Aural Innovations — September 2012
Aural Innovations was a magazine and website on space rock and related genres, offering reviews, interviews, and general articles. It ran from 1998 to January 2016. The website is no longer active, and all articles are being imported into DPRP, to keep everything available for everyone. Read Aural Innovations — A Brief History, written by AI founder Jerry Kranitz.
The Machine — Calmer Than You Are
(Elektrohasch 2012, 157) 
Pat Albertson
Formed in 2007, The Machine is a three-piece psychedelic rock band from the Netherlands, featuring David Eering (guitar/vocals), Davy Boogaard (drums) and Hans van Heemst (bass). Three albums in, and an impressive number of dates (including Roadburn 2010 and 2012) on their CV, the band have released Calmer Than You Are on Electrohasch Records, with the instruction on the CD case being to "Play this one even louder". Well, one can't say that we were not warned!
Calmer Than You Are starts out with a menacing rumble on Moonward, where an "Axe, Eugene" bassline is gradually smothered by an approaching tsunami of distorted guitars. This breaks over at about the three minute mark, sweeping all before it, and leaving a backwash of guitar feedback, which morphs into a closing section of metallic mathrock. Remember, this is just one track we are talking about! Like those above named Electrohasch bands, The Machine base their sound on psychedelic power trios of the late '60's and early 1970's such as Cream, Hendrix Experience, Blue Cheer and Grand Funk, with the menace of Black Sabbath thrown in. This last element is particularly evident around the five minute mark on D.O.G., which sounds like some of the sludgiest and heaviest guitar you will hear this side of War Pigs.
At times the sound is huge and sprawling (Moonward is eight minutes, while Sphere (... Or Kneiter) clocks in at over twelve), while other tracks, such as Scooth and Grain have the discipline of stoner rock hit singles (surely an oxymoron if ever there was one). Guitarist David Eering's voice is perhaps not the strongest, but takes the same role in the band as that of Colour Haze's Stefan Koglek, firing off brief verses in between lengthy guitar-led freak outs. The aforementioned Sphere encapsulates everything the band has to offer - distorted riffs interspersed with echoplex-driven breakdowns, backed by pounding drums and bass. The track, and its follow-up 5&4 brings to mind images of Queens of the Stone playing Tool.
Three-minute album closer Repose is built on the mechanical thud that the band name implies. One should not get the impression that these are just freeform one-chord jams; the song structures are all there, hiding (at times deeply) under the layers of sound. Fans of classic stoner rock should definitely check out this album. As the press release states, "This band is well-rehearsed, this band is hot, this machine will blow you away!"
For further information, visit The Machine on Bandcamp, and the Elektrohasch webshop.
Drug-Free Youth — The Avocado Index
(Nowhere Street Music 2012, 030)
Jeff Fitzgerald
Steeped in the psychedelic, garage rock of the 60's, Greece's Drug-Free Youth turn out a lo-fi sonic throwback to a bygone era. Not actually a band, but one man known simply as George, he writes all the tracks and plays all the instruments on the album. Keyboards seem to be his forte though, as the guitar, bass and percussion all take second billing to the acid drenched Farfisa organ and vintage analog synths that dominate most of the tracks.
The opening cut, Doppelgänger Love, kicks things off in fine 13th Floor Elevators mode (although George's vocals are considerably mellower and more melodic than Roky Erickson's). But from that point on, all bets are off. Garage rock ends up being more of a springboard to Drug-Free Youth's sound as the artist throws in influences ranging from 80's underground synthpop (Tomorrow, Faces From the Past) to experimental electronic music (Thieves of Forgotten Dreams, Surveillance Alphabet).
He even delves into a bit of spacerock on the all too brief Bonus Beats and the excellent garage rock meets outer space psychedelia of ?????????. Many of the tracks (including the above mentioned experimental electronic pieces) are instrumental, as George takes us to meet A Cat (surely one with a Cheshire grin), grooves with the trippy organ pop of Pulsating Yellow Heart and takes us on a little adventure to a drugged out circus fairground on Sans Marker. Elsewhere he returns to his more pure garage rock style with tracks like The Mysteries of Life: Ms. Abigeil Doe and the really quite excellent Time, and takes a more euro psychedelic approach with the very cool Veronique.
The songs are short (most under 3-minutes). With 19 tracks clocking in at just under 40-minutes, it's a tight effort, with no time wasted. I got the feeling, however, that George could have developed some of the tracks a little bit more, such as the 53 second Bonus Beats, which was very cool but ended almost before it really got started, and the 41 second, early Floydian sounding Minature Ninjas, which could have led into a longer, moody psychedelic space trip. The overall sound is lo-fi, DIY style (George apparently recorded it in his living room), but that totally works for the kind of music he's doing, although occasionally the sound does get a bit too thin and tinny.
The Avocado Index is a pretty good album, with a few gems like Dopplegänger Love, ?????????, Veronique and Time standing out, but doesn't quite reach the heights it could due to a few tracks that aren't developed very well and some occasionally dodgy recording. Overall, though, if you're a fan of 60's psychedelic music, you will surely find plenty to enjoy on this album.
For more info, visit the Drug Free Youth Bandcamp site.
Various Artists — Psychedelic World Music
(Trail Records 2012, 013, CD)
Jerry Kranitz
In 2011 Trail Records released Tripwave: A Retrospective Collection of Russian Psychedelic Progressive Music, a collection of Russian bands that represented a stylistic gamut of the Psych and Prog map. Now they've expanded their scope with an impressive global collection of bands from Germany, UK, US, Belarus, Armenia, Russia, Italy, Belgium, and China. Of the 9 entries, 6 are previously unreleased tracks. Here's the rundown...
Cosmic Vibration are a German band who incorporate a combination influences. It's starts off with Indian influenced vocals and a world music groove, then goes into a spaced out Pink Floyd-ish instrumental, and even a brief heavier rocking Hawkwind sounding bit, and then wrapping up the song by returning to the opening world music theme but rocking out harder. This is a band I'd like to hear more from.
Triptych are from the UK and their contribution is a cool grooving brand of funk-psych infused ethnic music with a hypnotic guitar lead and keys. About halfway through there's a brief spoken word bit, followed by a more overtly Eastern influenced segment, and then returning to the opening theme. Another very cool tune from a band that rates further investigation.
The Misteriosos are an interesting choice for the US entry on this compilation. I really enjoyed their self-titled CD from 2005, which as far as I can tell was their only release and their old website is dead now. So if they're still active I can't tell. Regardless, the 9 minute The Sun from that album is included here and features cosmically trippy psychedelia with haunting female vocals and lots of instrumental workouts. Actually this track was a bit different from the rest of the Misteriosos album and only the organ hints at the 60s garage and pop-psych style that I recall having characterized many of the other songs.
Mouches A L'Orange are from Belarus and their contribution is from a live performance. The band alternate between freeform 70s styled heavy rock with a psychedelic edge and more ambient exploratory passages. The guitar dominates but there's also organ and saxophone. Pretty decent but not one of the more exciting tracks of the set, though I must say I can't recall having heard a band from Belarus before.
Deti Picasso are a Moscow based Aremenian band who play a rocking brand of Progressive Rock. The arrangements are complex yet accessible, with a good female singer and varied instrumentation. They had a track on the Tripwave compilation too.
Grey Mouse are from Russia and I liked them right from the beginning when they combined sitar (or some sitar-like sound) with a jamming guitar that reminded me of Stefan from Colour Haze. This is primarily 70s influenced hard psych rock, though Grey Mouse distinguish themselves with that cool sitar-guitar combination, and the female chanting vocals add a bewitching quality to the music.
Plootoh are an Italian band whose entry is an easy-paced instrumental with a distinctly Dave Gilmour Bluesy styled guitar. It's very peaceful and I easily floated along with the music. Not a standout of the set but probably a band I need to hear more from to get a feel for what they are about.
The Narcotic Daffodils are a Belgian band who play ethnic influenced psychedelia. This 9 minute track is another that combines sitar and electric guitar, a great pairing indeed. In this case the sitar plays a more supporting role for what is a spacey heavy psych jam. There are a number of thematic twists and turns, and in one quieter section the guitar goes from Hendrix to totally spaced out, plus we're treated to atmospheric organ and female space-whisper vocals. Very cool and another band I want to hear more from.
Finally, Zhaoze are the Chinese band, and China is another country that I don't recall hearing many space/psych/prog bands from. The music starts with a stringed instrument, which might be a guitar but sounds like something else, playing a slow melodic lead, backed by atmospheric keys. Things build up a bit and then explode into a sort of ethnic sounding Shoegaze wall of guitar sound. But the explosion doesn't last, as the band settle into a beautiful cosmic and gorgeously melodic groove. Very nice and I'd like to hear more from Zhaoze.
In summary, this is a really impressive collection of music from around the world. My only complaint is that there is NO information about any of the bands. A compilation like this should at least include website links for the bands, and, ideally, an insert with more info. That said, I have to add that between this and last year's Tripwave CD, Trail Records are releasing some of the most interesting compilations I've heard in a long time.
For more information you can visit the Trail Records Bandcamp site.
The Steve Hillage Band — Live at the Gong Family Unconvention Amsterdam 2006
(G-Wave 2012, AAGWCD002, AAGWDVD002, CD/DVD)
Jeff Fitzgerald
Steve Hillage has long been a fixture on the psych/space rock scene. At the age of 17, he fronted the band Uriel, and a year later, under the name Arzachal, they recorded their sole album, the original vinyl of which is a much sought after collector's item. While the first side showed off some competent blues based psychedelic songs, it was side two that propelled the band into space rock history with the 17-minute freak out, Metempsychosis. Picking up where Pink Floyd's Interstellar Overdrive left off, this journey into inner and outer space laid the groundwork for much space rock to come.
In 1971, Hillage formed the band Khan and released the album Space Shanty, which delved deeper into more progressive psych directions. But in 1973, Hillage returned to space rock when he joined the hippie musical collective Gong and recorded and toured with them throughout the course of their seminal Radio Gnome Invisible trilogy, again laying the groundwork for much space rock to come with classic tracks such as Master Builder, The Isle of Everywhere and A Sprinkling of Clouds (the latter of which Ozric Tentacles have said was one of the templates for the creation of their sound). It was in Gong that Hillage met his soon to be lifelong partner Miquette Giraudy, and together the two of them have continued to forge new musical directions with classic 70's psych/space albums like Fish Rising and Green to the highly influential late 70's ambient work Rainbow Dome Musick, and onwards into the 90's and beyond with their explorations of atmospheric guitar fuelled ambient techno.
In 2006, Hillage and Giraudy were invited to join the Gong Family Unconvention by reforming The Steve Hillage Band, which had not played live in 18 years. Despite the long hiatus, the resulting show was a magical journey into the space rock past, brilliantly captured on both CD and DVD in this package (a re-issue from 2010). The line-up includes Hillage and Giraudy, as well as Mike Howlett (from Steve's classic Gong days) on bass, Chris Taylor (from latter day Gong line-ups) on drums, and Basil Brooks (of both Zorch and the original Steve Hillage band) on additional synths.
Hillage seems a little bit bemused at first, as if he had just awakened to have magically found himself standing on a stage back in 1977. Fittingly, the band opens with Hello Dawn, a bouncy psych/folk rocker from the '77 album Motivation Radio. They then launch into Hillage's spacey synth rock version of the old George Harrison penned Beatles tune It's All Too Much. The band seems confident, even inspired. And then they really start to catch fire with a both spacier and heavier version of Aftaglid, originally from the Fish Rising album. With an extended, trippy delay guitar opening blasting into a heavy, eastern inspired jam with Giraudy's liquid cosmic synths bubbling around everything, this is a space rock classic, and one of the highlights of the show. No doubt pleasing fans of his early music, Hillage and company continue to explore the Fish Rising album, with a mostly mellow take on the epic Solar Musick Suite Part 1 (which nonetheless features some of Steve's most searing guitar work of the show).
It should be pointed out here that Steve Hillage is a vastly underrated guitarist, in my personal opinion. You don't ever see him appearing on any top 100 guitarists of all time lists (I'm looking at you, Rolling Stone!), but he should be. He works those frets like there's no tomorrow (including the famous glissando guitar technique developed by Daevid Allen and perfected by Hillage), but like Hendrix, he is also a master of effects pedals, blending delay, flanging, fuzz and wah wah, with ease and brilliance, into a seamlessly integrated guitar style. It is really a shame that he has not gained more recognition.
Anyway, back to show! After another dip in the Fish Rising ocean with The Salmon Song, Hillage surprises with a song never before performed live. These Uncharted Lands was the original opening cut from the mostly forgotten 1982 album For to Next. Hampered by synth driven 80's style sounds and a more new wave, less electric gypsy kind of outlook, the album is not regarded as one of Steve's classic works. But here, free of its 80's production, These Uncharted Realms shines as a beautiful, mellow trip into infinity, enabled greatly by an extended, spacey cosmic jam that wasn't part of the original studio version. A blissed out end to a great show.
The DVD of the concert is well shot, and its use of psychedelic effects, tasteful and trippy. There's also some split screen and overlay techniques used to show close ups of the musician's fingers on their instruments without losing the overall big picture of the band playing. The CD and DVD both come with different bonuses. In the case of the DVD, it's half an hour of insightful interviews with Steve and Miquette which also include some behind the scenes look at the preparations for the show. The CD includes 4 bonus tracks, all vintage live performances from the 1970's.
The beautiful Palm Trees (one of my all-time favourite Steve Hillage songs), along with Unzipping the Zype and Healing Feeling are all from a 1979 performance in Amsterdam. But the real treat here (for Gong fans, anyway), is an early live version of the Solar Musick Suite performed by Gong in London on October 6, 1974. It's quite different than the version that would ultimately turn up on Fish Rising, utilizing Gong's signature space/jazz/rock approach, with Didier Malherbe a standout, contributing lots of smouldering, squonking sax (an instrument not used on the final studio version from Fish Rising).
One of the things that struck me about listening to the 2006 performance back to back with the 1979 performances was how seamlessly they fit together. It's almost as if the years between had dissolved, and the Steve Hillage band had never gone away. Let's hope we don't have to wait another 18 years to hear from them again!
For more info, visit the Steve Hillage website and the System 7 website.
Electric Moon — Cellar Space Live Overdose
(Sulatron Records 2012, ST1203, 2-LP)
Mike Reed
My review copy was two home-made CD-R's that was apparently ripped from the 2-lp vinyl limited edition that the label Sulatron Records had pressed to a limited edition of 777 copies. I Believe that Cellar Space Live Overdose might be available as a single-disc title - but it only has one of these two live gigs that you get on this double-album. First record LP is of a live Electric Moon performance that took place on January 27, 2012 at Schlosskeller Darmstadt that has been accurately described as a ultra-cool psych gig.
First tune The Soul Feeder (23:32) completely pulls you in with its first rate brand of 21st century mind-blowing German space rock - they would make a choice co-headliner act with bands like Hawkwind, Vibravoid or Omnia Opera. A real shame that the U.S. doesn't get (m)any shows like this. The Idle Glance (22:27) faithfully follows up this platter's first cut with some more fine played electronic space rock that reminded me more in the vein of, say - Spacious Mind. If I had to choose between the two discs, I would probably say that I believe I like disc 1 a bit more.
Okay, with disc 2, the live show occurred on September 30, 2011 at the Kultur - Keller Fulda. Starts off with The Verge of Fainting (19:26) which I personally thought was sort of maybe Guru Guru-like, especially at the beginning. As the tune goes on, it manages to present itself as a nice healthy cosmic work-out. Then, the closer where all this galactic mayhem draws to a stunning finale with The Spaceman Returns (22:25) definitely has a nice sounding progressive-space rock feel and vibe to it. This is an audio space travel experience that makes for a great venture. It's every bit as much of a must-have as the Electric Moon - Flaming Lake CD that I did a review of back in March 2012 here at Aural Innovations.
For more info, visit the Electric Moon Bandcamp site, Worst Bassists Bandcamp site, and the Sulatron Records website.
Erik Norlander — The Galactic Collective Definitive Edition
(DVD/2CD, Think Tank Media 2012, TTMV-1006)
Erik Norlander — The Galactic Collective Live In Gettysburg
(DVD/2CD, Think Tank Media 2012, TTMV-1007)
Pat Albertson
Was there ever a more powerful image of the epic days of progressive rock heaven (or hell, depending on your point of view) than that of the mighty synthesizer wizard perched atop his towering keyboard castle, king of all he can see? These days, the digital components may have reduced the size of that castle to mere rampart proportions (although they are considerably bolstered here by the intimidating Moog "Wall of Doom" backline), but the sonic inventory remains, if anything, even greater. American musician Erik Norlander is one of the new breed, heirs to throne of Lords Wakeman, Emerson and their '70's cohorts.
As such, he has released not one but two DVD/2CD projects, one an updated version of his 2010 album The Galactic Collective, and the other a live gig from Gettysburg, recorded at the 2011 Rites of Spring Festival. As well as releasing solo albums, the first of which - Threshold, with linear notes written by old guardsman Keith Emerson - came out in 1997, Norlander supplies keyboards for Rocket Scientists and his wife Lana Lane's band, and both these releases include new versions of material from those projects.
Norlander's 2010 Galactive Collective was an album of re-recorded tracks from his earlier albums, played live in the studio and serving as a good overview of his career up until that point. It has now been re-released in DVD/CD format, with an extra audio CD of alternate versions. The brief and rather portentous Arrival opens the album and DVD, leading into the epic progressive metal of Neurosaur, both originally from the Threshold album. Norlander makes use of multiple keyboards, including six Moog synthesizers, and a Steinway piano, while the band provide solid backing, choral vocals courtesy of part-time Asia guitarist John Payne.
Fanfare for Absent has the same kind of Nordic thunder as Led Zeppelin's Immigrant Song, even echoing Robert Plant's vocal riff at one point, after having opened with a Steinway piano passage. This slips seamlessly into the ten minute Sky Full Of Stars, that opens with a section that sounds like Rick Wright's aching intro/outro to Shine On You Crazy Diamond before switching to instrumental power balladry for ten minutes. Mark Matthews provides a tasty fretless bass solo, while Freddy De Macarco solos away mightily on guitar, but the star of the show is always going to be Erik Norlander himself. Having said that, most of the tracks give all the musicians a chance to shine, trading riffs and solos throughout.
Astrology Prelude, from the Lana Lane album Secrets of Astrology, follows in the epic tradition of its predecessors, while Trantor Station could be the soundtrack to an unreleased sci-fi movie. The absence of vocals on The Galactic Collective means that the worst excesses of symphonic prog rock cliché are mercifully avoided, and the playing has a far greater focus on melody than any kind of flashy egotism. The twelve minute After the Revolution is based around a Steinway piano fugue for much of its length, and a chord sequence that sounds a little like Atom Heart Mother" or Saucerful of Secrets if they were to be played by Rick Wakeman and Ritchie Blackmore.
Garden of the Moon ups the tempo significantly, fading away in the mid-section before roaring back with a ripping guitar solo over Hammond B3 organ. Steinway fugue wizardry returns for Norlander's Dreamcurrents, his signature piano piece, before the lengthy The Dark Water. Like all great prog rock epics, this goes through a number of sections, taking the time to build intensity and running through a number of themes across its 20 minute length. The drumming on this track is pretty thunderous, but the guitars are reined in a little, making this more progressive rock than prog-metal.
The DVD portion of this release features interviews preceding each track, and a 22 minute featurette on the different synthesizers used on The Galactic Collective. Opening the bonus disc is a thrilling rendition of Barry Gray's Space: 1999 theme with added keyboard variations. The other three tracks are alternate versions of three tracks on The Galactic Collective - all three are fine, but add little to the versions found on the DVD and first audio disc, although the heroic conclusion of Garden Of The Moon - Long Version will surely unleash your inner-air-keyboard player.
With so much Erik Norlander on offer in the three disc Galactic Collective Definitive Edition, one might wonder at the need for The Galactic Collective Live In Gettysburg to be released at the same time. Indeed the difference in track listing between the two albums is relatively minimal, although Gettysburg does include the vocal tracks Capture the Sun, Secrets of Astrology and the multi-part Sunset Suite, all of which are performed by Norlander's wife Lana Lane.
Lest anyone fear any Linda McCartney married-to-the-band-leader self-indulgence, it can happily be reported that Lana (who has an impressive 22 albums released under her own name) has an excellent voice, well-suited to the epic material written by her husband.
The playing by Norlander and his band is superb on both releases, with the live in the studio version having possibly a slight production edge, while the onstage version captures the excitement of a live performance (including stage banter, and an homage to Bob Moog preceding Absent Friends).
Only the most hardcore fans would want to shell out for both, but neither they nor newcomers will be in any way disappointed with the musical content. Any fan of classic prog-rock keyboard playing will love the way that Erik Norlander has updated the genre for the modern age, making at least one or other of these albums an essential purchase.
For more information go to the Erik Norlander website>, Erik Norlander on Bandcamp, and visit the Lana Lane website. A huge Moog affectionado, Erik Norlander also invites fans to visit the Moog Foundation website.
Permanent Clear Light — Higher Than The Sun Afterwards
(Regal Crabomophone 2012, winkle 7, 7" vinyl)
Jerry Kranitz
Finnish trio Permanent Clear Light formed in 2009 and have already made several contributions to Fruits de Mer releases. Now they've got a new 2-song single on FDM's Regal Crabomophone sub-label, with one original song and a cover.
Higher Than The Sun is the original and starts off with acoustic guitar, orchestration and spaced out alien affects. It's a lovely pastoral folk-psych song with orchestral embellishment, a killer melodically ripping guitar solo, beautiful vocals singing of all things outside the Earth's atmosphere, all surrounded by effects that sound like something from a Louis and Bebe Barron soundtrack. Sweeeeeet.
One of the things I love about Fruits de Mer cover songs is the completely OFF the beaten path choices the bands make. Permanent Clear Light take on Afterwards, the first track on the first Van der Graaf Generator album - The Aerosol Grey Machine - released in 1969. Though the phased organ on the original gives the song a slightly psychedelic edge, Permanent Clear Light inject mucho Kosmiche elements into their rendition, giving the music a mind-bending quality that takes it into a lusciously spaced out direction. I've been a VDGG fans for decades so this one resonated with me.
The single will be available mid-October and is limited to 800 copies, and as usual this is vinyl ONLY, no CDs or downloads. If interested you better hurry because Fruits de Mer releases sell out QUICK! Oh, and it's got a 3D cover and comes with 3D glasses. How's that for nifty labor-of-love packaging?
For more information, visit the Fruits de Mer Records website.
The Chemistry Set — 3-song single
(Regal Crabomophone 2012, winkle 8, 7" vinyl)
Jerry Kranitz
UK based The Chemistry Set were active in the 1980s, having released cassette albums on the Acid Tapes label and receiving airplay from the late great John Peel. Then in 1991 the band went on what would become a 17 year hiatus until reforming in 2008. I've yet to hear any of their music from the 80s, but I have heard their 2010 Fruits de Mer single, which featured an excellent tripped out psych song and a cool cover of the Stones' We Luv You.
And now Fruits de Mer (on their Regal Crabomophone sub-label) have a new 3-song single by The Chemistry Set, consisting of two originals and a cover of Hallucinations, originally recorded by Tomorrow. Ya gotta love the title of the opening song, Come Kiss Me Vibrate And Smile. It's a fast-paced and catchy psych rocker with old time 60s organ, fuzz guitar, and cool effects. But the Chems really go into space on Time To Breathe. It starts off sounding like Porpupine Tree circa The Sky Moves Sideways, though this 6 minute song gradually morphs into a slightly different direction. The vocals are beautiful and the guitar licks - the star of the show for me - are seductively spaced out. This is an accessible pop song that takes the time to develop and explore.
Rounding out the set is a cover of the 1968 song Hallucinations by Tomorrow, who for those of you not in the know included Twink and Prog guitar god Steve Howe in their ranks. The Chemistry Set are pretty much faithful to the original but have a much fuller sound, probably due to modern production capabilities, and we get a brief ripping guitar solo that Howe apparently didn't feel inspired to crank out on the original.
The single will be available mid-October and is limited to 800 copies, and as usual this is vinyl ONLY, no CDs or downloads. If interested you better hurry because Fruits de Mer releases sell out QUICK!
For more information, visit the Fruits de Mer Records website.
Anton Barbeau — 3-song single
(Fruits de Mer Records 2012, Crustacean 32, 7" vinyl)
Jerry Kranitz
When I received this promo I thought Anton Barbeau's name sounded familiar. I checked the Aural Innovations index and saw that one of my writers reviewed the Sacramento based singer-songwriter's 2006 In The Village of the Apple Sun album some years ago, making analogies with Robyn Hitchcock and Julian Cope, which is interesting because Barbeau covers songs by both those artists on his first Fruits de Mer release. So I went back and gave a listen to In The Village of the Apple Sun, rolling my eyes at the thought of yet another talent that had flown too far under my radar (it tends to happen when I get promos that others end up covering).
Wow, what a killer set of well-crafted, produced and arranged psychedelic songs! And that's just this one album; the guy has a discography of nearly 20 albums dating back to 1993. Furthermore, I see in the promo sheet that accompanies the FDM single that Barbeau is currently playing around the UK in a trio called Three Minute Tease, consisting of himself, Andy Metcalfe and Morris Windsor from Robyn Hitchcock's Soft Boys/Egyptians.
Ok, so, this new FDM single: Psychedelic Mynde Of Moses is a previously unreleased version of an existing Anton Barbeau song. I've not heard the original, but this is a nice catchy psych song, and even if I didn't read it in the promo sheet I'd have known the guitar solos were by Nick "Bevis Frond" Saloman. The first of two covers is Barbeau's interpretation of Robyn Hitchock's Sometimes I Wish I Was A Pretty Girl, a wild ride of a rocker, with a combination of intensity and whimsy that I enjoyed, and some pretty crazy lyrics. Finally, we've got a pop-psych-punk-spacerock cover of Julian Cope's Out Of My Mind On Dope And Speed, with frantic tribal drumming and freaked out electronics. This is the hands down highlight of the set for me.
The single will be available mid-October and is limited to 800 copies, and as usual this is vinyl ONLY, no CDs or downloads. If interested you better hurry because Fruits de Mer releases sell out QUICK!
For more information, visit the Fruits de Mer Records website.
The Linus Pauling Quartet — Bag Of Hammers
(Homeskool Records 2012)
Jerry Kranitz
Bag Of Hammers is the first full length Linus Pauling Quartet album since 2007's All Things Are Light and picks up where that album left off, being a 41 minute ultra-heavy blast of stoned psychedelic metal and rock 'n roll. In fact, this is one of the most STONED albums I've heard all year, and while I'll bet most reviewers will call it Stoner Rock, I hesitate to tag the music as such. I love psychedelically inclined Stoner Rock but have been frustrated by how generic it's become. I mean, all the bands seem to sound the same for chrissakes. Not LP4.
Despite the Quartet of their name, there are five members, three of which are guitarists, and the entire set is a rocking guitar assault with mega-riffage, lots of jam bits and solos. Bag Of Hammers is a heavy ROCK album that brings together 70s styled hard rock, Metal and good old rock 'n roll, and gives it all a solid Psychedelic infusion. No need to do my usual analysis of individual tracks, except I'll say that the nearly 9 minute stoned, spaced out, Hendrix-like Stonebringer is my favorite of the set, and Victory Gin has a psychy 60s rock 'n roll vibe while still sticking to the heavy stoned theme of the album.
All the tracks, though including lots of jamming, are structured songs, and the band have really got it together throughout. That said, I do miss the more freeform improvisational side of LP4. But that's a just a wishlist for the future. Bag Of Hammers will easily make my best of 2012 list.
In summary, note the cover art... a Red Sonja figure with a hammer twice her size standing on a skull strewn hill. Listen to this album and YOU will be one of those skulls.
For more information you can visit the Linus Pauling Quartet website and the Linus Pauling Quarter Bandcamp site.
The Linus Pauling Quartet — Horns Of Ammon
(Homeskool Rekords 2010)
Jerry Kranitz
Released in 2010 but recorded in the years prior to 2007's All Things Are Light, Horns Of Ammon is a 7 track, 36 minute set that highlights the somewhat lighter side of LP4. Now when I say "lighter", I should emphasize that I'm writing about this CD immediately after having been immersed in the decidedly NOT-light new Bag Of Hammers (see review above), so this is pure brain massage compared to that album.
The set opens with the folky rocking Lost It All. I like the combination of acoustic and electric guitars, including a tasteful acidic lead, and the organ is a nice touch too. Nowhere demonstrates how LP4 can do a cool grooving song, yet still inject it with plenty of acid rocking heaviness. Fans of the Bevis Frond's acid-minstrel tunes will dig this one. The aptly-titled Monster is similar, but with an acid-damaged garage rocking vibe.
Porno In the Sink is a fun rocking party tune, except I'll spare you what I could guess the song is about. Concubine is part acid-folk song and part fun grooving rocker similar to Porno In The Sink, and includes tasty wah-bending guitar solos. I've Been Down is the most laid back song of the set, consisting of a dreamy, sorta country-psych flavor, and we're treated to still more tasteful melodic psych guitar solos. Finally, the nearly 11 minute HAWG!!! serves up a fun discourse on stoned psychedelic Blues.
I've been following LP4 for years and one of the things that keeps them so interesting is the varied ground they cover. In fact, I think both Horns Of Ammon and the new Bag Of Hammers together might be a good introduction to what the band are about for newcomers.
For more information you can visit the Linus Pauling Quartet website and the Linus Pauling Quarter Bandcamp site.
Vali Ohm — 3000 Light Years
(Vali Ohm 2012, self-released)
Pat Albertson
Vali Ohm is the work of super-Hawkfan Danny Jackson, who has written the bulk of 3000 Light Years, supplied most of the vocals and played most of the instruments. Amongst the guest musicians is one Nik Turner, who even gets his own "featuring ..." name check on the cover, perhaps rather cheekily, as he only appears on one track. The opportunity to record with the legendary former Hawk must have been like a dream come true for Jackson, who goes on to list his other inspirations as Ozric Tentacles and Frank Zappa, as well as '70's rock titans Bowie, The Who, Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd.
The album artwork looks pretty good, and the names of the tracks - Space Machine, Interstellar City and the title track - tick all the right boxes, but unfortunately the music itself never really manages to deliver. Opener Jazz Up the Spacerock fails to ignite and Club Outer Stratosphere is unlikely to get many people on the floor with tinny sound and thin vocals exhorting everybody to move and get in the groove at the titular nightclub.
Having said that, 3000 Light Years does have its bright moments, most significantly on the title track, which features the much-anticipated spoken word vocal of Nik, and sounds a little like the stuff he was doing on the Space Ritual Otherworld album, as well as some nice acoustic guitar playing in the introduction, and a competent guitar solo. Jackson's guitar playing also gets a chance to shine on album closer Home, and to a lesser extent on Space Machine.
Perhaps one of the biggest hurdles for Vali Ohm is the lack of any kind of driving rhythm - there is very little bass in evidence, and the drum machines sound tired and thin. Jackson's main strength appears to be at the keyboard, and early 1970's Hawkwind synthesizer swoops abound throughout the album, particularly on Interstellar City. The brief, ambient track The Encounter works better than most, and Life Force 1 opens in similar style, before breaking into a jammy section that conjures up images of Secret Saucer playing a cover of Tim Blake's Lighthouse.
As a homemade labour of love, 3000 Light Years is indeed light years ahead of anything I could manage to put together, but suffers from a lack of substance and perhaps collaboration. Were Danny Jackson to lend his guitar and keyboard skills to a live rhythm section and more powerful vocalist, he would likely come up with something to match his spacerock aspirations.
No website or Bandcamp site, but there is some music on the Vali Ohm SoundCloud site.
Poseidotica — Cronicas Del Futuro
(Aquatalan Records 2011, AQR 005-2011)
Pat Albertson
In 2008, Argentinian progressive metal/fusion band Poseidotica delivered their second album, La Distancia (reviewed for Aural Innovations #40), which proved to be one of the most musically thrilling releases of that year. Epic album closer Las Magnitudes in particular featured passages of such beauty and power that would melt the heart of even the most jaded listener Now they are back with Cronicas Del Futuro, released on the tenth anniversary of the band's formation in Buenos Aires. The big question is, can it live up to the awesome legacy of their previous album?
The first thing that hits you about Cronicas Del Futuro is the fantastic gatefold and die-cut packaging, worthy of such classic 1970's album covers as In Search Of Space or Tales from Topographic Oceans. Designed as the dashboard and windscreen of some alien space vehicle, the cover features a number of interchangable cards that enable the listener to set the controls for a number of terrifying destinations, with the journey starting before the first note on the CD is even played.
Anyone tossing up whether to buy Cronicas as a CD or download would do well to go for the actual disc, as the cover alone is worth the financial outlay. Perhaps that is just as well, given that the musical content clocks in at under 30 minutes, rather stingy in an age when discs can accomodate 80 minutes of music. There are no 15 minute epics this time around, with opening track Elevacion being the only one that exceeds five minutes. Surprisingly for a twin guitar band, the album opens with an eastern vaguely Tangerine Dream-esque synth pattern (courtesy of guest keyboardist Ernesto Romeo) that quickly gives way to classic rock guitar and bass riffing. The playing is highly melodic and uniformly excellent across the entire album, without once resorting to undesired and egotistical displays of guitar heroics.
La Resistencia and Los Extranos give the band opportunity to rock out like an instrumental fusion of Rush and Dream Theater, while the breakdown in Dimension Vulcano and the fragile acoustic picking of Confines Del Caos show that the musicians know when to leave spaces in the void. Otra Fuga Incierta has some classy and intricate bass playing, while the self-explanatory Cyberpunk crams GBH intensity into its 71 seconds. The two minute Alunizar provides a suitable comedown experience to close the album.
Perhaps the best musicial touchstone for Poseidotica is Rush's 1978 classic La Villa Strangiato, although unlike the subtitle of that track, Cronicas Del Futuro is anything but an exercise in self-indulgence. The absence of an epic grand finale means that the heights of La Distancia have not quite been scaled this time around, but Cronicas Del Futuro remains an essential progressive metal purchase for 2012.
For more info, visit the Poseidotica Bandcamp site.
Ax Genrich and Band — Fretboard Jungle
(Self-Released 2012, CD, Nasoni Records 2012, LP)
Jerry Kranitz
Fretboard Jungle is the new album by founding Guru Guru guitarist/vocalist Ax Genrich and his current band, which consists of Steff Bollack on drums and Mario Fadani on bass.
The album opens with the title track, which is a strange and fun combination of whimsical rock song and psychedelic space jam. Kosmic Phartz is a remake of Kosmische Phyrze, a track from Ax's 1976 Heidelberg album. This 12+ minute instrumental starts off like the psychedelic soundtrack to a Sergio Leone film, later morphing into a jam that's reminiscent of an early Guru Guru guitar/bass/drum excursion. It's slow paced and has a freeform feel with cool spacey effects, tripping along for a while until returning to the opening theme, which conjures up images of Clint Eastwood and Lee Van Cleef facing off against a kaleidoscope lightshow backdrop.
Like the title track, Sad Song has a playful feel but also a heavy psych rocking edge with lots of bubbly and wah'd melodic tripped out guitar soloing. The song, which Ax announces is "dedicated to all losers and misfits around the world", has a wild country-pop acid-psych feel, yet Ax also fits in lots of guitar effects. Amber Suite is another combination of song and sonic exploration, starting off as an easy-paced song and later taking off into an adventures-in-sound space-psych-jazz-rock improvisation. Death Is For Dying is characterized by a dark, moody vibe from the bass and drums, which lay the foundation over which Ax creates quietly intricate guitar patterns and spacey soundscapes and effects. All three musicians direct the emotional flow of the music as this mesmerizing piece progresses.
Most of the tracks are in the 8 minute and longer range, though there are two shorter songs. Outlook Pretoria is a fun swinging dance number. And Samantha's Rabbit is a re-recording of a song originally released on the 1973 self-titled Guru Guru album. Finally, the album closes with the nearly 14 minute Voodoo Touch/Dalai Llama, a live concert recording from 2011. The band take off on a jazz-rock jam, and I like the subtly tasteful guitar solos and intermittent ethereal vocals bits. Then they launch into Next Time See You At The Dalai Lhama, the classic STONED jam from Guru Guru's 1970 UFO album.
In summary, there's plenty for fans of early Guru Guru to enjoy on Fretboard Jungle, but 40 years after those seminal albums were released, Ax continues to experiment and try new ideas. There's a lot of creativity and music that steps outside the box on this album but it's easily missed unless listened to very closely. We've got songs, spaced out psychedelic jams, and stylistic variety that is difficult to describe, usually all happening at the same time. I think this album will get mixed opinions from different listeners, but I like the variety and the way Ax and his band have skillfully arranged it all, because when it comes to pioneering musicians from the 60s and early 70s that are still active I always like to hear them explore new directions rather than just appealing to long-time fans who want to hear the same kind of music they created years ago. The classic space/psych sounds are here, but Ax and band put a fresh spin on it all.
Not this album but many others are available on the Ax Genrich Bandcamp site. The vinyl edition is available in a run of 400 black and 100 colored from the Nasoni Records website.