Beautify Junkyards: S/T

Metrodiscos (METRO047.13)

This is the debut full-length by the Lisbon-based psych folk band Beautify Junkyards who have previously released some excellent stuff on Fruits de Mer. The band started in 2012 when members of various Portuguese bands decided to retreat from city life to do some outdoor recording sessions in the countryside. The results have been astounding. All the nine songs on this vinyl/CD album are interpretations of tracks from the late 60s and early 70s, some more known and some rather underground stuff. The songs are very carefully selected and the band does a wonderful job on all of them.

Their version of “Rose Hip November” (originally by Vashti Bunyan) is one of the most beautiful pieces I’ve heard for a while. It just has very fragile, melancholic male vocals, synth and acoustic guitars plus a little bit of backing vocals and some tender rhythm. Amazing! Nick Drake’s “From the Morning” has a bit more positive vibe and again the performance is perfect in every way. This was already released on the Beautify Junkyards 7” on Fruits de Mer. The flow of the album is just perfect, and next we get an exquisite, magical folk version of Kraftwerk’s “Radioactivity”. I’m on goose bumps here! “Fuga No 2” originally by Os Mutantes from Brazil has wonderful female vocals in Portuguese and has been released as the B side to the Fruits de Mer 7”. A very nice song, anyway! Next they give us “Ask Me No Questions” (Bridget St John) and I don’t think I have heard the original. The excellent female vocals have some Nico vibe. The track order is a bit different on the CD and vinyl. “Yellow Roses” is acoustic guitar driven, lovely piece with male vocals originally by Heron and this is the first version that I’ve heard. Lovely. Then they cover some Roy Harper: “Another Day” and they do that well. Another song that I was not previously familiar with is the spell-bounding “Parallelograms” (by Linda Perhacs). The album is finished with Donovan’s “Song for the Naturalist’s Wife” that, like the previous song, has both femme and male vocals. What a nice way to finish off this excellent release! The album is distributed through Clear Spot so it should be quite easy to get in Europe at least. Warmly recommended for all fans of beautiful, emotional psych folk!

http://beautifyjunkyards.bandcamp.com

Window Blinds: Chimera

Self-released

 

Window Blinds is an electronic duo project by Thomas Schärer from Switzerland and Petri Parkkali from Finland. Thomas is the drummer and keyboard player in a band called Dirk Dollar and also makes music as a solo artist under the name Staubfänger and Petri is the founder member of Zoomonk, whose music I have reviewed in the past. This 28-minute disc was recorded in 2012 and includes eight atmospheric, dark, adventurous, mostly electronic tracks influenced by the likes of Goblin, Dario Argento, Stelvio Cipriani, Tindersticks and Imperio Argentina. I’m also reminded of Radiohead etc., but this is subtler stuff. There is a certain psychedelic undercurrent going on, and some of the tracks definitely would make a good soundtrack to a (modern) horror movie. Some pieces are also pretty experimental, bit still rather listenable. One of the best pieces is the instrumental “1988”, some of the tracks also have quiet, laid-back vocals (both Petri and Thomas sing). The instrumentation includes piano, synthesizer, drum machines, guitar, Mellotron, Melodica and harmonium. I sort of have troubles trying to figure out what the guys were trying to achieve here, since at times it feels like they didn’t really know it themselves. On the other hand, sometimes there is a definite clue and the music is getting somewhere. This is not the kind of music that I love to listen to the most, but it’s still pretty interesting although a little demanding as well. You can check them out at their Bandcamp site!

 

http://windowblinds.bandcamp.com

 

 

Astral Visions Radio (show #45) online now

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

Listen to or download from:

http://aural-innovations.com/radio/astral.html

 

Playlist:

Jacco Gardner - "The End of August" (from The End of August 7")

Wooden Shjips - "These Shadows (Acoustic Version)" (from free download)

Spids Nogenhat - " Vand, Brod og Te" (from the forthcoming album Kommer med Fred)

Temples - "Jewel of Mine Eye" (from Keep in the Dark 7")

The Oscillation - "Descent" (from From Tomorrow)

Jay Tausig - "The Glorious Om Riff" (from the forthcoming V/A: Shrunken Head Music 2 x 7")

Vibravoid - "Leave It All Behind" (from Distortions Remastered 2013 Deluxe Edition)

Black Rainbows - "Holy Moon" (from Holy Moon)

Carlton Melton - "Sarsen" (from Always Even)

The Cosmic Dead - "Djamba (Edit)" (from the forthcoming split LP w/ Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs)

Morgan Delt - "Barbarian Kings" (from Barbarian Kings 7")

Here & Now - "Near and How (Live)" (from Live In London)

Dark Sun - "Machine Lover" (from the forthcoming album Visions of Infinity –The Early Demos)

Embryo - "Side Two (Live, Edit)" (from Message from Era Ora)

Fuzz - "Loose Sutures" (from S/T)

Astralasia - "Johnny Remember Me" (from the forthcoming V/A: The Fruits de Mer Annual 2014 7")

Vespero - "Careful with That Axe, Eugene" (from the forthcoming Careful with That Axe, Eugene 7")

Mind Over Mirrors - "Bark & Barge" (from When the Rest Are Up at Four)
Master Musicians of Bukkake - "Arche" (from Far West)

 

 

 

 

Dj playlist 10.10.2013 @ Kuudes Linja, Helsinki (Ufomammut & Talbot)

Pentagram: Run My Course
Saint Vitus: One Mind
Black Sabbath: Snowblind
Mansion: Mother's Burden
Reverend Bizarre: The Goddess of Doom
The Oscillation: No Place to Go
Wooden Shjips: These Shadows (Acoustic Version)
Psicomagia: Congreso Pt. 1
Morgan Belt: Barbarian Kings
Moon Duo: Been Gone (Life Coach Remix)
Verma: Ragnaraak
Master Musicians of Bukkake: Arche
The Cosmic Dead: Gustav Björnstrand
Carlton Melton: Sarsen
Black Rainbows: Chakra Temple
Electric Moon: The Inner Part
Vibravoid: Doris Delay

The Spacelords: S/T / Dimension 7 / Live @ Psychedelic Network Festival 2012

Self-released CD’s

The Spacelords is a German band who label themselves as psychedelic space rock. Okay, maybe something like that, but I think that at least on their first album they sound a lot more like Jimi Hendrix than Hawkwind, for example. They also have some ethnic and world music influences, among others. And nothing wrong with that, since this trio really can play and jam like there’s no tomorrow! I asked them to send me their latest offering, a live album recorded in 2012, but the band kindly sent me all of their three CD’s. The main trio on all these records is composed of guitarist and occasional singer Matthias Wettstein, drummer Marcus Schnitzler and bassist Klaus Werz, and they also play synths etc. when needed (which is not that often, especially so on the debut). The music is mainly instrumental, and the first, self-titled album also features Reinhold Pape on flute and effects.

The first album starts off with the ten-minute-plus “Wah Wah”, and you definitely get a lot of Hendrix-styled wah guitar on this one! Some great licks and a nice groove in there. Also “Manamba” sort of reminds me of Jimi, but it sounds more modern than that and the flute adds the progressive rock vibe. “Apeman” is very Hendrix styled as well, or something that The Outskirts of Infinity might have come up with. “Slowdown” is a more bluesy tune that also has some flute, and on “Golfstrorm” the band goes into this sort of ethnic, hypnotic, trance world with nice delay guitar and percussion work before starting the standard (but very good) early 70’s styled guitar jamming. The rhythm section is excellent too, by the way! “Cruising” is a more atmospheric track that reminds me of some of the more progressive kraut rock bands from the early 70s. The debut ends with the over 14-minute, mellow, dreamy and mid-tempo “Janakpur” that has a very nice Eastern vibe and once again flute and great solo guitar work. Maybe my favourite on this album!

Dimension 7 starts off with the title track that also has vocals. A little bit of King Crimson in there, perhaps? Also some spacey effects which is great. Then it’s time for “Echoes from the Past (Part 1)” that could have been played by Guru Guru in the late 70’s or early 80’s, very groovy and psychedelic stuff with those typical delay guitar patterns that always work so well. “Echoes from the Past (Part 2)” continues the jam with some more djembe and without vocals. Very nice! “Space Caravan” is a bit mellower, but still groovy instrumental track with percussion and floating keyboards. “Gidamba” has a definitive African rhythm and I like this one too. The little bit too vague “Titty Twister” has some dirty moaning mixed in whether you like it or not… I sort of do! On “Pyroclastic” the band gets pretty weird and psychedelic which of course is a good thing in my books! The hypnotic “Air Liquid” and the last, long piece “Hypnotized” remind me of the spacey psych rock band Tribe of Crow and some trippy German bands like Electric Orange and Zone Six (their synth player is now in The Spacelords I just noticed!), so you know I like these. Now this is starting to be what I call space rock!

Okay, then the live album… As you might have guessed, this limited edition disc includes tracks from both albums plus a couple of unreleased, maybe new, tracks. They open up with “Hypnotized” and I’m of course happy about that. It’s nice to hear that they can create this full psychedelic sound even live with just the tree of them. Then it’s time for “Wah Wah” and “Apeman” from the first album to really rock out in the Hendrix style and this works live too. Then we get the two new tracks in the row, the at first spacey and floating “Prelude-Rhinoceros-Bison” that also has some galactic narration before it starts to rock more and the aptly named heavy rocker “Synapse”. The album ends with a great version of “Pyroclastic” and I’m sure the audience was satisfied after that one. What a mind-blowing trip! For those who like to keep their head in space: go for the two latest releases but the Hendrix fans should also get the debut album. The digipak covers also look really fine and psychy…

www.thespacelords.com

 

Herba Mate: The Jellyfish Is Dead and the Hurricane Is Coming

Self-released CD

Herba Mate is a heavy stoner rock trio from Italy formed in 2001. The Jellyfish Is Dead and the Hurricane Is Coming is their debut album and was released already in 2009 but I only got it recently (okay, maybe it has been a while…). They have also released one CD EP in 2005 and played with for example Damo Suzuki, Fu Manchu and Pontiak. The music on this CD is mostly rather slow or mid-tempo, heavy and groovy and there are not that much vocals, but when there are, they’re rather tough and very suitable for the music. The band has definitely been influenced by desert/stoner rock bands like Kyuss, Fatso Jetson, Fu Manchu, GOTSA etc., but they still have something original to put on the table. Maybe not much, but some. Their playing is tight and rocking and they also have the groove which is so important in this kind of music. Some of the music is also rather progressive, like the sixth track “Bugs”. The disc ends with an experimental/acoustic track called “Sputnik”. I’m not 100% impressed with the album but it’s still good stuff with some imagination and fresh ideas so if you’re a stoner rock fanatic I’m sure you will enjoy this stuff.

 

idea4usonly.com/herbamate/index.php/la-band.html

 

Causa Sui: Euporie Tide

El Paraiso Records (EPR013LP)

 

Causa Sui from Denmark started out as a stoner rock band releasing their two first albums in 2005 on Nasoni and in 2007 on Elektrohasch. Since their Summer Session 1-3 series that was originally released on three separate vinyl albums in 2008 and 2009 the band has definitely proved that they truly are something more than just another stoner band. They started to improvise and jam a lot more and took their influences from a vast array of different kinds of music like jazz, psychedelic rock, prog etc. They have also dropped all the vocals and now focus on very inspired, highly skillful and emotional instrumental performance. They started their own record label El Paraiso Records that has made possible to also release music by their other projects and collaborations, individual band members and friends that include the amazing Paper. Causa Sui’s Pewt’r Sessions 1 & 2 in 2011 that also featured Ron Schneiderman from the US band Sunburned Hand of the Man saw the band getting into even longer jams that were totally amazing an mesmerizing. On Euporie Tide the tracks are a bit shorter and more to the point without losing any of the psychedelic, hypnotic nature.

The limited 2LP (also on blue vinyl) and CD include ten tracks in total ranging in length from under two minutes to almost 11 minutes. You still get a few heavier, more stoner rock sounding tracks like the long, great opener “Homage” that sounds a bit like Colour Haze or the groovy Brant Bjork-like “Boozehound” and they still know how to create heavy, on-your-face guitar riffs, but pieces like “Echo Springs” sound more like Miles Davis jamming with very stoned Neu! or something. There’s definitely some Hendrix in the vibe as well. There are quite a lot of keyboards to give the music more texture and the band really has sense for melodies and dynamics. There are also some more acoustic moments like the short and very positive sounding “Fisherlscher Sun”, and “Sota El Cel” is just a short ambient piece. It’s really hard to pick up any favourites since I really love all the tracks here. One highlight still is the ninth track “Euporie” where the band really brings the listener into state of psychedelic euphoria. Excellent! I also fully enjoy the peaceful, blissful final piece “Eternal Flow” that sums everything up in a very nice way and brings to mind the mescaline visions of Black Sun Ensemble. Absolutely one of the best albums this year!

www.causasui.com