SPACEFOLDS 8

Spacefolds 8 from veteran US band Quarkspace is a release of a kind that most people will either love or hate, and many will probably end up in the latter group.

Instrumental improvisational space jam rock is the name of the game, a type of music not know to run rampant on the Billboard charts. In this case we're talking jams of the less accessible kind too, with mostly slow evolvement, heavy on the disharmonic layers and with a high degree of psychedelia. Interesting enough the piano is a dominant instrument on the first two jams, adding at times blues flavoured and at other times jazz and classical tinges to the soundscape, but for the rest of the album synths tend to dominate quite a bit. A solid bass line is the foundation for most tracks, and melodic guitar licks or heavily distorted drawn out guitar sounds spice the soundscape - and take over in some instances.

This is a release for fans of the band and fans of the genre; in particular I'd think that those enjoying altered states of mind will find these jams intriguing.

It took a long time - six years - to produce a new sample. The Spacefolds series must be something like a playground for the band members I assume. At least for this example it sounds like designed for having fun at the weekend during several sessions with no pre-defined song structures/compositions - some experiments included and not knowing what results finally. Despite the fact they are making music which is not accessible for a huge audience regularly this is still more special and interesting only for die-hard band and space rock genre fans.

They once more define the emphasis on an ambient chilling mood with a lot of synthesizer soundscapes in the background. Good and mediocre recordings are alternating - totally instrumental again. Compared to the regular album releases some songs sound near to aimless noodling to me. The first two tracks starting with My Starship Has Mudflaps are provided with a nice piano work which serves a slight jazzy touch and a curious drum playing sounding like reduced on cymbals - probably with an electronic origin. But the flow of the songs is not very inspiring though.

Shifting Dervish on the other hand has a great meandering behaviour and a melancholic basis. Chet Santia's bass is present here excellently - dominant in the same way as on the other tunes. The two Far Gathering parts are ambivalent whereas the shorter nicely floating second part appeals better to me. The grooving Flight of the Architect also belongs to the convincing range of the songs - more in the vein of Oresund Space Collective provided with an electrical potential headed by a distorted echoed guitar style.

Who is newly interested to explore the band's cosmic music should not start here by all means. Don't want to be misunderstood - 'Spacefolds 8' is not a bad one - only a more decent QUARKSPACE output. Better efforts are waiting for you for sure - ' the previous flawless 'Spacefolds 7' for example or the regular studio albums - 2.5 stars.