Aural Innovations Issue #5 — Album Reviews, Part 2

Mooseheart Faith Stellar Groove Band — Coronal Mass Ejection

(September Gurls 1997, SGCD18)

Jerry Kranitz

Mooseheart Faith play West Coast song-oriented psych with a good sense of humor. The band is the work of Larry B. Robinson on guitars, keyboards, synths, theremin, and vocals, and Todd C. Homer on bass, synths, harmonicas, and vocals.

The 21 songs on this disc are mostly in the 2-3 minute range and have a 60's grounding. Much of these are well crafted pop-psych tunes. But the music is kept interesting by the varied and creative use of instrumentation. Several influences are apparent: On the one hand I hear the Dead, Jefferson Airplane, and the Byrds. But there is also an early Mothers Of Invention combined with the Bonzo Dog Band side to the music. ("My Silver Thimble" is a dead ringer for the Bonzo's "King Of Scurf".)

A sense of humor prevails throughout and this is apparent in both song titles and lyrics. "Hippie Cult Leader Anthem", "Horak's Moon Shaft", and "March Of The Mind Parasites" are among the wilder titles. And with lyrics like "Hale-Bopp Rockin', my vehicle is poppin', the human race is runnin' to outer space", you can't go wrong.

The band can get pretty and weird at times too. "Live Life Like Rainbow People" includes some cosmically vibrating phased guitar with harmonica and shooting star synths. "Horak's Moon Shaft" and "Past Space Ages Trance" are the band's forays into the avant garde. Horak has an attack on the piano strings, spaced out synths, and various other bubbles, bleeps and noises. And Trance sounds like Phillip Glass played backwards, complete with nearly six minutes of minimalist repetition.

If you like good fun psych songs with lots of humor but fresh sounding and creatively done, then Mooseheart is just what the doctored ordered.

Many Bright Things — Many Bright Things

(Lone Starfighter 1996, 1998, LSD/006)

Keith Henderson

This was one of the albums that led me towards writing the Texas Psych-out article. Never mind that I later discovered the band is really from Indianapolis! (Only the issuing label is in Texas.) It's funny, but the style of psychedelia on this one lays right in the Texas tradition. But what the hey? Who cares where they're from...the music is really cool. Many Bright Things is a band (?) with two main protagonists (Stan Denski and Ray Pierle) and a guest guitarist (Larry DeMyer) on one track. Both Denski and Pierle are versatile instrumentalists, sharing guitar and bass duties, but with Denski solely providing the vocals and Pierle the drums. I believe the LP came out a few years' back - this CD reissue also includes three bonus tracks which up the total time to a full hour.

The three-part epic musical rendition of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" opens with a female voice reading what I can only imagine is prose originally penned by Shakespeare in the work of the same name. But a majority of the twenty-minutes is just total psychedelic madness with an eastern flavor (there's that sitar sound again). "When the Night" is an excellent piece of work, a 10-minute shamanistic tribal romp featuring successive wah-wah and e-bow guitar solos. Here, Denski's vocals are chant-style and oddly engaging. "Lazy River Blues" is a cover of an old Jon Uzonyi (of Peace Pipe and The Human Equation) tune, though it seems to hearken all the way back to the Robert Johnson delta blues style. MBT adds their own touch to the music though, with the 'tremelo-style vocals' and a particularly intriguing bubbly guitar sound. "4 AM" is a Denski solo signature piece, which could very easily be a Jimmy Page composition for acoustic guitar (a la "White Summer"). I really like this sort of thing when done well, and this one ranks very high. The bonus tracks don't add too much to the original album, though are well worth a listen. "Loop Jam #2" is undoubtedly a bit of fooling around in the studio one day while the tape was rolling, pleasant enough whether 'finished' or not.

From the photos on the back cover, I can tell these guys have been around for awhile and no doubt have recorded things in the past, whether as a unit or separately. I enjoyed this effort and want to seek out more of their work. And now that I realize the band resides in Indiana (just a few hours west of the AI home base), the possibility of researching their past history seems more feasible. So watch this space for more info on this talented duo.

SIANspheric — There's Always Someplace You'd Rather Be

(Sonic Unyon 1998, SUNCD 046)

Keith Henderson

Hailing from Burlington in the industrial heart of Ontario, Canada, SIANspheric paints a grey landscape (just take a look at the cover) with their brand of gloomy, yet dreamy ambient/noise rock. Endeavoring to expand upon what the Verve, My Bloody Valentine, and Radiohead have started in the British isles, the trio of Sean Ramsay (Guitar), Steve Peruzzi (Bass, Vocals) and Matt Durrant (Drums) seem to have come up with enough 'variations on that theme' to warrant their existence. There's Always Someplace is their second full-length release following 1995's Somnium, which I have not heard. The eight tracks (each around 5 or 6 minutes in length) plus three uncredited bonus tracks fill up nearly an hour's worth of disc-time.

After a single listen, the immense variety in dynamics, clarity, and pace was something I immediately noticed, and which I'm happy to report (it's so often missing in this genre). "I'm Feeling Better" and "Can't Get It Up" are uncharacteristically up-tempo songs, the former an 80's new wave-like romp but with the droney guitar soup in tact, the latter a modern heavy rock track (could be Bob Mould) that towards the end turns into a surprisingly original psychedelic noise-fest. "Nothing Stands" is a whole different story - a slow, subtle Floydian tune, but with crisp clarity and definition employed in its attempt at somatic inducement as opposed to the soupy drone guitar.

The vocals, nearly always unintelligible, are here again soft and distant in the mix, but still constitute an additional dreamy layer to the overall sound. "Puff, Analogue, Intelligent Jungle" rounds out the titled tracks with several phases, though never departing too far from the early Verve-style of simple linear bass-playing and drums, and layered guitar lines (alternating from droney to spacey to shimmery). The bonus tracks don't add too much to the album, though the middle one has an ambient gliss-guitar feel to it that would make Daevid Allen proud. The final 10-minute piece is like just one more shoegazing Ride-style anthem - a touch of needless excess.

Frankly, I'm still a little too much of a newbie to the world of 'psychedeli-dream-pop' (my made-up term) to judge accurately, but There's Always Someplace is as good as most I've heard, though in my mind it falls short of the punchier offerings by Levitation (Coterie) and 7% Solution (All About Satellites and Spaceships). But if you're one who thinks the Verve's A Storm in Heaven is truly heavenly, you'll likely find SIANspheric to be right for you. Personally, if I were making a sci-fi film and was looking for a band to record the soundtrack, I think I might turn to these guys.

For more info and music, visit SIANspheric on Bandcamp.

Spacecraft — Hummel Live

(Lektronic Soundscapes 1998, LS-1012)

Jerry Kranitz

On their second CD (see review of debut in AI #4), Spacecraft have released a live performance recorded at the Hummel Planetarium at Eastern Kentucky University. Chris Blazen is absent from this CD, the core of the group now being Tony Gerber on guitars and synthesizers, John Rose on synthesizers, and Diane Timmons on synthesizers and wonderfully haunting vocals.

"Hummel Live" is much like their first recording though I was far more aware of individual sounds on the first, and described the experience as like actually being in a spacecraft. This is a minor point, though, as the new release still retains the eerie space atmospheric quality. Also, Tony Gerber's guitar is far more conspicuous than before making some of the music sound like early Ash Ra Tempel during their more lucid moments. The focus on atmosphere and development is what makes this interesting as opposed to being New Age fluff, and being at the Hummel during this performance must have been quite an experience. It's nothing new, falling squarely into the early Tangerine Dream mold, but the musicians do an excellent job of it.

The only thing that annoyed me was that "De Profundis" ends so abruptly (30 seconds still to go) that it has to have been a mistake. But overall this is good stuff for fans of floating ethereal electronics.

Lotto — The Sound of Lotto!

(Holder of The Sacrament Records 1998, demo/cassette)

Christian Mumford

Sometimes you wonder what goes on inside some people's heads. In the case of Norway's very own one and only Lotto, the answer could be too dangerous to reveal in greater detail in a magazine. Rearing its twisted face from of the arctic depths of Oydegard, Norway, there is no doubt this band should be heading for success of some measure, beyond the dark womb of its spawning.

This first 60 minute compilation tape spanning the last decade or so covers a variety of sounds I might describe as lo-fi DIY progrock, and dark, noisy and repetitive improvisations with unsettling vocalizations. Think of the Viking crack babies of Amon Düül in a garage scrawled with Satanic symbols summoning The Shaggs. Not necessarily spacerock, but definitely of an otherworldly origin. This ensemble has always consisted of the brothers Knut Edvard and Brage Viken, with various other members over the years, and started as a musical project already in childhood. Just about all music is spontaneous and ever performed once.

A track like "Dance of The Hemogoblin" can have a primitive electronic "Pong"-like flavor, whereas "The Coming of The Dark God" is a scream fest of belting the title out to a frenzied, staccato lo-fi death metal pummeling. On the other hand, "The Sassie Lassie" might very well be a catchy top 20 alternative hit several realities to the left. There are some crude, interesting voice layerings and effects that remind me of parts of Peter Hammill's "Loops & Reels" (as played underwater?), but mostly its sort of early Amon Düül territory of primitive disaster area jamming and wigged out chanting.

Songs (?) like "The Prophets of Lotto", "Unholy Cosmosex" and "Fuck The Sleeping Beauty" are just as traumatic and wildly exciting as their titles suggest. Instrumentally, Lotto are dominated by guitars and a great variety of percussion (often found) and sometimes keyboard, tape effects and vocal weirdness, all quite primitively recorded. Highly recommended for fans of strange music, anti-music and non-music alike. Neutral Milk Hotel fans would really like Lotto, oddly as I don't care for NMH myself, but imagine them and Amon Düül jamming for grubs outside the local fallout shelter.

THX:// — THX://

(Music & Elsewhere 1999, M&E 470 Cassette)

Jerry Kranitz

THX:// is the work of Chris France from Merthyr Tydfil in Wales. The music is heavy, sometimes industrial, and even a bit disturbing at times. The tape I have is a 5-track demo of the version to be released in January '99.

"Body Traffic" and "LBM:Psyop" both have a pulsating machine shop atmosphere that brought to mind the hundreds of workers in the film Metropolis. "Body Traffic" has a spacey electronic buildup, while "LBM" has a very clanging banging beat that would also qualify it for the soundtrack to a cyber horror film. "Blowing Holes In The Sky" starts similarly though the atmosphere is a bit more disturbing. The music settles into a slow simple groove though things gradually get louder and more intense.

"The Dreadful Room" and "In Extremis" are the tracks that most caught my attention, and if I mentioned disturbing atmospheres on the previous tracks these get downright frightening. "The Dreadful Room" could also be known as Music For Underground Sewers. The music doesn't really develop but France produces some really cool sounds and the music conjured up a lot of wild images (that I won't share!). "In Extremis" includes freaky haunted voicings, synth work, and percussion against a heavy industrial electronic background. Probably the most intense track here. I've been stumbling across a lot of all-electronic works lately and this one had more interesting creative work going on in it than much of what I've heard.

Mary Newsletter — Nuove Lettere

(Spaziomusic, 1996 CD)

Burnt Noodle — The Noodle And The Damage Done

(Self-Released 1998, CD)

Jerry Kranitz

We reviewed Burnt Noodle's (formerly Noodle) demo cassette in AI #3. To celebrate the band's full length CD release I'm including a slightly revised version of that review in this issue. Based in California, the band is an improvizational jam rock ensemble with strong psychedelic roots and hints of space. The band consists of Paul Lamb on bass, synths, and vocals, Steve Sofranko on Hammond, piano, and mellotron, Tom Hardy on guitar, ebow, and vocals, Greg Haldan on guitar and vocals, and Rich Sherwood on drums.

The music is played at a mostly easy going pace. Intensity builds at times, though even then the feeling is laid back. For example, on "We've Reached The Ocean" we hear a slowly tripping guitar and vocals whispering, "We've reached the Ohhhhh'-cean". "Fall Song" is a vocal number that sounds like a folk-psych Jefferson Airplane meets CSN. "We Need To Talk" is a funky soul piece that stands a bit apart from the other tracks with it's eerie ooh-wee-ooh synth lines and a "sort of" rap over the top. Interesting. It also has some tasteful blues guitar soloing. "First Rain is a short floating bluesy number that leads nicely into "Thin Air", an eight minute stoned out, spacey jam rocker that was a nice surprise as I don't think this was on the demo. And "Don't Look Down" has a driving Allman Brothers feel to it with pulsating organ and gorgeous guitar playing.

"The Deep End/Attention Residents" and "Noodle In A Nutshell" are the two extended jams on the CD. "The Deep End" is a clearly Zappa influenced tune that begins with two guitars playing slow spacey solos against each other and what sounds like Zappa himself orating. The intensity builds and recedes and the guitars begin to duel with one another in a freaked out psych frenzy. In fact, since first reviewing the demo I've decided this is the strongest track on the disc (or at least my own favorite). "Nutshell" is a 22 minute epic that starts off as an easy going trippy jam with the intensity building slowly and subtly. There are some cool wah-wah psych guitar solos, some getting into laid back Hendrix territory, as the rhythm section continues to pick up the pace. The music jams along and we are treated to a variety of guitar sounds, and synths are introduced to produce some great space-psych jamming.

Burnt Noodle is clearly a band that communicates well among themselves and it's important to keep in mind that nearly all the music on this disc was improvised.

For more Burn Noodle music, visit the Paul Lamb Music page on Bandcamp.

Ashra — @shra (Live in Japan)

(Think Progressive 1998, TPCD 1.807.026)

Keith Henderson

This is the latest offering from Manuel Göttsching's current quartet, now simply Ashra (previously Ash Ra Tempel), an hour-long live recording comprised of four extended instrumental jams each of significant length. I must admit that the recordings I know from Göttsching's past are all from the decade of the 70's, so I guess I just wasn't aware as to his current modus operandi - that being techno beats and loops. So it seems that he's gone the way of Steve Hillage and has embraced modern technology to its stale and artificial limit.

For these Japan shows, Göttsching brought along two long-term cohorts (guitarist Lutz Ulbrich (ex-Agitation Free) and drummer Harald Grosskopf) as well as Steve Baltes, who obviously helped with the keyboards and programming. The problem is, no matter how much you might love the psychedelic improvisation of either guitarist (both of whom are among the very best in that department), what really matters is if you can stand the programmed beats. And I can't. (Though I find it sounds much better played on a small box stereo than through speakers with large woofers...imagine that!) I mean, the opening track "Echo Waves" is easily recognizable (originally appearing on Inventions...), but it's just a totally different entity with the techno backing beat. "Niemand lacht Rückwärts" (No One Laughs Backwards) is the same story...wonderful extended guitar soloing, atmospherics, and some Grosskopf drum fills, but it's all secondary to the stale, antiseptic techno aspect. (This track also appeared on the 2-CD Private Tapes collection (on Purple Pyramid), recorded many years ago before Göttsching got the crazy idea to infect his music with a techno virus.)

The one respite from this tragedy is the absolutely wonderful "Timbuktu" (penned by Grosskopf), which actually relies on acoustic drumming and twin guitar strumming to carry the beat...what a concept! With a bit of Caribbean flair to the guitar interplay, and the synths used more as sampled noises rather than as a beat, it sounds both modern and eminently cultivated. Too bad it's only 8 minutes long. So it's easy to make a recommendation on this CD...save your money and go spend it on The Private Tapes, one of the year's very best releases.

Tales — Interstellar Memories

(SIT Records, 1998 SIT 19803)

Jerry Kranitz

From France, Tales is the work of keyboardist/percussionist Jean-Luc Berthelot. The music is an ambient electronic effort that at times reminded me of Kitaro's mid-80's albums and at others fell fully into early Tangerine Dream territory. Dreamily spacey with lots of sounds and effects, the music absorbed me into it's aural universe as Berthelot weaves his floating electronic textures. I enjoyed the music, but it falls too close to New Age fluff to stay interesting for long. One element that I do consider a strength is that Berthelot doesn't slap on layer after layer of keyboard orchestration. Much of this is quite subtle. At times there will be only percussion and synths accompanied by a flute-sounding melody line. Lightly pulsating keys provide the backdrop for soundscapes that at other times are less for melody than to create atmosphere, or even an entire environment. Listening to this in the dark conjured up images of a nighttime sky filled with millions of twinkling and shooting stars.

I was previously unfamiliar with Berthelot's work, but the liner notes indicate this is the third release from Tales. The notes also feature an unnamed "someone" telling of the spaceship Paradonka and its journey to hundreds of planets until finally settling on Ankalerye. A web page address is given at the end where I found quite a bit of fantasy poetry. Space music of this sort is a challenge as its easy to fall into the mundane. Good for a listen or two.

Visit Tales on Bandcamp.

St. Elmo's Fire — Splitting Ions In The Ether

(Sprawling Productions, 1998 SPL-9801)

Jerry Kranitz

St. Elmo's Fire were a Cleveland, Ohio based band that existed for barely a year and a half from 1979-1981. If ever there was a limbo period for progressive rock it was then. The classic period had wound down and the so-called neo-prog era was barely underway.

The band was a five piece made up of Erich Feldman on guitar synth and effects, Mark Helm on drums, Paul Kollar on guitar, bass, keyboards, and tapes, Stephan John Stavnicky on keyboards, percussion, flute, and vox, and Elliot Weintraub on guitar, percussion, effects, and vox. They released one album, "Live At The Cleveland Agora", which is presented here for the first time on CD with five tracks added to the original four from the album.

The music is mostly instrumental and reminded me of King Crimson meets Gentle Giant with a dash of Genesis. Only two of the nine tracks have vocals. Complex arrangements, orchestral backgrounds, lots of mellotron, and good heavy rockin' are the order of the day.

The disc opens with a six minute dreamy keyboard buildup to "Gone To Ground In The Khyber Pass", a tune that reminded me of the earliest Crimson only more keyboard heavy. There is an 'edge of your seat' intensity that proved to be a trademark as I got deeper into subsequent tracks. Other standout tracks were the mid-70's Crimson influenced "The Abduction" and "The Nuremberg Waltz". "Aspen Flambe" and "Fantasy Come Reality" are the two tracks with vocals. "Aspen Flambe" has a bit of a metal influence, though I didn't care much for the vocals. "Fantasy Come Reality" starts off as a Crimson sounding tune complete with Wetton vocals. It then launches into a potent keyboard heavy rocker whose ending sounds remarkably like "It" from the Lamb Lies Down On Broadway.

Listening to St. Elmo's Fire I kept the time period in mind and while stylistically there are elements that seem to foreshadow the neo era, the music is more in the classic progressive period, though again... not firmly. Who knows what might have happened had they continued. My only complaint with this CD is that the liner notes tell the story of Elmo to the exclusion of any band history. If you're going to release/re-release music from a band few people ever knew then tell us the story. Musically though, it deserves to be heard.

Muz — Muz

(Skill Crane Collecktiv 1998, 001 LP)

Jerry Kranitz

The latest from the Vas Deferens Organization camp is a vinyl release from Matt Castille and David Fargason under the moniker Muz. Except for an insert that states who the musicians are and that it's from VDO Studios there is virtually no information about this album. No song titles. I don't even know which is side one or side two. And you know what? It doesn't matter! Cause it's full of that great VDO style instrumental mayhem that renders any sense of songs being given identity through titles unnecessary. And it's got a way cool cover of two mustachioed Inca looking dudes and gorgeous colors that wouldn't have been given justice by a lil 'ol CD.

One side (not necessarily side one) starts out as an easy going electronic psych journey. It's rhythmically a bit jazzy, but things soon get cosmically bubbly and the remainder of this side consists of freaky electronic explorations, gonging bells, strange vocalizations, and various other sounds that should suffice if you've found yourself fresh out of chemical hallucinogens.

The other side creates a more haunting atmosphere and the music, while still psychedelically freaky in parts, has a somewhat minimalist, industrial edge to it. It's more like the experimental Residents influenced side of the band I heard on previous recordings. An interesting journey through various sounds and rhythms. Things do, however, get quiet for a couple minutes and this side culminates in just over a minute of total psychedelic freakout music.

To say that these guys are prolific would be a serious understatement. If you missed the VDO profile in AI #4 check it out now.

For more information, check out Muz on the Vas Deferens Organization web site.

Psychic Trance Fur — Head

(Psy Com 1998, 030798)

Keith Henderson

From the opening spoken line, "What is this thing I call my head?," I immediately wonder on which side of the 'pretense or poignant' line this album will fall. It's the same question that one is faced with every new release from the Gong family (save Pierre Moerlen's jazz group), or anyone else that attempts to marry new agey music with transcendental poetic verse. To be honest, I am not really influenced by the intentions of the artist to inspire me with lyrics/poetry, and so only judge these works based solely on musical merit (with the voice, whether spoken or sung, as simply an additional instrument). In the end, the Utah-based duo of Dan Cracraft (aka Koda) and Darren Weight pass the test, and provide an enjoyable listen whether you can deduce any meaning from the Koda's cryptic lyrics or not.

"Head" is for the most part divided into a vocal half and an instrumental half, but both halves are musically along the same lines, that being pleasant and spacey ambient music, heavy on synthesizers but with both acoustic and electric guitars and some piano...Often like extended intro's to Hogarth-era Marillion tunes you might say. Accordingly, it wouldn't be a stretch to lump Psychic Trance Fur into the New Age category with Kitaro and the like, but luckily the music stays fairly low in 'Tesh factor;' that is, Head doesn't sound so jaded and cheesy (or what I would call 'empty virtuosity'). And thankfully, the MIDI'ed synthetic percussion Weight uses in places is not too annoying. Most of the tracks are laid back and soothing with swashes of synth and spacey incidentals, but the occasional guitar solo helps to break things up. Koda plays very much in the Dave Brock style (his solo works in particular), never meaning to impress anyone with rapid-fire talent, but rather more as continuous gradual runs as if instead a lyrical line. Several of the vocal tracks (e.g., "Hike Like A Tree") are really poetry put to music, the kind of thing that Gilli Smyth and Harry Williamson (aka Mother Gong) have been doing for years now, though also with that jazzy sax dimension that's not present here. But frankly, Psychic Trance Fur does it better, as they don't go over the top into that 'pretense' domain...or at least, they don't 'sound' pretentious.

As for the lyrics..."What happens in the wire when we make love on the phone? Do the electrons going your way embrace those coming mine?" (from "Electromagnetic Love"). OK, well that's just silly, isn't it, but so what? This is music, not one of those PBS specials where some inspirational speaker tells you how to improve your life through embracing your personal aura or something (while simultaneously removing wheat from your diet). [Though I'd imagine that Koda might accept the offer of videotaping for PBS a help session on 'personally experiencing psychic phenomena,' as he alludes to in the liner notes.] That's all lost on me anyway. The point is, if you value certain Hawkwind and Gong solo works (e.g., Blake, Brock, and Smyth/Williamson) for their musical merits rather than just as collectors' items, then Psychic Trance Fur is probably a group you'd also enjoy. And I'd include myself in that category, even though I still eat wheat and am thereby headed towards 'old age' instead.

Various Artists — The Fox Lies Down: A Tribute To Genesis

(Purple Pyramid 1998, CLP-0287)

Jerry Kranitz

Cleopatra/Purple Pyramid continue to crank out the tribute discs and once again have released something of a novelty disc for SpaceRock fans. Eleven tracks of mostly Gabriel-era Genesis tunes, six of which are by SpaceRock, or space related bands. The results are interesting if not particularly mindblowing.

Mother Gong covers "In The Beginning" from the very first Genesis album. Gilli Smyth's vocals layer over a techno/tribal percussion beat. The best part of the song is her famous space whispers, perhaps processed a bit, that fill a kind of synth role. Also from the Gong camp is Daevid Allen and Solid Space covering "Visions Of Angels" from the Trespass album. Though musically quite faithful to the original, Daevid's vocals are perfect for this mellow choral song and indeed may be the one track here qualifying for better than the original.

Spirits Burning does a rousing version of "Return Of The Giant Hogweed". I didn't care for the vocals but musically it is quite good. The band retains the metallic edge of the original, but Don Falcone's keyboard work manages to make this very much their own rendition of the song.

Darxtar's version of "Dancing With The Moonlit Knight" is the eighth track on the disc, but was the first one I played. I just couldn't imagine what Darxtar would do with this song and predicted it would be the wildest tune on the disc. It turned out, however, to be most unrecognizably Darxtar. Not bad mind you. They just seem unsure where to go with the song. And the track ends so abruptly (I mean like someone turned off the tape in the middle of it) that I wondered if whoever did the final mix was in a hurry and screwed up. Strange.

Architectural Metaphor covers "The Waiting Room" from the Lamb Lie Down On Broadway album. Probably the best Genesis album for Architectural Metaphor to choose from, the Lamb has some truly amazing guitar sounds making this a great vehicle for guitarist Greg Kozlowski. Also from the Lamb is Controlled Bleeding doing "Broadway Melody Of 1974". Pretty faithful to the original, Gabriel vocals and all.

That's about it for the space bands. The remaining tracks include Brand X covering "Can Utility And The Coastliners", and The Flower Kings covering "Cinema Show". Both are faithful renditions of the originals, though both also feature some pretty fiery guitar work. Partick Moraz covers "Los Endos" and John Wetton covers "Your Own Special Way", the only two post-Gabriel selections. They were also the most boring which I blame on the artists and not the fact that these are later era tunes. Honestly, it sometimes boggles my mind that Wetton was once part of one of the most influential bands in rock history. Finally, John Ford of the Strawbs covers "Carpet Crawlers". A folky sound with a slight reggae beat, the was a very good variation on the original and one of the better tracks on the disc. As I've said before, the best cover tunes are ones in which the musicians take the original and somehow make it their own.

Anyone want to make bets on what band Cleopatra will do a tribute to next?

Rivendell — Rivendell

(Timehouse Oy 1996, CDEP)

Jerry Kranitz

Though not a space band, Rivendell's connection to the SpaceRock family tree is that Dark Sun's vocalist Janne Kuokkanen is the singer on this 22 minute CDEP. That said, the four songs on this mini disc are a fine example of progressive rock along the lines of IQ, Kansas, and a host of other bands like those found on the Cyclops and Magna Carta labels. Besides Kuokkanen (who has since been replaced by Janne Hirvonen) the band includes Kristian Toyra on keyboards, Mikko Makela on bass, Miika Makinen on guitar, and Kari Heiskanen on drums (since replaced by Oskari Heiskanen).

The name Rivendell is taken from the Lord Of The Rings saga and certainly the lyrics are based in fantasy. Kuokkanen is a powerful vocalist and will be instantly recognizable to Dark Sun fans. The guitars have a heavy crunch sound though this isn't by any means metal. The keyboards are typical of the neo-prog genre though there is also a lot of piano, especially during quieter moments. The band can really rock out but keeps the pace shifting in musical storytelling fashion. Though this is the band's only release to date they have played shows during 1998.

Kopecky — Kopecky

(Self-Released 1999, CD)

Jerry Kranitz

Another band whose demo cassette was reviewed here (last issue) and now has a full length CD release is Wisconsin's Kopecky, made up of brother's Joe on guitar, Paul on acoustic and electronic percussion, and William on bass, sitar, and keyboards. The band plays melodic instrumental progressive that is sometimes Indian/Middle Eastern influenced and often borders on light progressive metal. The CD includes the six tracks found on the cassette plus three additional tunes. Here is a slightly revised version of the demo review.

The disc opens with "Crimson Crime 2-1-3". This is a somewhat funky piece with pounding low-end Bill Laswell sounding bass work. It reminded me a little of Massacre or early Material. "Sukha" is strongly Indian/Middle Eastern influenced and is one of the more imaginative tracks on the disc. William's sitar plays a nice melody accompanied by tambourine. Things really get interesting when the sitar is joined by Joe's metallic guitar producing a sound I can't say I've heard before. Very interesting. "Al Araaf" is another Middle Eastern influenced tune. Rather than the sitar, the band uses keyboards to make a very dreamy piece that reminded me of a full band progressive snake charmer. "Birdsong The Color Pyramids" is a short, pleasantly spacey new track that is the only exception to this all instrumental disc with it spoken word vocals. Another new track, "Yama" opens with trippy sitar and then launches into the most metallic music on the disc.

"The Rise And Fall Of Stella Morbida" is the most keyboard dominated song on the disc. Orchestral keys, low-end bass, and a less metallic guitar sound make this the most typically "prog rock" of the songs here. The tunes that bring Kopecky the closest to prog-metal territory are "Sky Blue Hair", "Autumn Swirl", and "The Drowning Water". I'm actually uncomfortable using the prog-metal label as it's really just the guitar sound itself that brings prog-metal to mind. I'm not a big prog-metal fan, but I'm always interested in bands that draw on the genre while exploring other realms and Kopecky certainly does that. The music is highly melodic and all instruments are equally at the forefront playing busily but cooperatively. "Drowning Waters" is one of the new tunes and starts as a driving rocker that seems to strive for Middle Eastern guitar melodies but then ends up as more melodic prog-metal.

Like the demo, the tunes on this disc show a band with great potential. Lots of good ideas that deserve further exploration, though as before I'd like to hear these instrumentals develop a bit more. For more information you can click here to email Kopecky.

Omnia Opera — Red Shift

(Delerium 1997, DELEC CD044)

Jerry Kranitz

When I reflect back over the past year I don't think so much in terms of best releases as I do my own favorite new "finds". Bands that blow me clean out of the water. Alien Planetscapes was one such find. Kingston Wall was another. The other big standout find of the past year was Omnia Opera. None of these are by any means new bands (and Kingston Wall no longer exists), and publishing AI has been a tremendous benefit in that I'm discovering a lot of gems that I've missed over the years.

My introduction to Omnia Opera was through a couple tapes recorded in the 1980's. The music on these releases is firmly in the Ozrics, Hawkwind, Gong school with a little more of a nod in Gong's direction. But it's grade-A spacerock from the British festival scene. "Red Shift" is the band's second CD release on Delerium following their 1993 self-titled debut. That recording presented a harsher edged version of the 80's recordings I'd heard and even included crunchier versions of a couple of the tunes from those earlier cassettes.

"Red Shift" is a somewhat toned down version of the first Delerium release, though still a great spacerock release. On this CD the band consists of Rob Lloyd on guitar, Ade Scholefield on keyboards and synths, Andy Jones on bass and vocals, Neil Spragg on drums, and Nat Jones and Lisa Moriaty on vocals. Much of the music is like the Ozrics with vocals and the rest is good old Hawkwind influenced spacerock, though the band has moved into a decidedly dance oriented direction.

The CD opens with "Annihilation". The first half of this 13 minute tune is heavy driving spacerock with just a hint of a dance beat. The second half is a spacey Hawkwind techno sounding bit that culminates in a total Ozrics jam. The band seems to have a penchant for these dance beats as this crops up again on "Timelines". This isn't necessarily a bad thing. In fact, they do a good job with this sound remaining firmly in the space camp and managing to crank out extended jams that just happen to keep ones toes tapping, much like some of Porcupine Tree's music. "Fly And Burn" is one of the heavier tunes but has a beat like one of those all night raves in which you get little relief from the dance floor. "Shopping General" is much like this as well combining blazing guitar with a cut the rug all night rhythm.

The band drifts into dreamland with the more ethereal "Astronomica", an instrumental sequenced tune which leads into the 13 minute "Braindance", another driving spacerocker that would go over well at a rave. Kind of like dance mix versions of their earlier recordings. I found "Regeneration" to be much more to my liking. The male/female vocal harmonies that are part of the trademark Omnia Opera sound are prominent on this rocking song. Simple, but stinging, guitar lines give this tune an intensity I'd been hoping for on the previous tracks. The final track, "Waiting" was also along these lines. It starts as a laid back spacey number with tasteful guitar melodies and phased vocalizations. It then blasts into an intense rockin' jam that shows that these folks can still fire up the cosmos when they want to.

If you're already familiar with Omnia Opera you won't be blown away by this disc but it's a solid release. A bit of a different direction for the band. But if you are new to Omnia Opera then this is absolutely not the place to start. I recommend starting in with the band's much stronger debut CD on Delerium. Either way this is a band I wish I'd known about earlier. Highly recommended.

Although this album is not available there, Omnia Opera are on Bandcamp.

Guru Guru — Moshi Moshi

(Think Progressive 1997, TBCD 1.705.001)

Jerry Kranitz

In the most recent version of space/psych/acid attack veterans Guru Guru we have old time member Mani Neumeier on drums, percussion, and vocals, Roland Schaeffer on sax, guitar, and vocals, Peter Kuhmstedt on bass and vocals, and Luigi Archetti on guitar and vocals. I think they should have just called this The Mani Neumeier Project or something like that.

Virtually no trace of the influential Guru Guru style is present. This is a straight ahead rock and fusion album, albeit a good one, but nothing for AI readers to get excited about. Well... "Skylab" is a spacey tune with some freaky guitar and sounds but it's pretty low key and out of place compared to the rest of the tracks. The one thing that really saves this disc is the prominent role played by the sax and we do get some good rockin' fusion in places like "Tamil Nadu", which features sax and guitar trading licks. "Il Maestroso" reminded me of the soundtrack from some Latin detective film noir if you can imagine that. And Mani's percussion work is varied and interesting throughout.

I think these guys are really shooting for radio play as evidenced by several dull rocking tunes. "Jet Lag" and "Inkarnation - Stomp" are two of the offenders. But when the band decides to rock out in fusion territory we see that they can play interesting music if they really want to. My favorite tune is probably "Don't Worry About The Koto" which features... you guessed it, koto! And according to the credits Mani is playing it. This is a laid back ambient piece in which the koto plays along with a simple prominent bass line and an Eastern sounding guitar in the background.

Like I said, this isn't a bad album. I just don't think it's of any interest to space/psych fans. If you want to hear a really killer album from a Guru in the 90's grab Axe Genrich's "Wave Cut". Now that's a monster!

Man or Astro-Man? — Made From Technetium

(Touch And Go Records 1997, TG180CD)