive hard/blues rock style.

Well, Keith from Fruits de Mer seems to like them so much that he has decided to release a 3LP/2CD compilation set of some of their jams! It's marketed on the promo sheet as maximum krautrock, maybe that's one way to put it but not what comes to my mind first while listening to the band's music. There is also one unreleased jam ("Villamountain") and three that are here released on vinyl for the first time. What's cool is that there is also a 20-page booklet designed by Dale Simpson so you know it will look great! The special edition also has posters and even a tiny meteor fragment! I'm sorry, but while listening to the promo version I still do not get the urge to buy the band's music. Having said that, there are some great moments that I enjoy. If you are into long, groovy instrumental jams with varying recording quality and occasional Latin and blues influences this might be for you.

 spacedebrisprojekt.de

www.fruitsdemerrecords.com/spacedebris.html