Shem - II

 Clostridium Records (CR 067)

Shem from Stuttgart is a new band making improvisational, instrumental psychedelic rock inspired by early krautrock, Hawkwind and modern bands like Kungens Män. As you might have guessed, II is their second album following the CD album No  Songs, Just Sound (2020). The guitars are pretty heavy compared to some other impro psych bands nowadays (like OSC, for example).

This limited edition LP (150 on black, 150 on coloured vinyl) has just three long tracks. It starts of with the heavy and massive "Descension" that rocks out in a freaky way. "Night" is slower and more tranquil at first but gets darker and heavier. The band also has a synth player but he mostly does sound effect like stuff which fits in fine. The two guitarists are more in the front, anyway. The over 19-minute "Fall" fills the whole side B. It has a bit faster, sort of motorik groove and all in all it's the more krautrock sounding, hypnotic piece. Great stuff! If you like improvised, heavy psych/space/krautrock I'd say you should locate a copy of this album for your collection for sure.

shemtrails.bandcamp.com

Sleeping Pandora - Ride the Horizon

 Clostridium Records (CR 064)

Ride the Horizon is the latest physical album (the first one on LP) by German solo artist Mathias Rosman. His dreamy, instrumental, rather electronic project Sleeping Pandora has now released already nine albums on Bandcamp, the latest being the brand-new Atmosphere. Clostridium's promo sheet mentions Pink Floyd and Ashra as comparisons and I must agree, although the music has a rather modern touch and sound quality, so no early 70's vibes except maybe on the marvelous guitar work with lots of delay and reverb.

The album has five long tracks. The opener is the 13:18 long, wonderful "Interplanetary Meditation". The title is rather revealing: just close you eyes and let the dreamy, spacey music take you away. "Vertical Drive" is a bit tighter and groovier tracks, very nice. Side B starts with the cool, airy and floating ambient piece "Holy Daze". It is the shortest track at just under five minutes and pretty simple. "Lightkeepers Routine" is pretty and hypnotic, one of my favourites. The album is finished with the faster, danceable "Ancient Subterranean Swimmingpool". Great! All in al, Ride the Horizon is another very pleasant Sleeping Pandora album and I recommend it warmly. The ultra limited colourerd vinyl seems to be sold out already but you might be able to score one of the 200 black copies. Both come with poster, sticker and download code and are hand-numbered.

www.facebook.com/sleepingpandora

 

Thought Bubble - Around

Dirty Filthy Records

Around by Thought Bubble (UK) fits in fine to the rather varied although eccentric style of Dirty Filthy Records. They play experimental, improvised electronic music in an interesting and unique way. This is their first album following a few digital only singles and one EP. Thought Bubble is a duo project of Chris Cordwell & Nick Raybould mixing together synths and live drums. Some of you might remember them from the band Glowpeople. Their recordings also feature guest musicians, this time Suzette (voice on "The Waves" and "Beatwave"), Pablo Raybould (voice on "Möbius Trip"), Shaun Bailey (guitar and loops on "Möbius Trip" and "Devoider") and Gregg McKella (clarinet on "Fluctuate") who give the music more colour in a nice way.

 

The rather short album includes six, almost instrumental tracks. The opener, "The Waves" has a strange, bit oriental vibe and lots of psychedelic sound effects. This track is also included on the latest Fruits de Mer freebie CD Music For Amphibians, very nice! "Beatwave" has a sort of motorik beat and futuristic, hypnotic atmosphere. Maybe my favourite! "Möbius Trip" has cool narration, great lead guitar work and a weird feel to it. Quite trippy! "Rat Race" is a shorter, faster experimental piece and like ther rest of the album, has a rather modern sound. Next is the longest track of the album called "Fluctuate" and it has a nice cinematic vibe due to the addition of clarinet and string sounds. I like it a lot. The last track "Devoider" is the slowest one and has a quite strange atmosphere getting closer to ambient music before speeding up towards the end. All in all, this is an interesting album and I got to say I have not heard anything quite like it before, although some of it brings to mind 80s King Crimson and some of the solo works of Brian Eno. Out on LP, CD and digital.

www.facebook.com/cloudduo