Aural Innovations — March 2012

In The Labyrinth — Garden Of Mysteries

(Transubstans Records 2012, CD, originally released 1996)

Jerry Kranitz

From Sweden, In The Labryinth combine Folk, Psychedelic and Progressive Rock influences with a passion for Indian/Middle Eastern music. To date they have released three full length albums - Garden Of Mysteries (1996), Walking On Clouds (1999), and Dryad (2002). Having been out of print for several years, Garden Of Mysteries, originally released by APM, has now been reissued by Transubstans Records.

Garden Of Mysteries began life as a 1994 cassette release, the musicians' initial goal being to explore combining shaman drums with a variety of ethnic music styles. However, the band fell apart the following year and Peter Lindahl, who would go on to be the driving force behind all subsequent In The Labyrinth recordings, added new music with more instrumentation to create what became the 1996 CD release.

In The Labyrinth utilize a stunning array of rock and ethnic instruments and close listening to the music makes clear that they are actually using it all. And just for eye-popping fun I'm going to list it all. On Garden Of Mysteries Peter Lindahl plays mellotron, electric and acoustic guitars, saz, zither, bass, mandolin, samplers, synthesizers, melodion, viola da gamba, flutes, woodwinds, oriental and western percussion (dar- bouka, daf, tambourine, etc), tamboura, sound effects, and vocals. Additional instrumentation is handled by Ulf Hansson on darbouka & Egyptian tabla, Mikael Gejel on flutes, acoustic guitar, bass, synthesizers, samplers, tamboura, percussion, background harmonies and jojk, Karin Langhard-Gejel on djembe, flute and background harmonies, and additional vocals and narration are provided by Helena Selander, Stefan Ottman, and Helena Bringner.

There are 22 tracks on the album, mostly in the 3-4 minute range, though several transition into each other so seamlessly that they play like single song mini-suites. The melodies are beautiful, uplifting and often have a spiritual quality. Indian/Middle Eastern themes are prevalent throughout, though In The Labyrinth never restrict themselves. For example, Gates Of Andorra has a medieval-folk feel. Karakoram Pass is like Celtic-Folk-Prog with a spacey vibe. And Hiram Abiff is an interesting combination of Indian influences and light jazz.

Among my favorites is the trio of Kekova (The Sunken City), Ali Hasan, and Aslan, all of which play like one track. Kekova is a Progressive Rock infused instrumental with Indian/Middle Eastern influences. This sets the stage for the next track, Ali Hasan, one of the few vocal songs on the album. I felt like I was being whisked away to the Arabian desert, and we get a nice acidic guitar solo too. Aslan is like a jamming instrumental coda to Ali Hasan. Then a later track, Andalucy, struck me as being an Ali Hasan refrain. It's got a cool swingin' Middle Eastern rhythmic pulse, and I like the searing sitar drone at the end.

Other highlights include Moorish Rhapsody, a rocker which features heavier use of guitar and is another song with vocals I enjoyed. Trans Turkish Express picks up where Moorish Rhapsody left off and is one of the heaviest rockers of the set. On this track the guitar, symphonic rock and Eastern influences really come together nicely. Desert Visions conjures up images of a huge feast and a circle of belly dancers. This segues right into the percussion jamming Ya Qader. And Almeria feels like a Bollywood party song.

After having enjoyed the Walking On Clouds and Dryad albums for years now it was a pleasure to finally get to hear Garden Of Mysteries. While the style is the same on the later albums, the music took on a more overtly Prog-Psych character, and having revisited those albums I'd say they are more compositionally sophisticated. There's also more vocals on the subsequent albums, which I think goes well with this music. Nonetheless, Garden Of Mysteries is a solid set, showcasing the genesis of a band who so beautifully fuse ethnic music with Folk, Psychedelic and Progressive Rock. For even more background on Peter Lindahl, I recommend also checking out Psychedelic Sweden, Peter's album that Transubstans released in 2008, featuring recordings he made in the early 1970s (reviewed in AI #37).

For more information, visit In The Garden on Bandcamp.

In The Labyrinth — One Trail To Heaven

(Trail Records 2011, CD)

Jerry Kranitz

From Sweden, In The Labryinth combine Folk, Psychedelic and Progressive Rock influences with a passion for Indian/Middle Eastern music. The band is headed up by Peter Lindahl and to date have released three full length albums - Garden Of Mysteries, originally released in 1996 and now reissued by Transubstans Records (see accompanying review), Walking On Clouds (1999), and Dryad (2002). One Trail To Heaven is a 13 track collection that consists of songs from the three albums, alternate versions of songs from those albums, two previously unreleased songs, and two contributions the band made to compilation albums.

The CD includes four songs from Garden Of Mysteries, one from Walking On Clouds, and two from Dryad. Among the alternate version songs is a longer and better developed recording of Lost In The Woods, the opening track to the Dryad album. Karakoram Waltz is a meditative ethnic-folk instrumental that was In The Labyrinth's contribution to the One World Tapestry album, released by Musea Records in 2007. I never knew about this album until I got this compilation so that was a nice surprise.

Deep Saffron is an all instrumental version of the song from Dryad, which on the album had some narration. The Endless City is a previously unreleased track, being a dark and moody psychedelic-orchestral instrumental. Very cool; I would love to hear this developed beyond its 3 minute length. Cloudburst is the other unreleased track and is a deeply meditative atmospheric piece that I enjoyed. We also get Cities, In The Labyrinth's contribution to Higher: A Tribute to the Moody Blues, a 3-CD set released by Mellow Records in 2006.

One Trail To Heaven clocks in at just a hair short of an hour, so as an existing fan I would like to have heard more unreleased music and/or songs that were exclusive to compilations the band contributed to. But as an introduction for the uninitiated to this wonderful band it's an outstanding collection.

For more information, visit Trail Records on Bandcamp. Also know that In The Labyrinth is on Bandcamp with a few other albums.

Hi Fiction Science — Hi Fiction Science

(Negative Drive 2011, NDR002)

Jerry Kranitz

From Bristol, UK, Hi Fiction Science are the quintet of Maria Charles on guitar and vocals, Jeff Green on bass, keyboards and percussion, James McKeown on guitar, keyboards and percussion, Matt Rich on keyboards and samples, and Aidan Searle on drums and percussion.

Their self-titled debut opens with Black Flower, a seductive, spacey, accessible song. It drifts along for the first 4 minutes, at which point the guitar goes into deep space, bringing the song to an intense, yet ethereal close. A very nice opener. Metal Terrapin is similar, though in this case the guitar closes the song with a low-key jam, accompanied by cool freaky electronics. Zabriskie is a melodic spacey rocker that feels like the overture for a larger piece.

For the first 3 minutes of Spirit Broken we've got a beautiful song with an Acid-Folk feel. Then for the last minute it shifts gears and becomes a spacey pop-rocker; an interesting transition. Not too abrupt but not seamless either. Kosmonaut reminds me of something from the early Brainticket albums! Wow, this sucker packs a seriously cosmic punch in less than 4 minutes. PSK is a catchy bouncy tune with an ethereal atmospheric vibe. And Undulating Blue starts off as a hard rocking robotic dancey groove tune with trip guitar doing its acid magic. Then it settles into steady paced but intense pop-rock with a spaced out edge. Great use of guitar and keys. Along with Kosmonaut this my favorite track of the set.

There are also two cover songs. Old World is a rocking rendition of a Jonathan Richman song. I never paid much attention to the Modern Lovers but I quickly found the original on YouTube and I like the Hi Fiction Science version much better. It rocks, with an off-kilter groove, and killer winding acid guitar throughout. Fleance is a cover of the 1972 Folk-Prog song by the Third Ear Band. It's largely faithful to the original except Hi Fiction Science really explode at the end. Nice. This was actually my introduction to the band, having first heard it on a Fruits de Mer label 7".

Speaking of the Fruits de Mer label, I'll jump the gun on an upcoming review by mentioning Hi Fiction Science's inclusion on the soon to be released Sorrow's Children, a re-recording of the classic Pretty Things album S.F. Sorrow, with each song covered by a different band. Full review within the next week.

So, in summary, Hi Fiction Science have a real flair for writing accessible songs that could almost be called pop. But the music propels the songs into the stratosphere, giving it a deep space quality, and with a focus on shifting of thematic gears that keeps things interesting throughout.

For some reason the album is not available from the Hi Fiction Scient Bandcamp site as an album, but the separate tracks are available as free downloads.

Black Space Riders — Light Is The New Black

(BSR/Brainstorm/Rough Trade 2012, CD/2-LP/Download)

Jerry Kranitz

Black Space Riders are a German dual guitar, bass, drums and vocals quartet and Light Is The New Black is the follow-up to their self-titled 2010 debut (see AI #42). The core of their style is heavy stoner rock and metal, with nods to psychedelia and space rock. Much of the Space is thematic, with cosmic song titles and the album is sub-titled Songs about luminaries, black holes, hope and loss in outer space. And the album is full of effects that add a spaced out atmosphere to the music and help Black Space Riders transcend what could easily be a standard stoner-metal style.

After a crushing heavy stoner opening track, the band start off calm and spacey on Sun vs. Moon (Total Eclipse), gradually picking up the rhythmic pace, creating atmosphere with cool effects, until finally launching into a stoner-metal assault. The vocals are anguished, though thankfully stop short of the unintelligible growling style that so many contemporary bands favor. And near the end we get some ripping spaced out guitar licks that make for an excellent finale to this impressively developed song.

Digging Down (The Hole Part One... From Deep Below) is next and rocks hard from the start. I really like the cool tripped out fuzz guitar. "Dig digging down… Dig digging down"... pretty damn catchy for a such a head-bangin' tune. Other highlights include We Used To Live in Light (Exodus Part Two), which at over 8 minutes is one of the longer tracks on the album. It's a steamroller metal dirge, accompanied by strained screaming guitar, which makes for a pretty cool contrast. About halfway through the guitars start to jam, one maintaining a classic metal pace and the other going into deep space. Maybe a strange analogy but the effect is kind of like a Shoegaze band gone metal.

Lost (Return Into The Void) is very different, having a bouncy groove and sounding like a song from the 80s. But the lyrics reveal an apocalyptic theme - "I was going back to Earth, but Earth is blown away. Everything is lost". Then in the last couple minutes the band transition to a steady space-metal rock groove for the finale. Damn cool song! Night over Qo'nos (Masrammey) explore even more different territory. After an Eastern themed intro that hints at some Middle Eastern market scene the band start to rock. But then we go into even more varied directions, the music mixing metal with something that conjures up images of gypsy dancers and whirling dervishes, but also some of the most crushing metal on the album. LOTS happening here!

Someone Has Turned The Knob To Switch On The Light, But Instead Something Strange Happened To The Warp Engine may be the longest title but is also one of the shortest tracks, being a freaked out effects-laden piece that leads into Louder Than Night, which alternates between stoner rock, accessible song style, and metal. The New Black (The Hole Part Two... From Above) is another brief atmospheric piece that sets the stage for the closing song, Lights Out (The Black Hole Part Three... Going Down) a metallic rocker with atmosphere and a groove.

Black Space Riders have come a long way since their first album, having injected a lot of much welcome variety into their brand of stoner-metal. The production and well planned structure and flow of the album is certainly to be credited. The band utilize effects and atmosphere along with stylistic variety to create well-crafted thematic development and transitions and a seamless ride from beginning to end. It really plays like an ALBUM. You'll pick up something new with repeated listens.

For more information visit the Black Space Riders website and the Black Space Riders Bandcamp site.

Astralfish — Far Corners

(Noh Poetry Records 2012, NPR 010, CD)

Jerry Kranitz

Astralfish is the latest project from Don Falcone and Bridget Wishart. Don has a lengthy resume, including Spaceship Eyes, Thessalonians, Grindlestone, and Quiet Celebration, but Space Rock fans might know him primarily as commander of Spirits Burning, which for nearly 13 years has been releasing collaboration albums that bring together a global assortment of luminaries from the Space Rock and Prog Rock world. Bridget was a member of Hawkwind from 1989-1991, and two Spirits Burning albums - Earth Born and Bloodlines - were credited to Spirits Burning and Bridget Wishart.

In fact, Don is responsible for having coaxed Bridget out of retirement in 2002, and what initially started as contributing to a Spirits Burning album has blossomed into a flurry of activity and contributions to many band's albums. For a healthy dose of Bridget's music over the past decade, go to the Aural Innovations Space Rock Radio page and scroll down to show #268, which is an all Bridget Wishart special.

The Astralfish album is structured much like a Spirits Burning album, with Don and Bridget assisted by contributors that vary from track to track. When asked why Far Corners didn't become the third Spirits Burning-Bridget Wishart collaboration, Don explains that the Spirits Burning albums with Bridget feature vocal songs, showcasing Bridget's voice. Astralfish intentionally goes in a different direction, being all instrumental and providing a platform to fully feature Bridget's EWI (Electronic Wind Instrument) playing for the first time. Furthermore, the duo decided to go with smaller ensembles than is typically seen on Spirits Burning albums.

Far Corners consists of 16 tracks, mostly in the 2-5 minute range, and the music is more stylistically consistent than most Spirits Burning albums (which are intentionally varied). The album is characterized by a space-ambient-jazz-orchestral-world music flavor, though it can rock out as well. The EWI is quite the chameleon of an instrument, with Bridget emulating a range of instruments including clarinet, violin, oboe, trumpet, guitar, synths, and uilleann pipes.

I won't cover all 16 tracks but will touch on some of the highlights. Far is a space-ambient-jazz piece with beautiful gliss guitar from Daevid Allen, alien synths by Don, ambient jazz ("bowed") bass from Karl E.H. Seigfried, and Bridget's EWI doing clarinet. Lil Utburd is a varied track, starting off spacey orchestral, and then launching into a rocking mixture of electro-dance, funk, reggae and jazz, with an EWI produced violin lead melody. Pepper Sky has a soundtrack feel, being dark, intense, orchestral, jazzy, with lots of impressive thematic development for only 4 minutes.

Summer Snake features EWI produced saxophone playing jazz leads, accompanied by stinging guitar licks from Frank Hensel. Pacifica is one of my favorites, being a kind of Space Rock-Prog-World Music blend, with EWI produced uilleann pipes and synths and nice acoustic and electric guitars from Doug Erickson. The Otter is a beautiful tune, with a space-ambient-jazzy vibe and a cool rhythmic pulse. Seeds At Night In A Trickster's Yard is one of the more rockin' tracks, at least initially, with a driving electro beat and guitar leads from Richard "Karda Estra" Wileman, but suddenly it descends into slow grooving melodic ambience. And then we're really rockin' on Cloud Gather, with ripping guitar from Steve Palmer (Mooch, Blue Lily Commission), though it also has its ambient-jazz moments.

So yes, after having been immersed in the album it makes sense that Don and Bridget decided to call this project something other than Spirits Burning. Another fine effort from two of the more creative, diverse, and active members of the contemporary Space Rock scene.

For more information you can visit the Noh Poetry Records website and the Astral Fish Bandcamp site.

Electric Moon — Flaming Lake

(Sulatron Records 2011, STCD-R013)

Mike Reed

Until I picked this CD to review for Aural Innovations, I hadn't even heard of this Dave Schmidt (aka Sula Bassana) side project, band, etc. Flaming Lake is a recording of a live performance that took place on July 2, 2011 at the Open Air Festival in Battenberg, Germany. As to anyone who has read my CD reviews before - I am a huge fan of live releases as such. Best described as long-winded instrumental psychedelic jams with some superb improvisation. The CD is a limited edition of just 250 copies and the Sulatron Records site indicates that the vinyl pressing edition is already sold-out.

Four lengthy tracks to soak your (already) damaged senses into - like for example the disc's opener The Cosmic Creator (17:30) is a fine instrumental work-out with awesome passages and fuzz guitar fully put to good use; and the title cut Flaming Lake (16:20) is a definite over-the-top German space rock piece that will have fans of early Hawkwind and Guru Guru surely sitting up and taking notice.

The longest running tune Lost And Found (23:43) starts off a bit similar to say, Monster Magnet (at least, I thought so) without the vocals and later had developed into like a Jimi Hendrix guitar ripping shred-fest. The finale to all this galactic bliss winds down with Burning Battenberg (18:43) which showcases Electric Moon's melodic side.

Personnel: Sula Bassana - guitar effects & electronic stullenbox, Komet Lulu - bass and Alex - drums. Prime 21st century German psychedelia to be thoroughly taken in. Highly recommended to fans of Seven That Spells, Neumeier-Genrich-Schmidt, Liquid Sound Company, Hypnos 69 and some Acid Mothers Temple numerous titles. Essential.

Visit Electric Moon on Bandcamp and the Sulatron Records website.

t2k — Remote Transmissions

(Barking Monkey Records 2011)

Pat Albertson

The name of t2k's debut album Remote Transmissions is singularly appropriate, as the band were never all in the same studio, or even the same state, when it was being recorded. Instead, sound files were passed through cyberspace between the different players who added their own parts before assembling and mixing the whole album using Protools and Logic 9 systems.

The project came about when Kevin Gerety (8-string fretless Warr guitar and fretless bass) and Kevin StClair (Roland v-drums), who had been jamming in their Connecticut basement, hooked up with Colorado-native Timmy C Pitschka (6 & 7 string guitars and piano) over the internet and started working as a trio by sharing files to create the basis for the album. The result is 70 minutes of improvised music spread across eight tracks which range from ambient soundscapes to a kind of metal-dub fusion.

With the Warr guitar being used, there is naturally going to be some Trey Gunn/latter-day King Crimson sounds in there, but also Gilmour in Echoes/Axe mode on the twelve minute 59 and even a bit of Joe Satriani on MTB Disaster. The latter track is about as close to actual metal as t2k ever get, preferring dense sonic textures over speed or attack.

Instrumentally, the fretless bass playing on 5 Star Linen and the relatively short Noctilucent really stands out, while Happy Robot features some impressive two-handed finger-tapping. However, none of it is intended to set the pulse racing and seventy minutes is probably a little too long for the amount of material here; perhaps a few of the longer tracks could have been trimmed down a little. Having said that, the enormous slow-buring drones of Walmut Manu and haunting piano and fretless bass melodies of 5 Star Linen serve as excellent bookends for what is essentially a chill-out album, music for drifting away to, rather than rocking out to.

For more information, visit t2k on Bandcamp.

Knez Rosén — Ten Handmade Pieces

(Sugarbeat It 2011, SBI 5)

Carlton Crutcher

mnaps From Sweden, Knez Rosén is Igor Knez and Hans Rosén. Knez migrated to Sweden as a 12 year old, where improvised jazz and the traces of melancholia in Swedish folk music deepened his musical tastes. As a young man in the 70's/90's Knez was a guitarist in a number of bands playing acoustic and electronic music combining jazz, rock, funk and folk music. Rosén's first musical memories are of his mother and grandmother singing folk songs, and as a teenager in the late 70's, punk rock lit a flame that still remains. From that time on Rosén has played with a number of bands with music styles from vibrant rock to afro and reggae.

MASS: Some Hans Rosén percussion and Igor Knez guitar...instrumental loveliness and oddness...slow, still and whimsical...cool guitar noises which in my book are as interesting as actual guitar "playing". BIRDS: I don't know if this is improvisation but very possibly. The guitar reminds me of the intro music to the HBO series "Deadwood"...bird noises...some nice bass playing by Hans Rosén.

You can tell these guys are very experienced on their instruments. Is it just me or are guys very into this kind of music and women could care less??! Conjures up Ry Cooder. This has to be improv, you couldn't write this stuff out!?! A LIGHT IN EVERY WINDOW: This one makes me imagine slave quarters in the 1800's! Slow soulful guitar and voice, both by Hans Rosén. Like if Robert Johnson went avant-garde!! SLOW TRAIN: Starts out a bit too 70's jazz fusion sounding for my liking! But good for what it is I reckon?!

JULY RAIN: Nice rhythm and beat...turns into a blues thing with sung blues vocals by Rosén. Some percussion...this CD is hard for me to review because it's not really experimental but it is improvisation. A lot of it is jazz rock which I've never had an interest in besides Bitches Brew. It's kinda rock musician improv, which is well done with a nice full sound but is it art? And who's keeping score? ON THE RIVER: Nice driving dreamy guitar riffage with percussion, conjures up Louisiana swamps which since these guys have probably never been in a Louisiana swamp means there must be a Swedish equivalent, maybe the Bosnian Swamp!?!

EARLY ONE MORNING: I don't really hear the punk influence these guys supposedly have except maybe their willingness to go outside the box with these songs! This one actually conjures up late 60's psych...then the odd/gruff vocals that are telling a story. I guess this is Nina Knez on the backup vocals and Hans on the lead vocal. Pretty nice track..."when I was drunk a smile came to me again". BLUE IN GREEN: Pretty acoustic guitar playing/melody...two guitars mixed together...very original folky sounding...very nice...maybe a little fern bar-ish.

TUNNELS: The slow spaced out one...again, the duelling guitars in slow motion. These guys play very well together and have complimentary styles...very still, slow....then some acoustic guitar strum explosions...then back to the stillness and plinking. I wonder if they play out live much? It's kinda jazz improv without being that original or super skilled.

IN THE BAKERY CELLAR: Some weird clanking, I thought my CD player was malfunctioning. Then the strummed acoustic guitar and weird muffled growly vocals...oh, the clanking is Hans making drum sounds. Nice song title, brings up all sorts of strange images..."I saw heads talking to Alice in Wonderland". Now some soaring electric guitar..this piece is different than the rest of the CD and could represent a whole new direction for Knez Rosén on a future release?!!?

For more info, visit the Sugarbeat It website.

Amber — Pearls of Amber

(Merlin's Nose Records 2011, MN1002)

Carlton Crutcher

Amber was the English psychedelic folk duo of Keith "Mac" MacLeod and Julian McAllister, and these are the only recordings they made in 1970/1971. MacLeod (guitar) and McAllister (vocals) had known each other since the early 60's, had met for jam sessions and traveled through the world independently of each other. MacLeod played second guitar with Donovan on his first national tour and the sitar used on this album was lent by Donovan who had been given the instrument by George Harrison.

SEA SHELL ROCK ME: I'm a 60's music fanatic. If I could get in a time machine I'd go back to 1967 and do it all twice, so getting an opportunity to review a new CD of 60's music is pretty cool and probably as close to the time machine as I'll get. The CD starts with the three tracks produced by Keith Relf, who had been the Yardbirds lead singer and supposedly quite the super freak! Recorded at Olympic Studios February 14, 1971, happy hippie music that's not commercial or ordinary but fresh and real with a production that makes it sound as if it was just recorded!..."dancing in the sun, like a child I ran back to you"...Julian McAllister doing some nice vocals. Of course you have to compare this to "The Incredible String Band" who admittedly were doing a more original and unique version of this sound. I guess that's why they're famous!!

WHITE ANGEL: reminds me of the Michael Knust stuff on Fever Tree's "Another Place, Another Time". Lotsa tabla on this one. Not sure if it's MacLeod or guest musician Ray Cooper?! As nice as these tracks are I can see why they didn't get airplay or a proper release, they're not trying to be a product, just being what they were, English hippies in 1971. SWAN IN THE EVENING: nice melody. Hey now, I could imagine this being played on English Pirate Radio!! Really tight uptempo with some nice cymbal flourishes! Consistently good vocals and lyrics thru these tracks though the sitar was probably a bit passé by 1971!?!?

SING ON THE SUNLIGHT: another beautiful slice of 1970 England. These songs are so rockin' you almost want to hear them with a full rock band!! This track begins the three songs recorded May 10, 1970 at Denmark Street. SEA SHELL ROCK ME (ALTERNATE VERSION): okay, this is an earlier version of track one! The vocals aren't recorded as clear and the track seems a bit slower, quirkier, but also a beautiful track!

EARLIE IN THE MORNING: the lyrics tell an interesting story of spending the night with "Earlie in the Morning"...funny without being goofy like a lot of 60's bands! Well, that's the last song and you just wish they had recorded about twenty more of this quality! Maybe when I get back to 1970 in the time machine I'll get that done!!

For more info, visit Merlins Nose Label Group on Bandcamp.

Mawwal — Sight Up

(Ancient Records 2011)

Carlton Crutcher

Mawwal is Jim Matus, formerly "Paranoise" and Sight Up is the third Mawwal album of progressive world fusion. Jim Matus (I wonder if he's related to Don Juan Matus?) has worked in the studio with Don Cherry and Steve Marcus and performed live with world class musicians Anthony Jackson, Percy Jones, Al Anderson, Gary Windo, and Hugh Hopper.

On to the review. BLOOM FOREST: hippie festival music done tastefully. The male vocals are done by Jim Matus and the female vocals by Jill O'Brien and Laila Salins... "much of the subject matter...was inspired by dreams". JAJOUKA BETWEEN THE MOUNTAINS: a Jethro Tull vibe on the intro of this, then becomes something more African, Peter Gabriel...the Stephen Haynes trumpet solo.

FUN DUU/VOODOO CHILE: more Tull vibeness. I love 60's and psychedelic music but the bands I've been involved with have run in a completely parallel universe to bands like Mawwal, who are psychedelic without any of the post 1977 influences of alternate rock, punk, experimental etc. I always find that a little limiting but I know a lot of Aural Innovations people don't feel that way. Nice respectful take on Jimi's Voodoo Chile. SIGHT UP/VETETTEM VIOLAT: "Man is but a god, sight up, All in heaven be blind, ears to the ground" by Jim Matus. I don't know what that means, I guess it doesn't have to mean anything, but it sounds cool. Laila Salins vocals, violin by Rohan Gregory...nice groove, very Middle Eastern. My wife loves this album, very conducive to multiple listens...original and well done in every aspect.

I MUTE THE BURNING RIVER: djembe intro by Tony Vacca. I'd love to see these guys live to see if they can get this rich and full of a sound!?!? Wish there a lyric sheet. Very dense and lovely...not a boring second. HAPPY ON YOUR FEET GO: some very inspired flute by Jay Gandhi and the two female vocals that complement one another perfectly. EARLY IN THE MORNING: more of the same, like 1974 with much better equipment and production etc...conjures up The Incredible String Band.

RAG YAMEN: tabla and guitar...bass then flute...my punk rock friends would prolly sneer at this album but they sneer at my band too so F'em...hippie doesn't have to mean retro or silly...it can also mean frightening, intense and real. Cool cover photo of the Eagle Nebula.

For more info, visit Jim Matus on Bandamp.

Zone Six — Live At Sulatron Records Label Night, Fulda, 2011

(Sulatron Records 2011, STCDR16)

Pat Albertson

Zone Six was founded in 1997 by German multi-instrumentalist Sula Bassana (aka Dave Schmidt), surely a long-serving veteran of the psychic wars (having a spacerock career dating back to the mid-1980's), and one of the busiest men in rock, with concurrent involvement in at least two other bands (Electric Moon and Weltraumstaunen), and curator of Sulatron records.

The band's original statement of intent was to play an improvised mix of psychedelic/space, trance and krautrock, something which they have held true to, despite the passage of 14 years and an almost complete change of line-up in that time (Schmidt being the sole survivor from the early days). Indeed, few of the members listed in their current Progarchives bio are still in the band. Nonetheless, they have delivered a stunning slice of instrumental spacerock which surely holds to their original vision.

The Zone Six line-up put together for what must have been a very memorable gig at the 2011 Sulatron Records Label Night employs the slightly unusual concept of having two basses, handled by Komet Lulu and Paul_Pott, respective members of Electric Moon and Vibravoid. Rainer Neef plays ripping psychedelic guitar throughout the album and Modulfix provides synth-noises, while Dave Schmidt opts for the drummer's stool this time around. Just three long tracks are featured on the resultant live recording, which stretches to seventy minutes in length.

Stoned Washed begins its 21 minute journey with menacing drones, which are gradually built up using the two basses (one distorted, the other clean) and effects-heavy guitar. The closest musical touchstones are perhaps a less-chaotic Acid Mothers Temple or heavier Spacious Mind. The even-longer Timmee (almost 34 minutes in length) goes through a number of phases according to the chemistry between the musicians, getting really wild around the twelve minute mark, and collapsing in on itself about five minutes later before re-entering the fray for another glorious freakout. The emphasis throughout is on guitars and bass, although the distorted sounds are so entwined that it can be disorienting trying to single out which instrument is playing what.

At 22 minutes, the bass/basses start grinding out what could be the middle riff of Hawkwind's Time We Left jam, with Neef's guitar lines echoing those of Dave Brock circa 1973. Set-closer Isotoxick is comparatively short at "only" 14 minutes, and is probably the most restrained, with Schmidt focusing more on cymbal crashes than pounding beats, although the basses retain their heaviness throughout. All in all, a great come-down track at the end of a really intense album.

With fantastic cover-art taking its themes from classic '60's psychedelia (via Vibravoid), this live album is a limited edition of only 100 copies, so it will not be around for long. Fans of guitar-heavy improvised spacerock need to check it out quickly before it becomes lost in space.

Check out the Zone Six website and the Zone Six Bandcamp site. For information on more Sulatron releases, go to the Sulatron website.

Guilty As Sin — Psychotronic

(G.A.S Productions 2011)

Pat Albertson

One could hardly imagine thrash-metal trio Guilty As Sin pandering to their audience or sticking to one genre. Who would have thought there would be a place for King Crimson-style Frippery and ambient keyboards on a thrash-metal album, or trumpets and eastern sounds lined up alongside hardcore punk?! Psychtronic, the U.S. band's fourth album since coming together in 2008, contains material that is likely to alternately thrill and alienate almost any listener, regardless of their musical taste.

The band consists of Zak Ovoian on drums and "vocals" (not even the most generous could refer to him as "singer"!), guitarist Dan McAdam and bassist Ryan Dilberian. Other credited contributers include a brass player, belly dancer and cigar supplier! Not your usual thrash/punk line-up, that's for sure.

Psychotronic opens with one of those ambient synth passages so beloved of spacerock bands, and it's given the self-explanatory title of Start Transmission. So far, so good one would think, until the following four tracks rip out of nowhere in the space of about one minute apiece (Into Dust, the shortest, is a scant 45 seconds in duration). They sound near-identical, although Destroyed Reptoid 1.0 does feature momentarily melodic guitar lines in between the "verses", and will be either musical heaven or hell, depending on the listener's liking of GBH-style hardcore punk or Anthrax-thrash. Those more in the market for psychedelic spacerock are best advised to skip ahead to the sixth track - Addicted To Cyanide - which, at seven minutes, is as long as all the preceding tracks combined. The change in style is almost absolute as the band morph into King Crimson/Toolesque math rock, with a hint of Rush at their proggiest.

Godekli Tede makes use of Middle-Eastern scales (perhaps necessitating the employment of the belly dancer listed on the CD cover), albeit put together in metal fashion, before substituting guitars for a muted trumpet and hand drums, in an extended coda that manages to be both ambient and pounding.

This is followed by the frantic high-speed instrumental When Machines Eat Flesh, calling to mind the progressive metal of Dream Theater and Arjen Lucassen. Album closer and title track Psychotronic lingers for twelve minutes (a third of the total album length) and consists of a spacey guitar jam referencing Hendrix's Third Stone from the Sun and showing that these guys really can play when they have a mind to. This is overlaid with the sound of a 45rpm Dalek played at 33, before winding down into a bizarre three minute electronic outro unlike anything that precedes it, eventually fading out into nothing.

Psychotronic is a game of (at least) two halves, and is therefore extremely unlikely to please anyone in its entirety. Thrash metallers will love the first few tracks, everyone else will almost certainly run a mile. Those who enjoy mixing up prog-metal and mathrock will prefer the later tracks. Unfortunately, there is not enough material of either kind in the album's 36 minutes to encourage most listeners to want to seek it out.