Aural Innovations Issue #6 — Album Reviews, Part 2

Incredible Expanding Mindfuck — Incredible Expanding Mindfuck

(Delerium 1996, 1998, DELEC CD047)

Keith Henderson

As an introduction to I.E.M., let me quote directly from Steve Wilson's own homepage, as it explains it best really. "This project developed out of Steven's interest in experimental music from the seventies. The music is not intended to have any kind of faux seventies feel, but does nevertheless draw inspiration from aspects of this music. Some might legitimately view the project as simply being a more abstract and indulgent version of Porcupine Tree."

Whether indulgent or not I won't speculate, but being particularly fond of 70's Krautrock, I found it every bit (or perhaps more) desirable than the genuine Porcupine Tree material. The spirit is the same as the old German masters, some of the hypnotic tendencies are the same, but it is dressed up in a more modern way affording it the necessary freshness. The first four tracks originally appeared on the 1996 LP version, with the 1998 track Headphone Dust added as the CD bonus and upping the total time to about 45 minutes. It's no secret that Mr. Wilson is a little crazy about the music of Neu!, and both The Gospel According to I.E.M. and Deafman defer heavily to that style. Deafman is prime proto-trance music...it's got all the facets: the choppy guitar riffing, the bass counter-rhythm, the deliberate Dinger-esque drumming, the backmasked bits, and even the "cha-cha" vocal chanting. Fie Kesh is cool, cosmic and has a subtle Eastern flavor with its quiet drone and tabla percussion hiding behind the streams of guitar and steady bass. The finale Headphone Dust is a real winner, and could easily fit right into any Porcupine Tree album (or Wish You Were Here for that matter) - cosmic slide/gliss guitar and atmospheric synths, you know the drill.

The musicianship, as always, is top-notch. I'm a little uncertain though if anyone else helped on the album (for such a thick booklet there's scant information). The drumming is quite good and I'd suspect PT's Chris Maitland may have offered his services for the sessions, though Steve Wilson usually does these projects alone. If so, he plays a mean set of drums in addition to all of his other talents. You really can't miss with this item - pretty much anything Wilson touches has turned to gold so far, and this one will receive heavy rotation at my homebase. So let's hope it doesn't take so long for the newest 12" EP An Escalator to Christmas (or even PT's LP-only Metanoia) to get the digital treatment. Not all of us are vinyl aficionados, you know. Steve... are you listening?

Chrome — Chrome Flashback / Chrome Live - The Best Of

(Cleopatra 1999, CLP 0472-2)

Jerry Kranitz

Dark and aggressive, Chrome's brand of punked out, industrial, psychotic, acid mindfucking psychedelia was a cosmic shock when the band first appeared in 1977. My own introduction was when I heard Danger Zone and Anorexic Sacrifice on a radio show in the early 80's. At the time I was very picky about accepting anything New Wave and only really liked punk for it's energy. But these guys were playing acid rock in a punk context, as well as flinging about experimental sonic mayhem and I was intrigued. This 2-CD set consists of a through-the-years compilation on disc one, and, arguably the more valuable of the two, a live set from early 1998 when Helios Creed had assembled a band for Chrome's first tour in over 15 years.

I'm partial to tunes like Pygmies In Zee Park that have loads of freakout guitar, but played against frantic rhythms and wild vocalisations. Everything comes unhinged and the song can only fade away rather than end in any sensible way. My longtime favorites Danger Zone and Anorexic Sacrifice are pounding rockers that you can dance to, headbang to, or just zone out with. Danger Zone, in particular, is an amazing piece of spacerock done as only Chrome can, weaving some killer guitar work through their nightmarish cosmic tapestry. Overall, the 14 tracks on disc one give a solid overview of the original Chrome led by Creed and the late Damon Edge.

Fast-forward to 1998. This live set was a new experience for me as I haven't kept up with Chrome since their early recordings and I was pleasantly surprised. Disc two lists 11 tracks but my player indicates 12. The music doesn't actually sound live until track two so I'm wondering if the first track is a studio piece. It's an extended intro called New Age which establishes an industrial beat that slowly builds in intensity with strange voices and ends with sonic freakout guitar. Anyway, starting with track two, the band wastes no time launching directly into a guitar crunching assault that is guaranteed to please Hawkwind, heavy psych, and... hell, even metal fans.

Honestly, for balls-to-the-wall space metal these guys can easily compete with the Monster Magnet branch of heavy space. The scary vocals are still a trademark and add to the music's intensity. The pace is relentless and refuses to let the audience catch it's breath. If you're like me and know Chrome but haven't kept up over the years pick this up for the live disc. If you haven't yet ventured into the Chrome universe then this is as good a place as any to start.

Helios Creed — Chromagnum Man

(Dossier 1998, DCD 9088)

Keith Henderson

Chrome-veteran Creed is following his buddies Pressurehed et al. into prolific activities of late, including both new and old Chrome releases, the ambient side-project Dark Matter, and his solo works. With a lineup that includes both Stench brothers (Hilary and John on bass and drums, respectively) on some tracks (though it doesn't say which), this band is as much Chrome as is possible nowadays. Also, Helios' son Theo shows up "with his own unique style & sound," though it doesn't say what instrument he plays...presumably guitar.

The first two tracks on ChroMan are both psychotic-sounding excursions into experimental sounds and backmasking techniques, with both Tommy L. Cyborg (aka Greilde{a}s) and Z. Sylver assisting Creed in the synths and sampling department. World Infiltration III (The Dragon) then brings out the patented Helios-heavy guitar buzz and the obligatory altered vocals (No, as usual, you can't understand them). Dimension 6 is full of dark, pulsating synths and duel guitar leads that are slightly out-of-phase, yielding an uneasy false echo. An abrupt cut-off leads awkwardly into the percussive-heavy march The Rapture, but once your brain adjusts to the style-change, this tune becomes quite enjoyable. Twilight Zone indeed features a mock reproduction of the TV show theme song, alternating with sonic blitzes from Creed's guitar and various psychedelic effects. Another stormtrooping space-march, Fallen calls upon particularly gurgly synths but also Sylver's crackly and slightly flat voice. The title track finishes things off as a brash, psychedelic fest with instruments and voices brawling amongst themselves.

I've heard just enough Chrome and Creed solo material to say that ChroMan is appropriately labeled the latter. It's more experimental in nature than the parent group, not necessarily in sound development, but more in composition style. Few of these nine 'songs' fit any recognizable structure, and as such, aren't easily digestible. It'll be a matter of taste which ones appeal to any single person, but there is enough interesting music going on here for me to give the album a borderline 'thumbs up.'

Elektrum — Live at the Opera

(Elektrum 1998, ELE2002)

Scott Heller

Elektrum are a three-piece band made up of Claus Bohling on guitar, who used to play with legendary Danish bands Hurdy Gurdy and Secret Oyster. On bass, is Ian MacDonald, who has played with Ginger Baker. The drummer is a young guy named Darren Haydon who has played with Matt Parkin of Jesus and Mary Chain. Together the band play a mostly instrumental psychedelic mixture that is best described as the Ozric Tentacles without the synthesizers. This is really not giving the band it's due credit, as they are fabulous musicians and Claus really rips it up on the guitar, utilising a combination of wah, delay, and phazer to give a great spacey sound. This CD was recorded live at the Operan Club in Christiana in Kobenhavn (Copenhagen in English!).

I have been very fortunate to have seen this great band 4 times last year as they come to tour in Denmark twice a year. The band are often accompanied by a psychedelic light and image show put on by some of their friends who used to do the lights in the old Hurdy Gurdy days! As for the CD, it starts off with the great 13 minute Jungle Juice. Claus plays some really spacey guitar with some delay on it to open the tune. It has an almost flamenco feeling before the digeridoo played by Darren fades in. Claus slowly builds the guitar up until the bass line thickens and Darren jumps behind the drums and the band is off!!! Claus is a great guitar player and has honed his tone over the years to perfection. A man who could not live without a wah pedal! Red Lead is up next and is a sort of Dub style tune where Claus really takes the guitar into space!! Hinterland is one of the bands heaviest and Claus really rips it up on the guitar and wah. This could be called the wah wah song!!

Opus 9 opens with a driving wah sound and really kickin' bass and drum line. Again some more ripping leads on this one. This song has sort of an Eastern feel to it. In the middle of this song Ian plays a flute and djembe drum and Claus takes off the guitar and plays a djembe drum, and they have a real percussive jam while Ian chants (habiiiib). Totally excellent! Stonefish has this incredible heavy funk bass line in which Claus plays a funky guitar before just going off into space and ripping it up again. Ian provides a bass solo as well. Elektrum is another heavy guitar song like Hinterland with lots of burning leads and wah guitar. Popocatepetl ends the CD. This is one of the bands best compositions. The main complaint some people have levelled at the band is that the songs sound too much a like. This band shows a lot of promise and I really look forward to seeing them again in the coming months.

ST 37 — The Secret Society

(Lost Records/Avant Garde 1998, Lost 016)

Keith Henderson

This one almost slipped by me, since it's (as of now) an LP-only release. In the Austin, Texas quartet, brothers Carlton (Synth, Vocals) and Joel (Guitar) Crutcher are joined by SL Telles (Bass, Vocals, Keys) and drummer Dave Cameron (replacing Cisco Ryder G mid-recording). Guitarist Mark Stone has been an official member for some time now, so it looks as though these recordings must have been around for a little while.

Side 1 opens up with the dark and noisy Translunar Junction - not an unexpected beginning following 1997's SpaceAge. Next, as the title suggests, Always Say the Right Thing features a series of spoken affirmations, whilst in the background weird carnival music is alternately sped up and slowed down. Nutty. The title track is the album's best moment...the vocals are a bit goofy and mocking, and even tortured at times, but it fits right in with the bouncy bass and swirling trippy effects. All the Same is for Syd-fans... maybe they copied Astronomy Domine, or perhaps not? But it works. As does the swirly 60's thang Sunburst Yodel 9, with duet male and female (unknown guest) vocals and some nifty slide-space guitar. Those two bracket Section 37, a long, winding jam built on a fuzzy, bright rhythm and some fine drumming, forever building and accelerating to the end. Hmmm... now I wonder if the rooster crowing during the intro to Ur-punk to the mooooooon! is supposed to represent one Julian Cope? Well, anyway, this is the krautiest of the tunes on TSS, and certainly the band is having a bit of fun with the self-proclaimed kosmische guru.

This album is a bit of a surprise, as I thought they had been headed in a particular direction towards Can-like hypnotic music, but this is a step off the beaten track into a world of crazy fun and peculiar spoken-word ranting. (Perhaps it really has been released out of order.) I like to be surprised, and because it is still 100% psychedelic rock I support this choice completely. The Secret Society might not be so easy to find, but definitely worth the effort.

The Spacious Mind — Garden Of A Well Fed Head

(Lone Starfighter 1998, LSD 003, LP)

Jerry Kranitz

Sweden's master's of mind expansion have released this vinyl only gem (limited pressing of 600) that is as mind blowing as anything they've released. The packaging is gorgeous and makes me pine for the old days when buying a record gave you both music and a good sized piece of genuine artwork. The Spacious Mind is diecut into a white cover which opens up to a beautifully tripped out psychedelic colored painting. And speaking of beautifully tripped out psychedelia... The music! The Spacious Mind play real lava lamp style spacerock. At one moment you'll be grooving along to acoustic flower power folky instrumentation, and before you know it soaring acid guitars and bubbling synths will sweep you away into a heavenly vortex.

Side A begins with In The Land Of Roses And Snow. An accordion sounding organ repeats two vibrating notes along with simple percussion while an efx'd voice tells a story I can't quite understand. Synths soon start to bubble and gyrate as if dancing around the story teller. The Cave Song consists of acoustic guitars, Middle Eastern percussion, and didgeridoo among other things that trip along for a while and create a peaceful atmosphere. The rest of Side A is Upon Which Areas May The Circles Be Drawn, which for my money is a psychedelic tour de force. The bass provides the backbone in the form of a simple bluesy melody while the twin guitars assume battle positions for the assault to come. Everything builds up very slowly but when it takes off you'll experience a fireworks effect in your head and find yourself among the stars. Beautiful cosmic guitar work.

Most of Side B consists of Euphoria Euphoria, yet another gorgeous musical journey. The guitars and keyboards weave in and out of each other so smoothly that only close listening uncovers the individuality of each musician's contribution because it all blends together so well. There's also some beautiful wah wah guitar soloing that leads the extended jam bringing us to the song's conclusion. The album closes with Sweetness To The Lord which sounds like a psychedelic big band warm up, but serves as a fitting close to what indeed left me with a well fed head.

A real treasure from The Spacious Mind. Now if only they'll get their new Mind Of A Brother disc released. Finally, the Holy River Family Band has been getting a lot of justifiable attention these past couple years so if you've fallen for that band but haven't yet sampled The Spacious Mind you should know that they are related both musically and by common members.

Saddar Bazaar — Path of the Rose

(Delerium 1998, DELEC CD 068)

Keith Henderson

From Bristol, UK comes this Eastern-psychedelic quartet Saddar Bazaar, though I wouldn't be surprised if the lead duo, the Hyder brothers Shaun (sitar) and Rehar (guitar), were really from Pakistan where the actual Bazaar exists. Because this is very nearly 'true' Eastern music, complete with instruments I'd never heard of...such as a dholak (Indian hand drum) and a tambura (Asian lute). So it surprises me to learn that these Bristol lads recorded a track with Texas doom metal-heads Solitude Aeturnus, the entity that also spawned the excellent psychedelic trio the Liquid Sound Company. Hmmm.... perhaps that meeting even led to the inspiration for LSC's formation?

Path of the Rose wanders through 10 tracks of similar length, amounting to a 45-minute oriental journey. Tablas and sitar abound throughout, although a number of tunes have a western pop flavour (a la the Beatles) with the melodies carried by various instruments, usually sitar and slide guitar from the Hyders or moogy organ from Terry Banx. Arabesque (sic) in fact sounds a bit like Norwegian Wood though the melody is built atop a mindnumbing drone created by some unknown instrument, probably something that relies on a rosin wheel and a crank (my ignorance is showing). The followup, Painted Dust, is a pretty, ambient piece that sprinkles a simple sitar melody and light acoustic guitar work atop the hovering synth tones. Peacock Angel then comes across with a little more urgency with sitar/guitar drone and multiple percussion tracks from Dave Spencer, and features an excellent flute solo by guest Tainenska Royal. This is the sort of frosting the group really needs to exploit more. The remaining tracks explore very similar themes, and are a bit anti-climactic even.

The lone major drawback of Path of the Rose is the lack of vocals... nothing wrong with instrumentals, but many of these tracks seem to be set up for verses and choruses - or at least I can imagine them in my head. Which means the music seems to be missing a dimension. Still, by listening to the Bazaar, you'll take one more step towards appreciation of true Eastern music past what one would get by simply listening to the Ozrics or Steve Hillage's L. And the cover art is too cool to pass up.

Salamander — Red Mantra

(Camera Obscura Records 1998, CAM 017CD)

Jerry Kranitz

When Camera Obscura released Salamander's first CD, Red Ampersand, in 1997 the band was no longer functioning as a unit. However, interest in that release resulted in Salamander reforming. The five tracks on Red Mantra consist of three songs recorded between 1994-1996, and two new songs recorded in 1998. Like Skye Klad, Salamander calls Minneapolis its home and its members include Bryce Kastning on drums and keyboards, Doug Morman on bass, Sean Connaughty guitar, acoustic guitar, and vocals, and Erik Wivinus (recently with Skye Klad) on guitar, and Appalachian dulcimer.

Earthborn Animal and Old Mister Jones are the two new tracks. Earthborn Animal is apparently a solo number with Connaughty singing a dreamy song while strumming his Appalachian dulcimer. Old Mister Jones is a 10 minute track that begins as a vocal number sung to strumming guitars and has a folk-psych feel. Soon the guitar gets a bit more aggressive, a second guitar begins playing airplane engine leads, and wah-wah guitar starts to wail. The song continues as a spaced out psych journey for its duration and is an enjoyable example of guitar mayhem in which different guitar sounds are layered but remain distinct. As the song reaches its climax things get downright molten for an all too brief moment after which the listener is gently placed back on solid ground.

From the older tracks, David's Opening is similar to Mister Jones though more acidic and with a raw jamming Krautrock feel in parts. I found a few other reviews that compare Salamander to Bardo Pond and while I think in some ways this is accurate I find Salamander offers a more trippy, melt your face off psychedelia than Bardo Pond's wall of noise brand of psych. Return To Rural Highway is an easy going exploration that is aptly titled as it conjured up images of a trip across a western desert complete with multi-colored tumbleweeds and glowing cactus.

The title track Red Mantra is the band's epic 22-minute mind blowout. The music develops very slowly creating a multitude of cosmic guitar tapestries that again recall a jam rock sound, but retains a dreamy quality. One of the best portions is when drummer Kastning steps to the forefront bashing out tribal beats while the guitars wail away behind him. Listening to this track makes me not only curious as to what more the reformed band will produce, but also anxious to hear what becomes of Salamander guitarist Wivinus' pairing with Skye Klad's Jason Kesselring. As a side note I should mention that the paintings on both Salamander releases are absolutely stunning and done by guitarist Connaughty.

Mooch — In Search Of The Acid Metal Grille

(Dead Earnest 1998, DERNCD 33)

Jerry Kranitz

The latest from our friends at Dead Earnest is the fourth release by electronic adventurers Mooch. Mooch began in 1992 and throughout their four recordings have had a changing lineup with founder Steve Palmer at the helm. Palmer is a musician and novelist having written two works of science fiction: Memory Seed from '96 and Glass from '97. On two of Metal Grille's four tracks the band consists of Palmer on keyboards, samples & programming, deraboukah, and been (whatever those are), Garry Lewin on keyboards and big drum, and Phil Watson on analogue keyboard, and on the other two we have Palmer and guitarist Peter Wyer.

Mooch describe their music as ambient psychedelia, and in this they succeed to an extent. The music is partly Tangerine Dream style keyboard journeys, though the music is subtler and more is happening musically. The tracks with Wyer, on the other hand, recall Ash Ra Tempel's guitar and electronica explorations. The 22-minute Ocean Of Mercury is one such track with Palmer maintaining a sequenced synth pattern accompanied by more floating keyboards and Wyer's slowly soloing guitar. Acid Drenched Symphony, the other Palmer/Wyer duo track is similar and aptly titled. Again Palmer sets down a sequenced synth style but it shifts continually throughout the track's 20 minutes. Quietly symphonic keyboard textures create the background layers and Wyer's guitar intermittently comes in to explore for a while and then fade away. The guitar eventually becomes more prominent (though I wouldn't call it "acid drenched") and while not overly exciting it does sound really nice playing against the rapidly vibrating sequenced portions.

In Search Of Homo Sapiens Psychedelicus has the big drum holding down the beat instead of the sequenced synth giving the tune a tribal flavor. The synths are particularly trippy and the whole thing conjured up images of an Indian ceremony under a clear night sky with shooting stars and meteor showers. Vastscape at 7 minutes is the shortest track, but the most cosmically atmospheric. A synth produced horn seems to call the faithful to congregation with the sound of the wind blowing and repeating synth lines that shift subtly throughout the tune. Music for mind expansion indeed.

At first I thought I liked the synth/guitar duo tracks best. But in the end I thought the other two were stronger as I felt more encouraged to close my eyes and let the music carry me away.

Drekka / Octal — Drekka / Octal split 7"

(Blue Sanct Music 1997, INRI 024s)

Magnog — More Weather

(Kranky 1998, CD KRANK022)

Jerry Kranitz

I've always been ambivalent about the low-fi wall-of-sound brand of spacerock. Some of it is pure droning volume (e.g., Bardo Pond) and I have trouble listening to it, never mind enjoying it.

Magnog occupies that portion of the low-fi universe in which the clarity of the instruments makes the music listenable, displays a lot of good ideas, but is challenged by the difficulty of taking the music beyond directionless jams. The band is from Edmonds, WA and consists of Phil Drake on guitar and delay, Jeff Reilly on bass, guitar, moog, and vocals, and Dana Shinn on drums, moog, and vocals. More Weather is the band's second release and is a 2-CD set of 4-track demos from 1994-1996.

At it's best Magnog manages to capture the excitement of Syd-era Pink Floyd or raw jamming Guru Guru. The drumming is inspired and Drake is clearly capable of wrenching emotion from his guitar. On Chopstick, for example, the spaceship guitar sounds are pure joy and Shinn brings a wild jazz rock element to his drumming. Unlike much of their music - which can be endless noise jams - the moods change dramatically throughout the song's 13 minutes. The bass is the weak link though, cranking out a limited set of notes in the plodding fashion of so many of the so-called shoegazer bands, and this is all the more noticeable given the strength that the guitar and drums can often display. A similar tune is Ocean Floor Sleep with its dreamy atmospherics navigated by the spacey echoed guitar. I love how Drake's guitar can be quietly spacey and trip along while Shinn wails away at his drum kit. It's a contrast that works well.

Magnog's improvisational abilities seem to work best on songs in the under 15 minute range where they aren't forced to develop the music too much. There are two epics however. Mystery Goodness is 31 minutes and Signatures is 22 minutes. In these instances we hear lots of good ideas that pop out inconsistently leaving me thinking they would have been pretty potent tunes had they been shorter. Nonetheless, Mystery Goodness has some scorching guitar work and at times sounds like freaked out droning free jazz.

This could have been a stronger set if they made it a best of their demos and limited it to one CD. There's definitely some interesting free jamming spacerock here, though I'd like to see a bit more variety. Still, for pure atmosphere this can be pretty strong stuff.

Vágtázó Halottkémek — Az Eden Visszahoditasa

(Szerzoi Kiadas 98VHK CD)

Scott Heller

Vágtázó Halottkémek are a psychedelic Hungarian band who have continued to grow and expand their demented sound over the years. While the band's early releases were very raw and powerful, the band has refined its sound into a musical mayhem of unbelievable proportions.

The vocals by Attila are all in Hungarian and belted out with a conviction and furry rarely heard. The music combines heavy guitar and driving rhythms with a Hungarian folk texture including traditional Earthen drums and Hungarian lute. Reconquering Eden from 1997 was one of my favorite CDs and I was very much looking forward to RE2 when I heard about it.

RE2 opens with an insane screaming frenzy that lasts 28 seconds before moving into the song Once Upon, which is a prelude to the great 9-minute masterpiece, Fairy Girl. Fairy Girl starts with a repetitive guitar line that is slowly joined by the rest of the band as it builds up to a wild frenzy. The lyrics are totally insane, but this could be the translation, who knows... Here is one example: "I'm caressing you with music! I am splitting you with singing! The soft smell of frying sausages. Younger daughter of the neighbor. What a beautiful little chuck."

The next two songs, The World Is Ours and Cosmic Dreamship are each less than two minutes each. The World Is Ours is a fast driving number, while Cosmic Dreamship is very spacey and leads right into It's Not Far Away, which is a slower folky song with Earthen drums, interesting percussion, and Hungarian lute. Adoration Of The Soul starts with a solo guitar strumming and the drums and chanting vocals slowly build the song up as it gets faster and faster, and Attila works up to a vocal frenzy.

Something Sparkling follows and is a real mood piece after the intense Adoration. From The Home Of The Stars is a mixture of wild guitar soloing, screaming vocals, by Attila and a wild drum frenzy. This leads into The Burning Desire. Cosmic Dreamship 2, Prayer and Don't Die World end the CD. One is pretty exhausted after listening to this but somehow wanting more. This band is not for everyone. Highly recommended for people who want something totally different and intense, try to track this down!

Mandragora — Pollen

(Delerium 1998, DELEC CD 070)

Keith Henderson

I guess it's time to put a lid on the British 'Free Festival' psychedelic rock scene, championed by the Ozric Tentacles and safely housed at the Delerium headquarters for the last decade. After so many great bands (Dead Flowers, Soma, Ship of Fools, Omnia Opera, etc.) have done their thing, it looks like all the best music has now been completely wrung out. Mandragora (not to be confused with the German Mandragora Light Show Society) has long been part of the free-festy scene, but like most of the other survivors has shifted over into the electronica domain.

When the programmed linear dance beat kicks in during Abu Zeluf, I immediately cringe and think this album's gonna suck. However, the irresistible psychy eastern touches and reggae-dub rhythms manage to change my mind around, quite surprisingly I might add. Dub Jig is pure unadulterated reggae, mon, and capably done. Coffee Shop Jig is one part Kathmandu, one part French Riviera, and one part acid-house techno. I shouldn't like it, but I do... particularly when Simon Williams' psychedelic guitar soloing screams through. One of the most interesting bits is Arthur Brown's guest appearance on Rewind... Everything's OK, adding vocals which I can only describe as 'pained.' Ben Paley's violin colors Rebuk, a nice Chris Karrer-style eastern number that is nearly ruined by the sequenced backing beat, but the bulk of the music is too good to ignore. Al Jenkins cruises on his fretless bass, and a swirling array of synths, guitars, and sampled chants spin overhead. On Jazz Message, Ron Williams' trumpet solo plays against a groovy bass line and Mick Reed's real drums... you might have a bit of trouble dancing to this one. Bliss the Sky samples classic Can percussion and what could easily be late-70's Steve Hillage synthesizers; this one works, but the finale El Paso is just too dancey and kills the mood.

The comparisons one might make to Pollen are obvious - recent works by the Ozrics and/or Eat Static, and Mandragora's label-mate Electric Orange. The latter's Cyberdelic I couldn't much take, and have sold that off. Pollen is more digestible to the space/psych-head who wants a taste of techno/trance every so often without being choked by it. In that sense, it fills a space in my collection previously held only by Korai ?r?m. I may be getting older, but I'm not yet unable to catch on to some new trends in music. I ain't gonna start hanging out at raves or anything, but I'll give Pollen some future spins and pretend.

The Dinner Is Ruined Band — A Maggot In Their Heads

(Sonic Unyon 1999, CD)

Jerry Kranitz

Quite a name huh? Kind of implies either something very demented or a good sense of humour. Well I'd say it's a bit of both. This Canadian trio isn't spacerock per se, but do read on because these guys play creatively quirky rock music that does contain some warped elements of space and psych. The band consists of Dale Morningstar on guitar and vocals, Dr. Johnny Pee Press on keyboards, and Dave Clarke on drums and percussion. A Maggot In Their Heads is the band's fifth release.

The opening track, 70's Slave, has a crushing Deep Purple sound, particularly due to the Jon Lord sounding keyboards, though the wild vocals and drugged choral harmonies take the song as a whole into an entirely different direction. The music goes into an extended rocking jam that really does have a 70's feel. No solos. Just good heavy rock that happens to be accompanied by delightfully freaky vocals. Classic California Ass is another heavy rocker though some of the guitar has a bit of that off-key blues sound that was a Captain Beefheart trademark.

Ok... now the fun begins. After rockin' along at a heavy but stoned pace, the band launches into space punk territory with Bobby Orr. The guitar and drums rip, tear, and shred at breakneck speed as the voicings go on about hockey related issues. So that's got me fallen out of my chair. I've stood up, dusted myself off, now prepared for more harshness and the band completely eases the pace with the almost ballad-like Bought Yourself A Bullet. But it does get intense and the keyboard and guitar briefly stray into acid territory. By this time I realize that Dinner Is Ruined Band is not going to let me determine a pattern, or even sit still for the remainder of the CD.

Other highlights include: Mowdown Louisiana (I think that's what it says) starts off as a Stooges style rocker and while the vocals retain an Iggy growl the guitar and piano jam along in a somewhat dissonant avant-rock jam. Old Horse Whore is a... I don't know what it is but imagine the Bonzo Dog Band singing their version of the Lumberjack Song in a Greek restaurant. Ya gotta hear it to understand. The Hangman is a thumping acid punker with the best freakout guitar on the disc. Buffalo Jump follows in this vein, but alternates so abruptly with quiet guitar portions that my head started to spin. But when it's rockin' the guitars crash insanely and the vocals do a kind of talk rant. The whole thing kind of reminds me of MX-80 Sound.

At 39 minutes the disc is relatively short. But this music makes its point very quickly so there is no extraneous material here. Of the fifteen tracks only four are over three minutes and five are under two minutes. Very creative and a damn good time.

Mandala — Gurning the Midnight Oil

(Mandragora Music MBC001)

Scott Heller

This is a side project of Simon Williams and Al Jenkins of Mandragora with friends Simon Cowburn and Mick Reed. In someways it does have the Mandragora feel to it but this is a psychedelic dance-trance-techno thing. The synthesizer sound is very rich and dominates the sound much more than the bass thump that accompanies some, but not all the tracks.

Gurning the Midnight Oil starts things off and reminds me of some of the better Eat Static stuff, using a sampled voice and driving synth line. Grow It Everywhere starts with a very spacey intro with a voice talking about Grow it Everywhere and has samples about marijuana. The bass line is not driven by a machine and Al lays down a thick bottom end. The drums sound real at times but tinny and canned at others. Real great song! Three little men in a flying saucer starts with a small child singing a rhyming poem and then the bass line slowly moves in as the theramin sound that opened the tune fades. Very cool! Now the dub keyboard line comes in while the driving synth rhythm continues. I guess this is a song that people say you chill out to...

Loose in the Temple starts off with some gurgling bubbly noises and bird sounds as a conversation can barely be heard, but is slowly drowned out as the synths layer in louder and louder and then the techno line starts as a faint chant can be heard. While Smart System has a more laid back trancy feel to it and 35 White Mustang moves forward with an almost talking synth type sound and some very spacey sounds. Simple Life is their pop techno dance hit style song with Nikki Catterall on vocals. This has a pretty dreamy feeling to it with cool keyboard sounds! Summer of Dub finishes off the 60 minutes of music with a long spacey dub piece.

Overall, this is a very enjoyable CD and varies in many ways from the standard techno trance styles, and brings in many new ideas to those who are trying to see what this whole techno psychedelic trance thing is all about.

Heru Avenger — New Aeon

(Initiates International 1998, CD001)

Jerry Kranitz

Now here's an interesting disc. Krautrock cosmiche meets jazz fusion meets Frank Zappa. Is that an odd combo? Heru Avenger is essentially the solo project of John Basil who plays guitars, bass, and synthesizers, with drum kit assistance from Craig Teigen. The CD consists of four instrumental tracks all in the 15 plus minute range that cover all these influences to produce a cosmic and often fiery brew.

Neteru 2000 begins with Basil soloing along like Zappa or McLaughlin to a solid fusion rhythm and Hawkwind galore style synths. He maintains this groove for while until shifting to an Ash Ra/Amon D??l style space exploration. The music develops well and while Basil is clearly capable of being of major shred king on the guitar he doesn't wear out the listener with relentless flash. Rather, the focus is on developing his musical themes and the electronics are just as much, and perhaps more, of a focal point as the guitar.

Theban Dawn starts off as a 70's Miles Davis or Mahavishnu fusion piece with a good bit of funk behind it. Of course the synths keep the whole thing in the cosmos and even sounds a lot like Alien Planetscapes. It has that same free jazz feel while clearly maintaining a space identity. Basil goes into an extended synth exploration that returns to the full band sound fusion jam for the finale.

A pattern is starting to develop as we move into Giza Now. Like the previous tracks it starts as a fusion jam with nice guitar work and astral synths. Actually this one grooves along like that throughout the whole track finishing off with an easy going synth jam. Finally, Priestess Of Nu begins as the most straightforward jazz of the disc, though the synths are just as prevalent as they are on the previous tracks. It then goes into one of the more psychedelic moments on the disc as multiple synths lines combat with one another and the drummer goes off on a mad jam of his own. Basil shifts gears yet again and goes into a Hawkwind space jam that still retains the jazz elements that define the whole of this CD. Again Basil finishes with an extended synth freakout

Heru Avenger gets a thumbs up for doing something a little different and doing it well. Spacerockers who dig Miles Davis, early Krautrock, and Alien Planetscapes fans will really like this.

Lotus — The Totuus

(Lotus Music 1998, CD0001)

Jerry Kranitz

Though I wasn't exactly blown away by Lotus' entry on the Metazoon compilation (review in issue #5), listening to this full length CD of their work reveals an interesting progressive rock band with strong jazz roots and a spacey edge. The packaging on this CD is absolutely gorgeous.

In fact, without hearing the music, I would have guessed this to be a totally spaced-out psych trip. But the music is instrumentally complex with lots of turn-on a dime mood and pace changes. The music jams along and all the instruments are very distinct from one another but work cooperatively, each seemingly off in it's own little world yet combining to produce a complex yet cohesive whole.

Some highlights include Aamutusmaan which comes off like a cosmic piano concerto. The piano plays a rapid classical bit with the bass holding the backbone. The music is very busy and quirky with touches of space electronics. The vocal style here, and throughout the disc, is a bit dissonant, but very soulful. It's hard to describe but it works very well. The singer's role strikes me as being equally complex as the instrumentation and contributes much to establishing a trademark Lotus sound. Save Us, one of the shorter tracks, returns to the classical mold, but again has that quirky feel. And so much is happening... so many different little soundbites popping up that the listener has to be alert to keep up.

Spread The Shanti and Macrocosmonaut are among my favorites. Musically similar to the other tracks these have a strong jazz feel, yet also stray into more ambient cosmic territory than the others. Astral synth sounds combine with a jazzy acoustic guitar and bopping rhythm section. The music gets quite intense at times, particularly on Macrocosmonaut which goes into an extended jam that gets quite psychedelically freaky while maintaining the clear jazz sound. This is the style that establishes Lotus' identity and is gives their music its strength. Maani Maisemaa Raunaa even gets into a rockin' Latin salsa bit. Very enjoyable.

Mesqualito is one of the last songs on the disc and the one I didn't altogether care for on the Metazoon compilation. Now that I've been grooving along with their music I gave this an extra hard listen to see if my opinion had changed. While it definitely fits in with the bands overall sound it doesn't excite me quite as much as the other tracks. A twelve-minute track, it meanders around for too long until the intensity kicks in around the seven-minute mark.

Overall, Lotus is a band that has established a recognisable sound and should appeal to progressive rock fans and spacerockers who like a bit of cosmic jazz. Gong fans would definitely dig this.

Channel — Shooting Gallery

(Davenport 1998, davcd 001)

Keith Henderson

Shooting Gallery is the debut CDEP of this quartet from northeast Ohio on their own Davenport Records label. Yep, davenport (which means sofa in this part of the country, though only my grandmother actually uses that term), probably the place where one lazy day the four comprised the idea of starting a band, and then a label. I'm glad that they chose to be spacerockers anyway, as if they'd been watching MTV all that time on the sofa, they'd certainly have aspired to be the next Matchbox 20 and what a waste that would have been.

Channel is a band with several disparate styles of cosmic rock... one a slow, thick and dreamy mishmash along the lines of My Bloody Valentine, the other a more frenetic, heavy riffing variety. This is demonstrated at the outset of Shooting Gallery, beginning with the shoegazer anthem Masseuse which segues quickly into the lone true rocker Downpour. The latter track has a variety of pace and dynamics, however, and tells me early on that their songwriting is already beyond a simple stage. The title track takes things back down to a subdued level, where Darren Thompson's echoey guitar sounds cascade around Kramies Windt's vocals. Orange Roughy has a peculiar retro-psychy flavour to it, but the tune is really a 6/8 slow dance number. Everything So Plain is a more schizophrenic tune that works in creating a mood on several levels, and despite a few rough spots, drifts off into a pleasant upwardly-turned finale. The disc wraps up with Oceans, which again uses extremes in dynamics, at one point lulling you in a state of total serenity, only to then shake you out of it with a smattering of power chords.

Channel is another band who reside equally in the years 1970 and 2000, with the question being where will we all be in 2010? I think as the band matures, they may have something to say about where to go next. As of now, I feel the band's sound is a tad rough around the edges, but still contains a lot of promise. Though I'm not so sure I like Windt's voice too much, though I can't really say what I dislike about it either, other than it has an odd quality to it that I can only refer to as a "twang". But then it always takes me longest to get used to unusual voices than anything else in music, so time will tell in that department.

Quarkspace — Spacefolds 5

(Eternity's Jest Records 1999, CD)

Jerry Kranitz

The newest release from Quarkspace is a CD continuation of the earlier Spacefolds cassette series. The Spacefolds series is something of a musical band diary featuring recent improv instrumentals. Quarkspace is still Chet Santia on bass, Jay Swanson on synths, Dave Wexler on guitar, Paul Williams on synths, drums, and loops, and Darren Gough on guitar.

There are seven tunes on this 70 minute disc, some of which are more cool quarky space excursions, and some venturing into somewhat different territory. The disc opens with Recaesarian which sees the band further exploring the techno territory that has been hinted at on earlier releases. But please read on if the techno term turns you off because this isn't your standard relentless rave beat muck whose only purpose is to keep you on the dance floor for a 24-hour stretch. Quarkspace combines techno with the recognizable Quarkspace sound to produce something far more interesting and listenable. We've got the techno beats, but we've also got the cool space excursions which somehow don't seem to contrast with each other at all. In fact, the band is exploring the possibility of playing raves, which could well expose that crowd to more substantial music while still giving them something to... uhhh... "rave" to.

qspace Pixies takes us into the kind of space territory that should please fans of Quarkspace's Live Orion release from last year. This sounds essentially like two tracks as there is a several minute jam (with some brief Gong-like chanting) that fades out and then becomes something completely new. I love Quarkspace tunes that prominently feature piano. The piano and guitar each carry a main melody while trading off the forefront role. The bass thuds away and occasional freaky synth bits pop up throughout. This is yet another one of those tracks that could be described as, "if the Allman Brothers were a spacerock band".

Another standout track is Voyage which, though firmly in the Quarkspace mold, has a strong Pink Floyd sound in spots. Very much on the ambient side as well. This one will carry you away quietly while still holding your attention with music. We Are QPR is something of a space symphony and my favorite on the disc. The band explores a variety of moods and moves from quark jamming to quiet journeys into atmosphere and sound. A flute sound is simulated that embellishes the music very nicely.

Spacefolds 5 should hold us over until The Hidden Moon, Quarkspace's second studio CD. It will be a double-CD release and is due Summer 1999.

Mason Jones — International Incident

(Charnel Music 1998, CHCD-31)

Jerry Kranitz

Mason Jones (of SubArachnoid Space) continues to explore the sonic and aesthetic possibilities of noise on this live set from two tours of Japan in 1995 and 1997. Each of the five tracks is from a different performance and features different collaborations. This is psychedelia in its harshest form, being simultaneously atmospheric and ear-splitting. Both mind-expanding and brain crushing.

The opening track pairs Mason with guitarist K.K. Null for an extended workout that brought sweat to my brow. Much of it reminded me of a noisier, more psychedelic version of Fred Frith and Henry Kaiser's collaborations. Perhaps not the best of comparisons, but the freeform and avant nature of these excursions are similar. Only one of the five tracks features a band situation, with Mason and Kawabata Makoto on guitars, Tsuyama Atsushi on bass, and Koizumi Haijime on drums. This was my favorite track which I enjoyed for its raw, almost playful improvisations. It has a garage band feel that I found appealing. The band jams away furiously and like a 60's acid band only with more feedback, reverb, volume, and violent screeching than anything the 60's could have imagined.

The third track returns to the guitar duos pairing Mason with Jojo Hiroshige on 15 minutes of total guitar mayhem. It amazes me the sounds that can be wrenched from a guitar. This is much like some of the purely electronic music I hear, only the guitars are creating the atmospherics. These guys take Hendrix to the limit. For his pairing with guitarist Yamamoto Seiichi, Mason takes a seat at the drum kit cranking out wildman tribal beats while Seiichi plays the most purely psychedelic guitar on the disc.

Mason Jones is active among the Japanese noise-rock scene, and I found this release to be far more listenable and enjoyable then much of that genre. Psych fans who crave blistering mayhem rather than a trippy floating experience will love this.

SubArachnoid Space — Endless Renovation

(Relapse Records 1998, RR 6402-2)

Jerry Kranitz

SubArachnoid Space's previous releases have been live documents, but for Endless Renovation the band entered the studio to produce their first properly recorded work. The band consists of the duel guitars of Mason Jones and Melynda Jackson, along with Jason Stein on bass, Chris Van Huffel on drums, and various guests on organ, synthesizer, violins, dulcimer, cello, and upright bass. While the band's live work on the earlier Almost Invisible featured interesting improvisational psychedelia, Endless Renovation is a step beyond due to the more fully developed songs, and, to an extent, to the expanded instrumentation on three of the six tracks.

The disc opens with Will You Make My House A Carnival. An eerie organ melody leads the band as the guitars solo slowly along. Strange voices are introduced which soon become a small crowd. This does indeed sound like a carnival, though perhaps as the soundtrack to Carnival of Souls or Circus of Horrors. The taped voices and various sounds are used to good effect and add to the dark atmosphere. Even on the live Almost Invisible the various sounds the two guitarists could wrench from their instruments was apparent and is even more apparent on this studio effort.

The next three songs all feature stripped down double guitar, bass, and drums. Space. On Square Wheels the bass lays down a low-end Univers Zero style melody line and the guitars blast off from there. This music is among spacerock's darkest and is not for the timid. A trademark of the band's sound is the combination of fuzz freakout guitar with soloing acid licks which, at it most intense moments, creates a sonic wall of powerfully earth shattering psychedelia. The other two tracks, Good Grief? and Stereo Saturation, are more of the same though Saturation again features a simple, but interesting bass line around which the guitars can develop themes. It also has very quiet moments during which the guitars perform their cosmic constructions in the subtlest of manners. And when the pace picks up again they blast straight into orbit with very slow, but heart wrenching acid licks.

The last two tracks, Safety In Numbers and Twilight Sleep, blend together so smoothly that they really make up one 30 minute epic. These are the tunes that include most the expanded instrumentation listed above and the use of these instruments is often difficult to discern, though there's no mistaking the freaky cello sounds on Twilight Sleep. There is a lot of elusive detail on these tracks and I only came to appreciate them after listening again with headphones. I recommend you do the same.

Though SubArachnoid Space falls into the droning wall of noise psych category, I found the music on this disc to be much more in line with my conception of acidic spacerock than other such bands due to the clarity of the individual instruments, the creative use of the two guitars, and the better development of the music (something I asked for after hearing Almost Invisible).

Various Artists — ...e Tu vivrai nel Terrore

(Black Widow BWRCD 025)

Scott Heller

Many of you have probably seen this CD listed and were not sure what to expect. This is a double CD or triple LP compilation dedicated to the history of Horror films, of which many of the worlds best were done in Italy by Bava, Fulci, and Argento. It features an incredible roster of artists whom have all performed a piece of music in which they felt described the mood or feeling of a particular horror film.

Some of the artists that will be familiar to our readers are Bevis Frond, Sundial, Standarte, Humus, Ankedoten (listed as Morte Macabre), Ars Nova, and Malombra. Most of the artists who have recorded on the Black Widow label have contributed as well, such as The Black, Presence, Abiogenesi, Il Segno del Comando, and Nothwinds.

It would take too long to detail all the songs by the 29 different artists, but let's just say that many of the artists are extremely effective at bringing about a specific mood and feeling with their pieces.

I have really enjoyed listening to this CD on many occassions. The book is very interesting to read as well as it is a pretty detailed history of horror films, putting a specific emphasis on the italians. A unique release!