MADE IN THE MACHINE

It's a rare thing for me to give 5 stars to an album that has 14 songs and is 72 minutes long. I desire consistency and to get five stars this has to be consistently great, and it is. Gary Ramon and his project SUN DIAL have been making music since 1990 with Gary making music back in the 80's before that. He's been around and he knows psychedelia like no one else. A studio wizard as well and multi-instrumentalist he is someone to be taken seriously. So we get fake beats, real drums, electronic beats and the vibes are warm and relaxed just like on that MOONGARDEN album "Round Midnight". Guitar, sitar, synths, bass and more. There's a fair amount of electronics actually. Vocals too but the bottom line is we get some really good melodic psychedelic tunes from someone who has heard it all.

"Regenerator" might be my favourite with those opening electronics as a haunting atmosphere rolls in with bass , vibes and more. Such a cool sounding piece. It turns heavier before 2 minutes as the guitar arrives. Nice. Vocals cry out before 4 minutes. What a track! I love "Dark Planet" as well and it opens with spacey sounds as it turns dark. Drums join in at a minute. So good with the headphones as there's so much going on. They amp it up some after 3 minutes as it speeds up. "The Gates Of Eden" has those upfront vibes, drums and keyboards as mono-toned vocals join in. Sort of mid-paced that reminds me of a band who's name evades me right now.

"In The Machine" is all about the electronics as drums join in. Head bobbing time. Vibes around 1 1/2 minutes as the drums back off but not for long. Love this stuff. "Autopilot" seems to be just that as we get sitar, keys, beats and atmosphere on repeat. "Eclipse" is very spacey with guitar echoing away as vibes and spacey winds come and go. "Aurora" is an uptempo churning and swirling piece. Space Rock right here. "Spacedust" is one of my favourites with that countdown from NASA opening it as we get fast paced organ, synths and beats. Great track. Lastly "Contact" has to be mentioned. Another favourite. Fake beats, synths and a guitar melody on repeat and more. Just a pleasure this one. Vibes too of course.

A bit of a surprise being this was released in 2016 and my other two favourite albums by SUN DIAL were in the 90's.