BRAINTICKET

Brainticket's Voyage, like Adventure before it, sounds like an extended jam session edited to album length, and it probably is one - Krautrock being a scene fond of such albums. This approach had fallen out of favour by the 1980s, but as far as releases in the format go this one is actually pretty good, Brainticket managing to evoke a range of moods from spacey synth- dominated sections to disorienting percussive workouts with natural transitions from one to the next and the album never bogging down in aimless noodling. Not quite as confrontational and far out as Cottonwoodhill, it's a more contemplative listen which teases out another side of the group.

BRAINTICKET are considered primo, brain-frying Krautrock pioneers coming from, of all places, Switzerland. Indeed, the debut album, 'Cottonwood Hill', is a freaked-out piece of relentless Psychedelia that needs to be heard to be believed, with their 2nd album 'Psychonaut' being an improvement (or a down-step, depending on your POV) - more refined and focussed. Moving on, 'Live In Rome '73' was taken from a gig based on their 3rd album, 'Celestial Ocean', and, what we have here may be a memorable gig for sure, but the sound quality is that of a half-decent audience recorded bootleg, which tends to marr the overall enjoyment for many (myself included), but it is always a welcome listen just to hear such an obscure band in a live environment. The line-up consists of main-man Joel Vandroogenbroeck (keys, vocals, flute, sitar), Barney Palm (drums, perc. vocals, effects) and Carole Muriel (vocals, synth, zither), and, despite lacking the bottom-end 'oomph' of a bass guitar, they put on quite a good show. Highly experimental in nature, we are treated to many spacey jams and improvised segments (Intro, Jams 1, 2 and 3, Era of Technology) along with some of their more impressive and arranged tracks - Egyptian Kings is a fantastic highlight here with a great, main riff driven by synth, Muriel's ooh's and aah's and kozmik ramblings and a mighty Hammond solo from J.V. The two longer pieces - Jardins/Rainbow, and also To Another Universe/The Space Between showing off a more typically Krautrock inclination - highly acoustic parts with Palm's creative and inspired hand-percussion, uncredited guitar (?) and more of Muriel's narratives, blending into synthesised experiments and mesmerising drones powerful enough to drag the listener into their universe. Indeed, this recording is no starting place for the uninitiated, but those familiar with this highly interesting band may appreciate an all-too-rare live document, which happened to be made commercially available, even as a gatefold LP with a different cover-art. 3 stars.

The Krautrock album I've heard that makes the most arduous attempt to play it safe and check off whatever boxes it needs to. On the surface, that sounds like an okay attempt of getting into the genre, but once you've heard other (and better) albums and bands from around the same period, PSYCHONAUT is destined to get lost in the shuffle.

The jamming isn't bad (particularly the last track which reminds me of the German jazz outfit, Out of Focus), but bands like CAN or Neu could make elongated, repetitive jams work. ''Radagacuca'' takes a good long time to build with the payoff not as rewarding as it should be. The jamming here is pretty mundane and menial; I'm half asleep by the time the jam is over.

Whatever else the band tries sounds like an inferior version of Amon Duul II, ''One Fine Morning'' excluded. That arena of accessible Krautrock was about perfect on an ADII album called WOLF CITY; what we have on PSYCHONAUT is more or less watered-down and humdrum (despite this album predating the ADII one). The vocals are excruciatingly horrendous with absolutely no emotional investment in the delivery.

PSYCHONAUT is comparable to Greenslade's debut; has as many of the traits of its genre but watered-down and nonexciting. Only for diehard Krautrock fans.

I knew nothing about this Swiss band when I borrowed this CD (available in Helsinki area) featuring their first and second albums. The leaflet had absolutely no info at all, just the original album covers. The music, as I learned by listening, is trippy, psychedelic, organ-led Krautrock with some female vocals. The debut is said to be one of the trippiest albums ever. Yeah, surely there's truth in it. It appeared to me a bit too unfocused and unstructured to really stand repeated listenings. The 13-minute final track goes pretty wild with the female voice - not singing but speaking and gradually being excited to orgastic frenzy. But overall the track is too long. The album has its intriguing moments but somehow fails to make a strong impression musically.

The follower is much better. Less trippy, more focused and also calmer and more delicate. Organ is still strongly present but also flute comes out nicely, and if I remember correctly (I haven't yet memorized the music well), many tracks have an acoustic atmosphere. The absence of information is regrettable especially with an unknown and obscure band like this, but the inclusion of two complete albums in a single disc is always a good thing. Definitely worth checking out for friends of psychedelic, vocal-included Krautrock.

Producing the kind of freaked-out sounds that makes most other psychedelia seem tame and mundane in comparison, European outfit Brainticket are often bracketed under the far-reaching 'krautrock' banner, though truth be told any categorisation is missing the point. Led by Belgian flautist Joel Vandroogenbroeck and featuring members from Germany, Switzerland and Austria, Brainticket's debut 'Cottonwoodhill' was issued on the Germany Bellaphon label(home to the likes of Nektar) in 1971, encompassing a multi-coloured mixture of disparate elements ranging from ethnic folk, raga-rock, experimental sound collages, warped jazz, metallic fuzz-pop and retro-electronica. It's a decidedly mixed bag of tricks, yet a surprisingly potent one too featuring a wonderfully distinct sound that takes several listens to truly appreciate, yet appreciate you will once you have adjusted your ears to the jerky rhythms, cosmic effects and warped soundscapes that make up this singular slice of hardcore European psychedelic eclecto-rock. The trick seems to be simply a case of throwing virtually every musical idea in the pot and seeing what happens, with brazen, feedback-drenched proto-punk passages('Black Sand') melded somewhat skilfully onto grazing rock riffs('Brainticket Part 1') and occasional moments of celestial calm'(Brainticket Part 3'), only with tabla's, sitars, anaogue synths, exotic percussion, demented guitar solo's and odd, moaning vocals(if you can call them that) thrown in for extra brain-frying effect. Imagine bedroom alien-rock architects Chrome jamming with freak-folk exponents Comus whilst Kraftwerk are having an epileptic fit in the corner, and you may just get an idea of what Brainticket are about. One of those albums(and groups) that needs to be heard to (dis)believed, it doesn't get more adventurous or bizarre than this.

STEFAN TURNER, STOKE NEWINGTON, 2012

Brainticket followed up their insanely trippy debut album, Cottonwoodhill, with this one, which remains firmly in psych-prog territory but is somewhat more approachable. Whilst it isn't quite as extreme as the previous album - there's less orgasmic screaming and no half-hour hypnotic rhythmic freakout - the consequence of this is that the album seems a bit more forgettable, the band conceding a little too much of their identity in their sidestep towards the mainstream. Some of the flute work on Coc'O Mary, the final track, is reminiscent of early Jethro Tull, for example, and for most of the album the band seems to put forward a tamer, safer, and ultimately less interesting vision of psychedelia than on their frenzied first album. It's good psych, but it's not freaky enough to be really good hard psych and not gentle or beautiful enough to be a great example of the softer side of psychedelia; as a consequence, it's an uncomfortable compromise which does what it does perfectly competently but excels at nothing.

Taking the idea of the psychedelic freakout album to its logical extreme, the debut album by Brainticket distinguishes itself from the competition through its sheer uncompromising devotion to being as bizarre as possible. To the reverbed vocals on opener Black Sand to the trancelike rhythms and orgasmic muttering of the epic title track, the band takes all the most extreme ideas from the psychedelic and krautrock scenes as they existed at the time, mashed them together, cranked all the dials to 11 and played like crazy. The result is an album which you probably won't want to return to very often, but which will certainly stay with you and is well worth a listen for anyone interested in the freaky end of psychedelia.

Let me start this review by saying that I'm a big fan of psychedelic music and loops. I like it when music goes into a trance kind of loop and the musicians plays solos or weird sounding stuff in it. So it's with no surprise that bands like Stereolab and music like Krautrock are personal favorite music/band of mine ;)

So, wile spending a lot of time searching Progarchives for new musical discovery, and making a lot, I found the CD that had both "Cottonwoodhill" and "Psychonaut" on one disc at the big library where I live! I didn't know nothing about them other that they where classified in the Krautrock cathegory in the library computer. I rented it and... Wow, what a discovery! I never tought that I would ear something as psychadelic, and even more, as "Piper at the Gates of Dawn" by Pink Floyd or "Their Satanic Majesty Request" by the Rolling Stone. This album has psychedelia written all over it, so if you don't mind, or like, loops and psychadelic music, your in for a treat!

The first song, Black Sand, start the album with an incredibly addictive loud organ loop that will be the main theme trough the album. That song and especially the second one, Place of Light, are the, slightly, less psychadelic songs of the album, witch help getting in the mood for the complete psychedelic trip that is Brainticket, Brainticket (part one conclusion) and Brainticket (part two). With the 3 last song on the album, the main organ riff play over and over, and on top of that, you got some of the weirdest lyrics ever, more spoken than sing, by Dawn Muir, all for the good of Psychedelic and Krautrock music.

"Cottonwoodhill" is not a album that I would recommend to everybody, but if you like to be challenge, and/or surprise musically, this is an album to get, you might like it as I did.

I give this album between 4 to 4,5 Stars, excellent addition to any prog rock music collection.

Retaining only the drummer and vocalist from the previous album, Joel Vandroogenbroeck steers his Brainticket project into entirely different directions again for this third album. Two years have past since 'Psychonaut' and the 60's adoration has been tuned down in favor of a more experimental and electronic sound.

'Egyptian Kings' is a solid opener, immediately recognizable as a Brainticket track, with it propulsive organ-driven rhythm, whispered vocals and hazy atmosphere, much more relaxed and mature then previous work. Two short tracks follow with an ethnic flavor, putting the sitar upfront in the mix. 'Era of Technology' starts with lots of percussion and 'sampled' talking vocals, it almost seems to return to the stoned drone of the debut, but it's much more concise and gives way to a very contrasting end section with Wyatt-alike vocals.

Every other song seems to bring new ideas, and also 'To Another Universe/The Space Between' keeps the album fresh and surprising. It's an electronic piece a bit in the vein of what Cluster and Kraftwerk were doing in the same year. The ethnic accent returns on 'Cosmic Wind', offering a very reflective and dreamy vibe. It flows beautifully into 'Visions', where the piano takes over and changes the melancholic mood to subtle major keys.

Brainticket offer a new trip with every new album. I'd say this one is the best and most consistent, slightly preferred to the preceding 'Psychonaut'.

After the wild trip that was 'Cottonwoodhill' Brainticket basically dissolved, but keyboard player Joel Vandroogenbroeck gathered an entirely different line-up around him, settling for a more song-oriented approach for the second album. I find it quite an improvement actually.

The album is very short but it doesn't waste a minute, much unlike the out-there extravaganza of the first album. One thing remained the same and that's Joel's fascination for 60's psychedelicca, many of the songs recall either the Beatles, the Stones, Pink Floyd or 60's acid folk acts. It always comes with a prominent role for the vocals, flutes, organ and percussive drumming. The songs are very diverse and generally excellent, only 'Like A Place in the Sun' features - just like it's title - a couple of cheesy vocals, the instrumental part is fun though.

The band is placed under Kraut but this album is far more accessible then the average Kraut album. There's a certain weirdness to it, but hailing from 1972, this is a fairly tame and accessible acid rock with catchy songs and melodic instrumentation. 3.5 stars.