PSYCHEDELIC/SPACE ROCK

The lastest album by the Finnish masters of instrumental Space Rock is bursting with energy, and the cover art indeed suits the music very well. The opener 'Ad Astra' starts with a massive- sounding intro riff and continues in the familiar OZRIC TENTACLES -reminding trippy heights. Their sound is however harder rocking than Ozrics, with a stronger rhythm section and louder guitars. The momentarily calmer part somewhere around the sixth minute comes very handy in order to make the music feel less monotonous speeding ahead in one determined direction.

'Cycloops' is similarily mostly in high tempo with some brief slow-downs. As if the intergalactic bus is changing its passengers along the way. I continue this image of mine for the final minutes: "This is your captain speaking. There's an asteroid rain ahead and we have to use an extra protection shield." Or maybe that's not so fitting image after all, since there's no majestic arrival in the end.

It's quite strange to see a Space Rock piece titled as 'Badding', which is the nickname of a bygone popular singer (mainly of the seventies, but his certain worn-out hits are still heavily played in the radio... You guess it, I really don't like Rauli "Badding" Somerjoki!). I fail to see a logical connection in the music. Anyway, this longest track (12:20) starts promisingly with jazzy flavours of electric piano and vibes / xylosynth. Also the bright guitar sound can be spotted at first, but later on the soundwall gets thicker. The vibes - or whatever - remain there nicely. In the halfway there's again a calmer moment, this time slightly longer and with delicate New Age -synths, but the return to the HAWKWIND-reminding normal (fast) speed nearly becomes monotonous by now.

Equally fast piece 'Endymion' (5:55 - the shortest one) has bitingly riffing guitars and the hectic, bubbling trippiness in the OZRIC style. 'Seirenes' (11:15) continues the album's overall mood without notable changes, that is, hectic, trippy and rather thick soundwall, with those familiar slower moments along the way.

I haven't yet listened to the whole HIDRIA output in order to evaluate Astronautica against it, but I have a feeling that in the earlier years there were more fresh and jazzy details in the playing. For example the flute is sadly missing here altogether. This album offers A class Space Rock on an international scale and is technically very solid, but maybe the sidesteps away from the usual formula are too scarce on the long run. Wider differences between tracks would give the album that final big enjoyment. I believe this won't become my favourite album by this band, but it's worth recommending nevertheless.

Even if this one was issued in Italy, ''Science & violence'' is totally sung in French by Carre and recalls the early roots of PINK FLOYD as well as some of the best French Prog bands of the 70's.The material is pretty original, combining the psychedelic influences with theatrical lyrics, rockin' grooves and some soaring keyboards in a charming package.Some of its parts resemble to PULSAR with spacey synthesizers, crying guitars and French narration, others are more raw and outdated with scratching electric riffs meeting lyrical acoustic textures.But there are also some evident ANGE hints in the album, the material of the flipside sounds like if pre-72' ANGE existed, characterized by soft electric moves and over-the-top singing lines, surrounded by mellow keyboard themes, building a slight psychedelic atmosphere, which will eventually explode into lovely, melodic soloing with a discreet symphonic base.There are also sporadic, harder runs with the guitars in evidence and an electrified atmosphere.

Marchal apparently prepared himself for a sophomore release, which was never issued, but a couple of tracks made it to the album's 97' reissue on Cosmorecord with irritating titles like ''Les Nazis font des betises''.The style has nothing to do with the sound on ''Science & violence'', this is Synth/New Wave music with synthetic beats and colorless vocals, extremerly monotonous and boring.

Ladich continued his career as a member of Janus, but Carre died prematurely in a motorcycle accident in 1994, in which Marchal was also involved.

Genuine Progressive Rock, mainly composed by the talented man named Jack Marchal.Quite close to a more energetic PULSAR with strong psychedelic and light symphonic underlines.Pretty rare yet warmly recommended stuff.

It is not a secret that I love Pink Floyd, that since I knew the progressive rock genre, I adopted them as my favourite band, and I've loved them ever since I discovered them. But my experience with the Barrett era came at least one year after I first listened to The Wall or Darkside, so it was a new concept to me, a psychedelic, crazier and more acid sound, which I will not lie, is not my favourite Pink Floyd phase, though I also like it a lot.

"See Emily Play" is a wonderful composition that remains in everyone's mind, this is like a hymn, like a precious piece of art for the devoted fans, and thought some might say its quality is way lower than songs such as "Echoes" or "Dogs", this piece has its own charm. A 3-minute psychedelic track with excellent keyboards working as background, while Syd's voice appears like a punch following the fast drums rhythm and the excellent interaction between guitar and bass. What a great song they did.

And to complete a pair, "Scarecrow" was included in this single album. This is a 2-minute song which is nice but not the best. Totally Barrett-esque of course, it is like a fairy tale with acid inside, so go figure.

This single is truly appreciated by fans and critics, so if for some strange reason you find a copy of it, do not hesitate and buy it.

I like it, mostly for Emily... but you know me, I rate singles or albums with less than 20 minutes length with 1 or 2 stars. This time I'll go for the latter.

Enjoy it!

Continuing their sombre and, at times, sinister vibe of their previous album 'Rotvälta', Swedish space rockers The Spacious Mind seem to dive even deeper into the black pool with 'Tonen'. Released a year later, the album consists of two long installations simply called part one and two. Listened to in their entirety on cd, the audience will have a hard time pinpointing the exact moment the waters shift as the music comes across as one brooding piece.

The very start of the album tips it's hat to the preceding release with those same Navajo rhythms, sounding like dry rattlesnake scales being shaken up inside a wasp's nest. It adds a raw and caveman feel to the proceedings, and when coupled together with the sluggish tempo of the guitars, the overall sonic impression is that of deep hypnotic atmospheres with the touch of an old Indian's heart.

Whereas 'Rotvälta' slowly but surely moved towards a rocking catharsis, that at the very end of the record seemed to cleanse the mystic and enigmatic irresolution of faux Navajo rhythms and howling guitar effects, on 'Tonen' something else stands in it's place. The catharsis is still there albeit in the form of a heartfelt and shimmering organ that suddenly injects itself a little over halfway into the second piece. Prior to this monumental moment of release, the music trots around in a hazy existence with wind-like guitar effects and a build up effect akin to a psychedelic take on Godspeed You! Black Emperor. This organ driven moment of release is just about as beautiful as a waterfall of sapphires, and the way it wraps it's lips around the somewhat unfriendly nature of it's surroundings is damn near a stroke of genius.

The downside to this album is that it can feel very long. 46 minutes of slowly unravelling music that only once in a while shows signs of progression. During the first side though maxing out somewhere over the stratosphere with a lightning bolt of cacophony, where drums and guitars run amok and create a blistering unmelodic jolt of noise and racket......yet that's about all you get from the rock palette. Everything else feels like a brooding gel of experimental bits that I personally get a kick out of, but I have to be in the mood for it. It's not an album you can throw on the stereo any time of the day and be bewildered in that oh so magical way. I can't imagine cooking dinner with it playing in the back - likewise do I sense a distinct difficulty in spinning this during some adult gymnastics - that is unless you've bagged one of those urban witches that spend most of their time barefooted at raves dancing like an ecstatic medicine man.

It worked just now though. I was engulfed by sunlight out on the patio with a clear view of dozens of bumblebees flying around like the drunk teddybears they really are. The music was deeply engaging and made me sweat even more than the white stinging rays, and after surrendering myself completely to the warm haze of the Indian ways - the lingering guitar winds and rattlesnake jitters - suddenly the organ jumped in and literally threw me thousands of feet in the air, with goosebumps ablazing and an orgasmic look on my face. 3.5 stars.

'Hzz' (10:31) is HAWKWIND-reminding, riff-based space rock that speeds forward like asteam train. Before the halfway there's a bit slower section with sinister distorted mumble, and later comes further occasional changes in the scenery (ie. tempo and atmosphere), at times rather jazzy. The second track is as hectic. Guitars operate mostly in the low ground with the attacking rhythm section, while flowing, impravisational melodies are primarily played by (soprano) sax. Synths hover in between, often with a Theremin-like sound.

'Tigerbalm', which starts with an acoustic guitar, is in slightly calmer tempo but the tension is there nevertheless. I like this atmospheric track where all instruments are equally audible, but the reappearance of the distorted mumble is only a nuisance for my ears. The next two tracks are the shortest - approximately three minutes each - and they don't bring any new ingredients to the soup. On the home sofa this music perhaps gets too monotonic, but I'm sure seeing this energetic band live would be a deeply impressive experience.

'Space of India' (11:22) is aptly named as it has some Oriental nuances. Occasionally it sounds as if there was a sitar and other Indian instruments, but at least they are not listed. All in all, Dasputnik are pretty good at what they do, which may be a bit narrow-minded on the long run. Cover art by Laura Andersson is cool! And by the way female is also the band member who would be my choice of their trade mark factor: Sini the saxophonist.

I have never seen the movie but there are two songs that can be heard in the film that were not included on the album: "Seabirds" and "Hollywood.' For this reason alone I might have to take the plunge and check this flick out no matter how bad it is. I've seen some pretty horrific films in my days and haven't been scarred for life by any (well.... Bride Of Chucky might be the exception). One of the strangest things about this album is that you will hear the FLOYD rock out like they never had and never would again on tracks like 'Nile Song.' Overall I find myself enjoying this every time I drop in and press play. I guess I like the avant feel to the whole thing and the transitional uncertainties that come out in it. However despite liking this album I don't listen to it often. I really should listen to it MORE.

Spiral displayed all the elements that more or less followed them in their career.The duo played a modern Psychedelic Rock, often led by heavier guitar tunes, featuring plenty of vocal distortions, always led by the raw electric guitars with some supporting keyboards and sinister, ambiental soundscapes.This might appear to be some great musc on paper, but the mass of sampled voices and the constant mania for producing downtempo textures and minimalistic images definitely do not belong among the album's peaks.The concept seems to lead the music here, the deep lyrics are supported by the appropriate soundscapes and, depending on these, Spiral deliver angry riffs, slow-paced lead guitars, spacey underlines and even orchestral atmospheres.The cohesion between the different climates is among the most efficient elements of the album, what really hurts Spiral's debut is the rather one-dimensional electric patterns and the lack of instrumentally richer moments.Lots of spoken parts, effects and the aforementioned ambiental ideas are closer to a film score and not a proper album to listen at home.The more energetic passages though allow the duo's talent to be unleashed and the potential is certainly there.

I can see this as the perfect soundtrack for a related movie, but for a regular album ''The death of Billy Jensen'' has some obvious flaws.Free bandcamp release, modern Prog maniacs should propably have a listen to Spiral's debut...2.5 stars.

Rating this work represents quite a challenge because the two discs are very different. Disc 1 is a pure psychedelic trip. With headphones on, one could go on astral travel into outer space. It would deserve a rating of 4, or 5, even by today's standards.

Disc 2 however is an overly indulgent recording that was typical of that era. The excesses of that time today wouldn't be tolerated, let alone lead to a record contract. The individual members largely just fooling around, perhaps exploring the (then) new stereo effects. It may have been somewhat amusing then, but in musical terms it only contains fragments of engaging bits. It is seen as "Collectors/Fans only" to a rating of 2.

So, which way do I lean? Do I knock the whole work over disk 2? No, I won't, I'll just give that one a miss. But disc 1 remains a worthy addition, deserving due attention, so I can't rate it as "good, but non-essential". And this one wins the contest to a weak 4.