I am very happy to announce that the debut solo album by ex-Hawkwind singer Bridget Wishart will be released next week! So what do I have to do with that, you might ask? Well, since the Astral Magic feat. Bridget Wishart album Ad Infinitum released on CD in 2023 and on ultra-limited LP in 2024 was rather successful we decided to make another album. This time we were also able to get Steve Bemand, Bridget's long-time band-member and also occasional Hawkwind tour guitarist to join in. During the album process we were both contacted by Dan from Savant Guarde Records (US), and after discussions we agreed to continue the album project as a Bridget Wishart solo album rather that yet another Astral Magic album. All the music was written by me (Santtu Laakso), but Bridget wrote all the lyrics and vocal melodies and also played some EWI while Steve arranged and played all the guitars. Santtu's final mix was then mastered by Paul Gobbold and the artwork was done by Alan Arthurs. Both are of course famous for their work with Hawkwind, among others.
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!
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!
I have started making some of my releases available in physical form from Kunaki Products (US)! They produce the goods very fast and I'd recommend all American fans to use it while I am not able to mail anything to the USA right now from Finland.
So far I have added all the six Strange Vibrations albums and In Space We Trust by Astral Magic since all the artwork on those was put together by me so I could transform it to jewel case format. Expect more stuff soon, also an exclusive tape compilation in the works!
You can already access and play the virtual cassette version of the compilation Wormhole Full Of Wonders here:
Quite a lot has happened in the Astral World since the latest blog release in October. Since the first actual CD release on Astral Magic Music, Astral Magic - The Chosen Ones has been sold-out for a long time I decided to do something about it. Rather than just to re-release it, I got an idea to make new versions of the best tracks and release it under a bit different name: The Ultra Chosen Ones. I recorded some new stuff to ten of the tracks and remixed them. My old friend Juha Takalo, who designed The Chosen Ones CD art also made new artwork for this release. Both lathe-cut LP and CD-R (with two bonus tracks) are ONLY available from elasticStage.
There were two new releases on 5.12.2025, the last Bandcamp Friday of the year. Astral Magic - Weird Encounters and Alternative Realities (ASTRAL058) was the end result of a long process started already at the beginning of 2024. I wanted to continue the Astral Magic magazine that was put out with the compilation tape Meetings with the Universal Mind in 2022. In the end I had to make it happen myself, of course with the help of Andy Wainwright doing the design. Weird Encounters is partly a compilation as well, but also includes some brand-new stuff. All the 13 tracks on the limited-edition CD have never been released in physical format before. The Bandcamp download also includes the booklet Visions from the Future in PDF form. To have the booklet also in printed form, it was added to the lathe-cut LP version that has partly different tracks... Only available from elasticStage.
What comes to our new project Strange Vibrations, things have progressed as well. After Higher Dimentional Beings there have been TWO more albums! V was released as a limited edition (50 copies) real CD in cardboard cover and lathe-cut LP only available from elasticStage again. The latest addition to the S. V. album family is Out of My Mind, that in physical form is only available from elasticStage, both as a lathe-cut LP and a CD-R.
I have been busy making new music with Paul Roland and another album with Bridget Wishart is also taking form. Other stuff has also been made with other musicians, of course. Check out for example Tomplex. I will also be on the next release by Dreaming Apparition, together with Shane Beck and Kevin Erhardt-Hansen.
The long-awaited Astral Hawk Machine album (a collaboration with Jay Tausig, Bridget Wishart and Santtu Laakso) should finally be available next week! There will only be a CD (300 copies) release at the moment, out on Italian Black Widow Records.
Good news is that the next Astral Magic release Into the Cosmos will be out on the 6th of February on LP (200 copies) and digipack CD (100 copies) on Astral Magic Music! Both formats have already been manufactured so no more delays with this heavy, psychedelic space rock masterpiece! Check out the opener on YouTube:
Like I said in the previous news post, a new album by our side-project Strange Vibrations was released today to celebrate yet another Bandcamp Friday! Only 50 copies on factory-made CD-R and of course digital.
I also did a very different "Single Mix" of the album's last track "Children of the Perpetual Echo" that was released into the wild digitally last week. This version has sort of a 60s psych pop feel, I think? The original version on the album is more ambient in nature.
Check out the song at YouTube (for example):
There is nothing new out from the mothership Astral Magic, but as you might have noticed, I have put A LOT of old, sold-out stuff and vinyl debuts available to elasticStage with the help of Andy Wainwright (cover art on most) and Jonathan Segel (vinyl mastering for the lathe-cut versions).
I have ordered copies of each one to myself, but have not received all yet. But what I do have have been of high quality although being an on-demand thing and all products being done one-by-one there might sometimes be some mistakes. No worries though, elasticStage has a very fast and friendly customer support and if you receive something faulty they will send replacement a.s.a.p.
Almost all the sold-out CD-R's are now available in new packaging and the vinyl LPs available are:
As soon as we get the album artwork done, you will also be able to order LP copies of Cosmic Energy Flow, End of Time, Strange Sensation, Sacred Mysteries and Floating in Space! Happy daze are here!
If you have been wondering, then yes, there will also be an Astral Magic album out later this year.
Weird Encounters and Alternative Realitieswill be out on the 5th of December, the last Bandcamp Friday of the year. It is a weird hybrid of a new studio album and a compilation. The CD (100 copies in digipack) will include 13 tracks that have never been available in physical format before.
The CD tracks:
1. The Worm (Astral Magic Wormhole Remix) 6:04 2. Programmed Reality (New Song) 13:08 3. Colors Behind My Soul (Remix) 6:15 4. A Lucid Trip (Remix) 4:48 5. Lurking in the Dark (Home Studio Version) 5:38 6. Taste of Sunlight (Home Studio Version) 5:08 7. Psychic Resistance (Home Studio Version) 4:57 8. Mind Eater (Home Studio Version) 6:50 9. Remember Your Roots (Home Studio Version) 4:38 10. Emerald Tablet (Home Studio Version) 4:13 11. Longing for the Stars (Astral Magic Remix) 4:12 12. Solarwind (Astral Magic Remix) 4:29 13. Kingdoms in the Sky (New Song) 7:02
A lathe-cut LP with a 12-page booklet where the Astral Magic saga continues from the Astral Magic magazine released on 2022 will be made available through elasticStage. The LP version will have partly different track list, none of the tracks have been available on vinyl before:
The LP tracks:
1. The Worm (Astral Magic Wormhole Remix) 6:04 2. Programmed Reality (New Song) 13:08 3. Mind Melt Machine (L’Autre Monde Mix) 3:24 4. Heady Daze 4:20 5. Colors Behind My Soul (Remix) 6:15 6. A Lucid Trip (Remix) 4:48 7. Kingdoms in the Sky (7:08)
After years of waiting and fishing for labels, I have also decided to finally release the heavy space rock album Into the Cosmos by my own on Astral Magic Music. So LP and CD with bonus tracks coming out in early 2026! Other thing worth mentioning is that I have started album projects with two of my old collaborators, some exciting details will be given out at a later date...
Strange Vibrations, Astral Magic's more experimental and electronic little brother have a new album out! III was released on the Bandcamp Friday 5th of September. Only 50 copies on factory-made CD-R and going fast, so get your copy a.s.a.p. from:
https://astralmagic.bandcamp.com/album/iii
You Can check out the promo video for the opener Crystal Spaceship over here:
I must add that we already have a FOURTH album ready and it will be released on the next Bandcamp Friday on the 3rd of October! Just like III, Strange Vibrations - Higher Dimentional Beings also features Jonathan Segel on guitar, violin and bass and will be released as a factory-made CD-R limited to just 50 copies.
Check out the new Strange Vibrations Facebook site.
Some cool Astral Magic news! First of all, the latest releases include a limited edition factory-made CD-R of the latest Astral Magic album In Space We Trust! I'm really happy with how it turned up. Get it from:
Another recent, Astral Magic related release is Feed My Soul, a debut album by our project Chakra Vimana. It is out on the excellent Tonzonen Records from Germany on coloured LP and CD, both limited to 300 copies. Available from all good psych stores and mail-order companies! Also of course directly from the label and from Chakra Vimana, Herd of Instinct (US/Canada/Mexico) and Astral Magic (EU/UK) Bandcamp pages.
The latest release on Astral Magic Music is the digital Astral Magic Remixes II single of two tracks from the forth-coming Strange Vibrations album (out 1st of August). Check them out here!
Astral Magic has started to work with elasticStage, an on-demand CD-R/lathe-cut company from the UK. I am really excited about the opportunity to make some stuff available this way! There are already 11 sold-out, rare CD-R albums in better packaging available again form the elasticStage Astral Magic page:
The next phase will see the vinyl releases of In Space We Trust, Black Floyd's Trinity (also CD-R coming up), Wonderland and Dance of Destiny. Also some other old albums will be available on LP as soon as we get them mastered for vinyl and artwork modified as well. How cool is that?
Today it is the official release date of our psychedelic, spacey and atmospheric prog rock project debut:
Chakra Vimana - Feed My Soul (Tonzonen Records TON177)!
The beautiful coloured vinyl is limited to 300 copies and comes with a download code. The CD is also limited to 300, comes in amazing digipack and has a bonus track (also available on digital download).
Chakra Vimana’s album is the debut collaboration of spoken word artist Shane Beck known as The Last American Poet from Astral Magic, Talking Clouds, Language of The Moon & more, Mark Cook from Herd of Instinct, Liquid Sound Company, The Forever Moment & more, Santtu Laakso from Dark Sun & Astral Magic.These three create a sound that delves deeply into different forms of space and prog rock with heavy influences of Porcupine Tree, Nik Turner, King Crimson, Bill Laswell, and Tangerine Dream.
You can order copies directly from the label in Germany:
I have just received some lead guitar and violin tracks for the new album from my trusty collaborator Jonathan Segel. I will try to mix "In Space We Trust" by the end of the week and send the stuff back to Jonathan for mastering.
The plan is to release it on the next Bandcamp Friday, 2nd of May. Since hardly anybody seems to buy albums anymore, this will only be a limited, factory-made CD-R release of 50 copies. But it will be great stuff, I tell you!
I might release an (amateur...) video before the release date.
Please check out the video for the title track of the next Astral Magic album Dance of Destiny! The album will be out 7.3.2025 and available on limited edition CD and digital download. Would also fit on LP, if some label is interested?!
Other news is that I just got frozen in Facebook again after a few group postings... Seems useless.
Oh, the Chakra Vimana album will be released on Tonzonen Records on 23.5.2025! 300 copies on coloured vinyl and also on digipack CD. I'm so excited!
Here's translation for those who do not speak Dutch for some reason:
Astral Magic from Finland is the solo project of bassist Santtu Laakso, a member of the psychedelic space rock band Dark Sun, which was founded in 1991.
On September 30, 2020, he released his first solo album, Pathway To The Stars, followed by 65 more digital releases, some of which were also issued on LP and CD through Space Rock Productions, Sapphire Records, Clostridium, Tonzonen Records, and Aumega Project. On March 6, 2025, Dance Of Destiny will be released on his own label, Astral Magic Music, both as a CD and a digital download. The album features eight tracks, with Laakso playing all the instruments himself, except for track 2, where his son Anton contributes on Moog.
The album opens with Intro - Open The Portal, a fantastic up-tempo krautrock piece, followed by the title track Dance Of Destiny, a brilliant space rock song with a steady tempo and a catchy recurring rhythm influenced by the music of Hawkwind. Next is Distortion In Space-Time, a fantastic up-tempo progressive rock track with an Eastern vibe, space rock influences, a swinging rhythm, and tempo changes, followed by We Plunge Into Chaos, an excellent melodic space rock song with light space rock elements and an infectious rhythm.
In Transmission Psi, Astral Magic delivers a delightful, Eastern-sounding track at a moderate tempo, reminiscent of In The Labyrinth, while Slumber Of The Ancient Ones offers an outstanding space rock song with a not-too-fast pace and a hypnotic rhythm that induces a light trance.
The album continues with Zep Tepi, a swinging, up-tempo space rock song with an infectious recurring rhythm that makes it impossible to sit still, and concludes with Last Days Of A Time Cycle, a delightful electronic track at a moderate tempo, which could easily have been performed by Kitaro.
Dance Of Destiny by Astral Magic contains eight outstanding tracks, primarily categorized under space rock. I thoroughly enjoyed this remarkable album and highly recommend it to every fan of the genre.
Okay, so what is Strange Vibrations and how it came into existence?
A couple of weeks ago, I received my first new synthesizer for a few years, Stylophone CPM DS-2
Analogue Drone Synthesizer, to be exact. Of course I had to try it
out... In a couple of days I ended up with nine experimental tracks all
started with the CPM DS-02. I added other synths and then decided to ask
Shane to join in, since this kind of experimental stuff always is more
interesting (to me, at least) with some spoken word. This time I gave
him all the subject matter ideas beforehand with some links to
get inspired. Shane did a great job very fast as usual, and really
delivered the goods like I knew he would! Later I added more stuff like
electric guitars and more synths, even some percussive things. Now this
all started to sound like something that should get out there...
I had recently decided not to put out new Astral Magic releases as often
as before, so an idea was received from my friend Jaire to release this
under a different project name. That I way I could still keep my
promise without cheating (much...)! I decided to call this new project
Strange Vibrations according to one of the tracks, and Shane liked that
too. To shake things even more I did remixes of two of the most "normal"
tracks and put those out first as
"Astral Magic Mix" single. I added bass guitar and my vocals to these
single versions, two of the most recognizable elements from Astral Magic
that I have decided never to use in Strange Vibrations to keep some
distance.
Jonathan Segel helped us a lot by mastering all the stuff while I came
up with all the dodgy artwork myself (Andy was too busy making three
different designs for my other projects...). Getting confused? No
wonder... Anyway, this is more or less how it all happened. I hope you
like it! The album will be out on March the 7th only on Bandcamp (and maybe YouTube) as digital download and limited edition of 33 copies on home-made CD-R. There will also be a new Astral Magic CD Dance of Destiny available then. The Longing for the Stars / Solarwind single was released last Friday when Bandcamp donated all their share to victims of the Los Angeles fires, you can hear and buy it here:
