The Fishheads - Lobster Basque Replica

 Fruits de Mer Records (crustacean 100)

This is the 100th "Crustacean" release  so congratulations seem to be in order! The Fishheads is a crazy project started by Marc Swordfish with other Astralasia members and friends and they have previously released a 7"/CD package on Fruits de Mer (check out my review over here). Anton Barbeau is featured again as well as Icarus Peel. but the legendary Simon House makes his debut in the project! Not sure what he plays though, maybe some violin. This time we'll get an LP plus CD. I'll have to wait for my order from Shiny Beast to be able to say much of the remix CD with one bonus track, since this promo pack only includes a CD-R of the LP, so let's concentrate on that.

The first three songs are early Pink Floyd covers and who can ever get enough of those? Not me, when they are done in such an elegant and wonderful manner, that's for sure. It's great to hear my pal and Astral Magic collaborator Anton Barbeau sing "See Emily Play" and "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun", both among my Floyd favorites. Amazing versions too, love the Mellotrons etc.! "Set the..." is as hypnotic and mystical as ever. I guess Icarus sings the other two songs on side A, another great singer or course. "Remember a Day" is a brilliant tune too and ah, so beautiful, and this version is a great homage. Mighty Baby's "Egyptian Tomb" ends the A side of the album in a groovy way. The B side is filled with an over 20-minute "Oops! Something's Coming from Another Planet", what a cool title... It starts of with a theme from West Side Story but then turns into a monstruos jam session like only Sworfish and his friends can achieve. Phew, what a trip... Warmly recommended!

www.fruitsdemerrecords.com/basque.html 

The Bevis Frond - An Introduction to The Bevis Frond

 Fruits de Mer Records (intro 3)

 

The Bevis Frond from the UK has been one of my favourite bands for 30 years, so all new releases by Nick Saloman & co. are always a big deal for me! Fruits de Mer Records are celebrating their 15th year of existence this year and launched a new series of introductory compilation releases of some of the most well-known and best artists they have worked with along the years. These are actually CD-R's, so not real CD's and unfortunately no vinyl releases of these exist at all. But these are great way to put together many of the tracks by the artists that have been released on Fruits de Mer albums and singles plus some! This time we also get three previously unreleased Bevis demos which of course make this album a must-have for all Bevis fans out there. But I have to say that even without those this is a one killer compilation!

The album includes 16 tracks in total including six covers and 10 Saloman originals. The longest one is the almost 24-minute guitar freak-out "China" from Sideways compilation, other covers include Sky Saxon song "Creepin' Aroun" and "Glass Onion" by The Beatles.  Besides the three unreleased demos the only ones I did not have before were "Condition Blues" and "Not Until I feel It", both from the rare Friends of the Fish III 7" lathe-cut that was only sold at The 19th Dream of Doctor Sardonicus Festival in Wales this year. The only goddam Bevis Frond single along with the previous Bevis 7" from the 2019 festival I'm missing from my collection... So I'm definitely happy to have the tracks here! Cool, rocking home demos, I love them. I used to be able to get all the Fruits de Mer Records (and The Bevis Frond too) releases but with these festival-only rarities it has been impossible for several years which is sort of sad... Well, on the other hand it is maybe healthy to just realize your collector ambitions can't be fulfilled anymore, maybe it's time to focus on other things! Sorry, I seem to be rambling here... Anyway, this is a great compilation for both die-hard fans and maybe even those new to the sounds of The Bevis Frond so just go and order it! Shiny Beast is your place in the EU, in UK Fruits de Mer still delivers the goods. Oh by the way, if you happen to be in Germany this week, The Bevis Frond plays at Cairo, Würtzburg on Saturday.

bevisfrond.bandcamp.com/

Sendelica - Man, Myth & Magic

 Fruits de Mer Records (winkle 49)

I bet Welsh psychedelic space rockers Sendelica don't need much introductions here. I have reviewed at least half of their vast output before. Their previous studio album "One Man's Man...", the second in the man themed series was an exception. The reason for that definitely was not that it was not good enough, it was bloody brilliant. I just had this principle not to review stuff that I'm playing on, and I played some synths and keyboards on that one. Well, I also do on this new one, but better write a review this time so they might ask me to collaborate again!

It seems to be a new standard for the band to put extended, longer and longer instrumentals to their albums nowadays. This time they have just four, side-long pieces for the 2LP and CD release. That way there's plenty of time to evolve and psych out, which is great! "Wheel of Fortune" has an ominous tritonus vibe going on since the beginning. At 2:22 the hypnotic rocking begins! What a great, mesmerazing track. The jazzy sax offers some Gong vibes, I think. "Neptune (The Hanged Man)" is more atmospheric at first and you can hear a lot of my Moog Grandmother on this one. The piece grows gradually into sort of krautrock and some heavy psych rocking follows later on after the quiet middle part. I just love this track! "Magician Dawn" is a magical and majestic ambient number with some field recordings and makes you fall into a hazy trance-like state. Wonderful! "Tower of Chaos" is another pretty ambient, more experimental piece with some studio wizardry. Quite weird and trippy stuff, actually... All in all, another master piece by Sendalica, and I'm so happy and proud I could join them in the process! There is also a limited edition version of the LP with a bonus disc and a set of tarot cards but that is already sold-out. The standard version with cut-out sleeve, printed inner and poster will be very cool too for sure! The release date seems to be postponed to December now, but this will be worth the wait I tell you...

sendelica.bandcamp.com

Jeremy and the Lemon Clocks - Side-by-Side

 Fruits de Mer Records (crustacean 99) 

 

I'm a bit late with my review since this marvellous double CD-R album was released already last month. It seems to have sold pretty well, since Shiny Beast in Holland is at least temporally all out already. Jeremy is Jeremy Morris from Kalamazoo, Michigan and he operates Jam Records and obviously loves psychedelic music from the 60s. He has released tons of stuff, as solo artists and also with his bands like The Lemon Clocks.

On this release he offers 19 cover versions of classic 60s psych rock songs. On the first disc he extends them with cool jams and even motifs from other pieces etc. which makes them much more interesting than just strict covers. "Green Tambourine" lasts for over 18 minutes with some killer fuzz guitar soloing etc., for example. "Pictures of Matchstickmen" is "only" 5:07, but Norman Greenbaum's "Spirit in the Sky" is even 24 minutes in lenght! Phew.

The second CD has shorter tracks, several of the originally by The Beatles but also two or three by Pink Floyd, The Pretty Things and The Byrds each among other cool songs. All are done in a pretty unique and marvellous style and I really enjoy the whole release. It's a pleasantly trippy and interesting, warmly recommended album as a whole. I love the vocals and musicianship is top-notch. Too bad the era of vinyl boxes seems to be over since this would have made a superb 4LP, but what can you do. Still cool to have this on physical media rather than just downloads! Wonderful stuff.

www.facebook.com/jeremy.morris.9480

Orbiter - Hollow World

 Argonauta Records (REX2322LP)

 

Orbiter is a stoner/doom metal band from Helsinki. They have been active for several years and played quite a lot of gigs too. I have previously reviewed their 2009 split 7" with Roadog (over here) and 12" (over here). The quartet has a female singer who fits in just perfectly. For heavy stoner-doom the music is pretty melodic and atmospheric. There are also some other influences, maybe occult/psych rock and even grunge, I guess.

The LP starts off with the slow, crushingly heavy "Silence Breaks". I am hooked! The next song "Beneath" goes in mid-tempo and also has some grunge vibes, maybe it's mainly the vocal melodies and harmonies. Nothing wrong with that, though! "Kolibri" is a short, beautiful instrumenal and then the heavy and moody title track that reminds me of later Black Sabbath stuff finishes off the A side. Great stuff!

Side B kicks off with "Raven Bones". It's another doomy and heavy song that has a cool tom beat in the verse. This reminds me a bit of Finnish occult doom band Mansion, who of course also have a great female singer. Then it's time to go instrumental and bit experimental with "Transmissions". Nice to have some trippy stuff in there as well! "Under Your Spell" is a touching, minimal acoustic number and then the band returns to some seriously heavy riffing with the final song "Last Call". Reminds me of Candlemass a bit, actually. Some 70s Sabbath stuff comes later on...What an excellent ending for a great album!

www.facebook.com/orbiterconnection/

Hanford Flyover - Source

 Friends of the Fish (friends of the fish 73)

Hanford Flyover is one of those bands that I only know thanks to Keith at Fruits de Mer Records... Source is their third album and to be released on CD(r?) and limited lathe-cut LP on FdM's Friends of the Fish sub-label. The LP will include a bit shorter versions of the tracks to fit them all in that format.

Hanford Flyover is a British-American duo formed by Josh and Holly Bowler. Their music has elements of psychedelia, pop and electronic music I got to say I love Holly's clear vocals. They have lots of nice melodies, groovy rhythms and bass patterns, strange sounds effects, nice keyboards and synth pads, lovely guitars and great vibes from the 60s to modern times. There are eight tracks totalling in 46 minutes in length. "Shadows on the Sun", "Shallow  Waters" and "This Is Now" form a great and rather energetic opening trio. Then the slower "Formless" also has some electronica elements although is also reminds me of The Green Pajamas. Wonderful moods and touching lyrics too. "Neutrino" goes deeper into the modern electronic music world  at times but there is also funky guitar and bass work. Maybe it's the vocoder but it sort of reminds me of Air, which is not a bad thing at all. Cool stuff! "Firefly" has a heavy, steady bass line and a nice chorus. "Golden" starts off with peaceful synth soundscapes but gets more intense. Josh does the lead vocals on this one which is a good change for a while. The last piece "Entropy" is another excellent example of modern psych pop/rock. Some wild & fuzzy guitar soloing in there as well! All in all, a very enjoyable album that should get wider recognition in the music business, let's see if the world is ready for Hanford Flyover.

https://www.facebook.com/HanfordFlyover/

Doctors of Space - The Astral Sessions Vol. 5 - Roadburn Redux

 Self-released (DOSASCD 005)

As most of the readers of this blog probably know, Doctors of Space is a duo formed by two musicians (AND doctors) retired in Portugal: Scott "Dr Space" Heller (Øresund Space Collective etc.) and Martin Weaver (Wicked Lady, Dark). Scott plays synthesizers, Hammond and Mellotron and Martin guitars, drum machines and bass. They have released quite a lot of stuff since 2019 and I have only heard some of it.

This limited CD-R release (100 copies) is the latest in their Astral Sessions series and really cool. This set of tracks was recorded in Martin's home studio for Roadburn Redux in 2021 and broadcasted online. I watched the show and liked it really much since it was heavier and more space ROCK oriented than their often more experimental stuff (that I also enjoy a lot!). So just two guys improvising live, but Martin uses loopers to add more layers of guitar and bass so the sound gets fuller than you'd expect. There are just four instrumental jams on the album but they are long so the album is 74 minutes in lenght. Only three of the tracks were shown on Roadburn Redux, and two of them in edited form, so with buying this CD-R you'll get extra stuff. The bonus track "Don't Trust the AI" (great name, by the way!) is not even available on their Bandcamp site at all. Bacause of the looper the pieces are of course rather repetitive but that is okay with space rock! You'll get lots of spacey synths sounds, hard rocking stoner riffs and driving machine beats that will get you to outer space.

They still have some copies on sale on their Bandcamp site but I'd recommend acting fast if you want one!

https://doctorsofspace.bandcamp.com/