The Dandelion: S/T 12” EP

Bad Afro Records (FRO1011)

 

The Dandelion is the solo project of Daniel J. Poulter from Australia. He used to be the front man of The Dolly Rocker Movement who released their third album and a couple of singles on Bad Afro, so we already should be familiar with this guy and his great, melodic, 60’s influenced psych pop and rock. Daniel moved to the outback to find new inspiration to write music and recorded these songs with a simple four-track. The results are outstanding! All the six EP tracks are taken from the limited, self-released and already sold-out Strange Case of The Dandelion CD.

“I Turned on as You Turned Around” starts off this limited EP. It is a pleasant, simple, mid-tempo piece with great organ, hypnotic beat and also some flute in the beginning. The chorus is more melodic and very catchy and has a nice guitar line. There’s also a little guitar solo in there. I really like how this sounds, it’s very 60s! The repetative “Here Comes Love” has a more acoustic feel with flute and acoustic guitar, but there’s also a fuzzy electric guitar in work. Another very groovy track! "All Seeing Eye Syndrome" is a short psych pop track and “Pleiadian Love Vibration” is a little more aggressive and rawer track that rocks out with some killer riffs. Sort of The Seeds flirting with The Open Mind, how cool is that? There are also some psychedelic sound effects in the mix. The instrumental “Borderline Originality Disorder” has some flute again and is a bit more relaxed affair but still swinging stuff. The last, melancholic track “Leaving It Behind Blues” has banjo, flute mouth organ to give it a nice, earthly folk vibe. I really like this EP a lot and am already looking forward to hear some more stuff by The Dandelion. Check this out if you enjoy 60s inspired psych/paisley/garage pop/rock like Baby Woodrose, Jacco Gardner, Temples, Octopus Syng etc., you’ll love it!

www.facebook.com/thedandelionmusic

Goat: Live Ballroom Ritual

Rocket Recordings (LAUNCH062)

 

Goat from Sweden has gained quite a lot in a relatively short time. Their debut 7” Goatman (with the goat cover art stolen from the classic Bathory debut album!) released in February 2012 on UK based Rocket Recordings was and instant underground hit and sold out in an instant. The full length World Music was released six months later and was absolutely one of the best albums that year and got them lots of exposure and praise all over the place. The LP version has been released eight times so far so it really has sold quite well. Since then there have also been two remix 12”’s and another single Dreambuilding/Stonegoat in 12” (Sweden) 7” (USA & UK) formats. The band has played live on many important festivals like Roadburn (one of the highlights for me!) and toured around UK, Europe and the USA. Not many bands release a live album after just an album but that’s exactly what Goat did last December!

This CD/2LP includes 65 minutes of live versions of their album and single tracks recorded July 27th 2013 at Camden’s Electric Ballroom in London. Their unbelievably groovy, catchy, magical and psychedelic combination of African voodoo beats, dirty late 60s/early 70s fuzz guitars % bass and typical Swedish folk melodies, hypnotic psych/kraut rock vibes and high-pitched, raw female vocals spiced with killer solos, some saxophone etc. is just so tempting and powerful that you either dance like crazy or don’t know what hit you and blew your mind. Some of the songs are somewhat extended from the studio versions and have some jam feel which is great. All the songs from World Music are played, but in different order and Dreambuilding and Stonegoat are placed in between. I just can’t name any favourites since I love the whole album very much! The sound quality is crystal clear and you can hear all the instruments and vocals just perfectly, so the gig really was recorded and produced really well. You can also hear the audience at times and they really seem to be into it as well! Definitely one if not THE best live album last year, although you are missing the great visual performance that this band also delivers live. Just buy this album and whatever they going to put out next and most importantly go and experience this band during their live rituals!

goatsweden.blogspot.co.uk

Dj Astro's Hotlist

Kosmischer Läufer: The Secret Cosmic Music of the East German Olympic Program 1972-83 Volume One LP
Kimi Kärki: The Bone of My Bones LP
Hawkwind: Sonic Attack 2LP
Hawkwind: Choose Your Masques 2LP
Goat: Live Ballroom Ritual 2LP
Technicolor Poets: All That Is Solid LP
Yuri Gagarin: S/T LP
The Cosmic Dead: Inner Sanctum 2LP
Acid Mothers Guru Guru Gong: Pink Lady Lemonade 7"
Sammal: No. 2 CD EP

Dj playlist @ Svart Night #7, Bar Loose, Helsinki, 18.1.2014

Dj Astro: Playlist in alphabetical order:

Angel Witch: Angel Witch
Black Rainbows: Chakra Temple
Blood Ceremony: Witchwood
Brainticket: Brainticket Part 2
Can: Halleluhwah
Candlemass: Solitude
The Cosmic Dead: Gustav Björnstrand
Gas Giant: Too Stoned
Hawkwind: Psychedelic Warlords
Hawkwind: Silver Machine
Kingston Wall: We Cannot Move
Mercyful Fate: A Dangerous Meeting
Reverend Bizarre: The Goddess of Doom
Wooden Shjips: Servants

(way too little time to play records!!!)

Here I'm testing the sound system with a Hawkwind vinyl before the club:

Some of the Goatess show:

What a night!!!

Dj's Astro & Jugh to play at Roadburn Festival again!

Yes, Psychotropic Caravan / Slip Inside This Club Dj's Astro & Jugh from Finland are going to be spinning discs at Roadburn Festival, Tilburg, The Netherlands, again on April 10-14 2014!

We don't know where we are playing yet, but more info will be added later on. It will be so cool as always! Please come and say hello.

www.roadburn.com/roadburn-2014/

Just check out some of the bands that will play there:

Loop, The Heads, Magma, Sula Bassana & Friends, Papir, Electric Moon, Bong, Candlemass, Lumerians, Aqua Nebula Oscillator, Goblin, Carlton Melton, Circle...

Astral Visions Radio (show #48) online now!

Astral Visions Radio Show - Music from Psychotropic Zone, is hosted by DJ Astro

Playlist:

The Shine Brothers - "Creation" (from forthcoming album Hello Griefbirds!)
Temples - "Colours to Life" (from Sun Structures)
The Luck of Eden Hall – “Super Phantasmal Heroine (Wild Thing Mix)” (from Victoria Moon)
The Warlocks - "Dead Generation" (from Skull Worship)
Hills - "National Drone" (from V/A: Crystallized – Celebrating 15 Years of Rocket Recordings)
Rollbars - "Short Fuse" (from V/A: Crystallized – Celebrating 15 Years of Rocket Recordings)
Alan Davey - "Badwater" (from Al Chemical's Lysergic Orchestra Vol.2)
Earthling Society - "Paramechanical World" (from Brotherhood of the Cod – 13 Tales from a Fylde Coast Fish Cult
Lumerians - "Shortwave Fields (Live)” (from Studio Paradiso 8_14_2013 Daytrotter download)
Black Lizard – “Boundaries (Weapons Remix)” (from free download)
The Dandelion – “Here Comes Love” (from forthcoming S/T EP)
Woodsman - "Serfer (Live)" (from Mar 19, 2013 – Futureappletree, Daytrotter download)
Papir - " IIII.III (Edit)" (from forthcoming album IIII)
Uncle Acid and The Deadbeats - "Mind Crawler" (from Mind Control)
Wooden Shjips- "Servants" (from Back to Land)
Solar Halos - "Wilderness" (from S/T)
Deep Space Destructors - "Beneath the Black Star" (from II)
Black Sun Ensemble - "Mandala" (from Behind Purple Clouds)
The Sentient - "Nearer (Live)" (from Live at the Real Music Club Brighton)
Census of Hallucination - "Crystal Spheres of Light" (from Coming of the Unicorn)

Get it here:

aural-innovations.com/radio/astral.html

Douge: D

Go Down Records (GOD075)

 

Douge is a new stoner rock band from Italy. They released this debut album early 2013, so I’m once again a bit late with my review (apologies for that!). This promo that I received was actually sort of buried under a lot of other stuff plus I couldn’t even figure out what band this was since the name of the band or album is not written anywhere… I just have the CD (with no text, even the label) and a simple booklet. Luckily I’m a natural-born Sherlock Holmes! Okay, let’s get to the point. Today was the first time I put this CD on and I immediately knew that this is one of the best bands from Italy that I’ve heard for a while, especially in the stoner rock genre. Two heavy, inventive and talented guitar players, tight rhythm section and a good singer, that’s all it takes in addition to some great tunes and good production, of course. Douge has all that.

There are 13 tracks on the CD. The opener “Stone” shows already that this is a killer band. Nothing that original, but still inventive enough and this rocks and works, and especially the hypnotic jam part in the work is really good. “Narbon Kailon” has some Kyuss and Colour Haze in it, not bad at all. “Violent Desire” gets a bit more aggressive as the title suggests. “Psychedelic Symbiosis” is a nice mid-tempo song with some more atmospheric touch. Then it’s time to rock out in a faster mode with “Sex Drugs”. The bit longer “Eragorn / Storm” has some 70’s hard rock as well as more progressive. “Truck Rocker” doesn’t really do anything special for me but it still rocks okay. “Simple Chaos” is a pretty, lighter track that still has also some heavy guitars at times. Nice vocals and slide guitar on this one. “Mr. Queen” rocks fast and hard again, but is maybe too straight-forward rock’n’roll to my taste. ”Pressured” is far more interesting stoner rocking and will blow your mind with its cool riffs! “Perhaps You Should Smoke a Cigarette Instead” gets more interesting and hypnotic later on. The last track “Look at Your Desert” is quite cool desert rock stuff and a fine ending for the album.

soundcloud.com/#douge-stoner-rock

Bear vs Manero: The Bifacial EP

Skingasm Records (SKCD0003)

Okay, another band I have never heard about. This punky sludge/post-hardcore band from London has previously put out a couple of singles and this EP form November 2013 is their latest outing. They state their influences as The Stooges, Pixies, The Jesus Lizard and The Cardiacs. There are just four tracks in 17 minutes: “Fluoride Frustration Face”, Discordia 2.1.”, “Thor’s Super Sweet Sixteen Party” and the more narrative and slower “Budd”. The vocals are closer to old punk rock with some actual melodies which is a good thing. The guitar and the bass are pretty heavy but not ultra-heavy, down-tuned or anything like that. I got to say that this is definitely not my kind of music, but I’m sure people who like this kind of stuff will also enjoy this EP that you can now purchase from the band’s Bandcamp site. The digital download is “pay what you like” and the limited compact disc just 3 pounds so this is a bargain. Check it out!

bearvsmanero.bandcamp.com

This Is Ghost! Country: S/T

Electric Magic (EMCD.04)

 

This Is Ghost! Country is a new band from Germany. Their sound is quite hard to pin down but they have elements of punk, hardcore, sludge metal and stoner as well as some heavy metal. This is energetic, raw, heavy and in-your-face kind of stuff. They still have some clever hooks and tricks as well as slower parts so it’s not just straight-forward blasting. Before this debut album released on CD and vinyl last year the band has released one CD EP in 2010.

The 33-minute album has eight tracks on it. The mid-tempo “Smooth Unfoo” starts the disc with heavy riffs and dark moods. Nice, fuzzy and dirty sludge rock with cool vocals. Although being rather slow stuff, “Dumbfucker” gets more aggressive and the singer starts to scream more. The ending is closer to doom metal. On the noisy “Ztupe / Red Area” the band speeds up into standard punk pace and this track will for sure make the audience pogo during the live performances. “The God Replacement” is slower stuff again and there’s even some blues influence I think, not unlike something that you might hear in the Southern sludge rock circles. “Tekken” starts off peacefully but gets heavy later on. “Big Fat Killing” is a just a minute-long fast punk eruption, and then it’s time for “Black Trekken” that has some The Obsessed influences and maybe even a bit of AC/DC? The album is finished with the over eight-minute-long “Bootes” that is the most experimental and psychedelic track on the album. Very stoned, dark and heavy shit. This is a pretty interesting album so check it out if you are into this kind of heavy, sludgy and harsh stuff.

www.facebook.com/pages/THIS-IS-GHOST-COUNTRY/185719998125386

DxBxSx: Ihr! Alle! Immer!

Elektrohasch (EH 162)

 

This stoner punk band from Berlin used to be called Drive By Shooting but they have shortened their name to DxBxSx, it seems. I have stumbled upon the band a couple of times, mostly because of the of some split releases on Swamp Room Records and Nasoni. The guys also saved my friend’s bag he forgot to the Nasoni 10 Years Festival in 2005 so they must be cool guys… Thanks! Their music just isn’t that interesting to me (sorry!). It’s pretty straight-forward punk rock with a bit heavier sound than usually in that genre. The vocals are now in German which suits the music just well. I just don’t understand them, but they seem to be quite political and anarchistic with a good old rock’n’roll party attitude. This kind of stuff kicks ass live when you’ve had a few beers, but I really don’t have a lot of interest to listen to this CD at home. The CD includes 14 tracks, and “Action Moni” sounds exactly like “Wild Thing” but with new lyrics in German. There’s nothing psychedelic here, and apart from the occasional MC5/Stooges/etc. vibes and the little bit groovier track “Sie Werden Sagen” this is too standard punk for me. Having said that, the band rocks out and plays very tightly so I’m sure there will be a lot of people who appreciate this kind of music. It should be great to party to. It’s just not for me.

www.dxbxsx.de

Deamon’s Child: Demo

Self-released CD-R/Zygmatron

 

Deamon’s Child is a new noisy and punky stoner rock band from Germany. The band has a female singer to give the music also some more fragile vibes. Most of the vocals are in German that makes the music sound a bit different. This six-track demo was recorded in March 2013 and all instruments are played by John Daemon, but the cover says that Anami Daemon plays bass and Jack Daemon the drums. Go figure. The idea was to form a live band as well, anyway. “Lutscher” is a slow and heavy stoner piece, “Alles Bio, Immer Bio” rocks hard and faster bringing to mind some South-American heavy psych/hardcore acts. “Mine Leer” is only a couple of minutes long but rocks hard and with punky energy. “Venus” is a dark, more atmospheric number and I can also hear some keyboards in this one. I’m getting some post-punk vibes from this one, pretty nice. “Vertigo” is a very short (1:37) experimental instrumental, and then it’s time for the demo’s longest (7:09) track “Among the Shadows”. It starts out slowly but turns into 70’s styled heavy hard rocking after a couple of minutes. Then it gets more atmospheric again but soon the going gets wild and fierce. This must be the best piece on the demo, I like it! The sound is quite rough, loud and dirty but I think it suits the music just fine. I bet we will more hear about this band.

deamonschild.bandcamp.com

Monkey3: The 5th Sun

Napalm Records (NPR 499)

 

Monkey3 is a fabulous instrumental psychedelic/stoner/post-rock band from Switzerland who have been around for over ten years and released five albums. The 5th Sun was released in October last year and is probably their best and most accomplished work so far. Their adventurous music has elements of hypnotic space/kraut rock, it’s progressive and sometimes very beautiful and atmospheric, sometimes heavy and metallic. They also use lots of keyboards and synths to give the music more layers which is great. The new album has gained very positive reviews all over the world and I can see why.

The new album has six tracks, although the 2LP and limited digipak CD versions also have one bonus track “The Ship”. Things start with the majestic and powerful mid-tempo 15-minute piece “Icarus”. It starts to rock harder after the six-minute-marker, but then cools down for a few moments. The end is beautiful and atmospheric stuff, very nice. “Suns” begins gently with droney soundscapes, sparse electric piano and hypnotic, monotonic beat. The track grows after three minutes and you just can’t stop banging your head to the heavy motorik riff! In the end things mellow out again. Wonderful! “Birth of Venus” is a shorter, heavy and progressive piece, but there’s also some more atmospheric stuff in the middle. “Pintao” is the shortest track at 4:44 and it has a pretty weird, dark and experimental vibe. There’s a great guitar and keyboard solos in the end! “Once We Were” is a fast and furious heavy prog rock piece that I enjoy very much. The sort of Oriental vibe reminds me of Kingston Wall a bit. The slow, deep and mystical ending is very mesmerizing! The last track “Circles” starts off slowly and quietly, but starts to rock out in the heavy progressive way later on. There are also some Pink Floyd influences on the chord progression at times, I think. Great stuff anyway! For fans of My Sleeping Karma, Hypnos 69, Karma to Burn, Glowsun, Sungrazer etc.

www.monkeythree.com
 

 

Oranssi Pazuzu: Valonielu

Svart Records (SVR226)

 

Valonielu is the third album by Finnish Oranssi Pazuzu. The guys combine hypnotic, cosmic and psychedelic rock to dark and gloomy black metal. They have also released a splendid slit with Candy Cane. I’ve been a fan since the debut album, although I don’t usually really care for this kind of growling/shrieking vocals anymore. For some reason the vocals of Oranssi Pazuzu don’t really bother me, maybe I’m just used to them or maybe it’s the fact that they remind me of early Bathory that’s the kind of original black metal that I still can stand? Whatever the case, the main thing that appeals me with this band is their cosmic, spacey and spooky atmosphere full of ancient Lovecraftian monsters, altered states of mind and dark parallel universes. And they also write great songs! I like the down-tuned, brutal guitar riffs, hypnotic, early Circle-like beats and eerie keyboards and spacey sound effects. Not all the guitars are totally distorted and heavy, but they also use lots of other effects which is very cool. There are some weird, surreal, abstract and experimental vibes that remind me of Voi Vod as well. The overall vibe is very gloomy and spacey. I also really like the lyrics that are in Finnish, although it’s sometimes hard to figure out what the singer is singing. Valonielu also includes a more ambient, tranquil but still very dark instrumental called “Reikä Maisemassa” (“A Hole in the Landscape” in English). My favourite is the heavy rocking hypnotic mid-tempo piece “Olen Aukaissut Uuden Silmän” (“I Have Opened a New Eye”) that reminds me very much of Bathory, especially during the parts with blast beat. Two of the six tracks are very long, the cosmic, stoned and doomy “Uraanisula” at 11:52 and the mostly atmospheric and experimental “Ympyrä On Viiva Tomussa” at 15:10. If you want something heavy, weird, dark, scary and spacey, this album is for you. The album is also out in the US on 20 Buck Spin.

 

www.oranssipazuzu.com