Quttinirpaaq are an Austin, TX based noise/drone/sludge-psych combo led by Matt Turner, the band being named after a Canadian national park.

Side 1 of this vinyl LP opens with a 1.5 minute blistering noise-sludge dirge that brings to mind Keiji Haino playing guitar with Throbbing Gristle. Malvert follows, starting off as a menacing but cool grooving industrial dance-floor rocker with periodic bouts of spacey electronic freakiness. Ex-Batts laces itself with more sludge. I like the combination of drugged stoner vibe, chaotic noise, and vocals that sound like early Chrome meets The Residents gone totally noise-fucked. After a brief interlude of space electronics Quttinirpaaq launch into a cover of George Brigman’s DMT. I’d never heard of Brigman but a little Googling revealed him to be a musician from Baltimore who released a self-financed LP called Jungle Rot in 1975. So off to YouTube I went to hear DMT and darned if George Brigman wasn’t an unsung contemporary of Chrome, fitting well into the punk-industrial with a spaced out psychedelic edge mold. Quttinirpaaq’s take on DMT is a heavy rocking slab of ear-slitting acid drenched psychedelia, industrial horror-show and Chrome. Bad Ronald follows, being a rhythmic bit of off-kilter noise, samples and effects collage that would make for some avant-garde dance fun. And Becombs is a short, noise-laden stoner psych blast that wraps up side 1.

Side 2 consists of three longer tracks, starting with the nearly 8 minute Lohlands. If you like noisy, here’s-yer-brain-on-drugs, but totally rockin’ industrial psychedelia, then you’ll dig this for sure. I really like the use of effects on this track. Les Rallizes Denudes is a band that’s referenced in the promo sheet and I’d say that the raw, chaotic, but passionate power of the Les Rallizes Denudes music I’ve heard is very much in evidence here. Golden Needles lays down a rhythmic, danceable, industrial groove, accompanied by a steady wave of static that functions like an irritating drone, plus warbling Poltergeist voices and other freaky effects. Finally, Horsehead Bookends starts off as a meandering experimental noise, drone, guitar feedback, and effects exploration, but then near the 3 minute mark launches into the heaviest space-noise-sludge assault of the entire set. Keiji Haino quit Throbbing Grislte and joined Sunn O))).

In summary, there’s quite a bit of variety on No Visitors, and while it’s aggressive music to be sure, it’s far more accessible than a lot of the relentlessly dense sludge-fests I’ve heard. If you like your psychedelia on the noisy side, dig Chrome and Les Rallizes Denudes, or my early Chrome meets The Residents analogy resonated with you, check out Quttinirpaaq. Note that the LP comes in an edition of 300 copies pressed on 180 gram dark red vinyl.

The LP can be purchased through the Quyttinirpaaq Bandcamp site at: http://quttinirpaaq.bandcamp.com.
Like most Bandcamp sites it includes a download and the music is available to stream on the page.

Reviewed by Jerry Kranitz

HydroElectric are a Massachusetts based quartet that play guitar driven hard rock with a space rocking edge. The band consists of Monte Newman on guitar and vocals, Rikk Desgres on bass and vocals, Paul Picard on drums, and Paul Eggleston on keyboards. Yup, that’s right, Paul Eggleston from Architectural Metaphor.

Turn To Gray sets the tone for the album with chunky guitars, vocals and pounding drums, but also shooting star space synths. It’s good heavy rock with a space rock injection, and I like how even though it’s a tightly composed 4 minute song the band stretch out into instrumental passages and guitar soloing. Cut Me Down opens with keyboard atmospherics before launching into a 70s styled hard rock song that strikes me as a cross between Monster Magnet and early Blue Oyster Cult, plus organ and more space synths. Sleepwalking and What You Deserve are two more 70s styled rockers that I enjoyed. The pace slows on Heroic Dose, though the intensity level remains high, with haunting organ and some of most kick ass guitar soloing of the set. Edge Of The World is the longest song of the set at 7.5 minutes. It opens with JFK’s speech talking of the nation’s commitment to landing a man on the moon. The music is slowly grooving, with strumming acoustic guitar and atmospheric keyboards. After a couple minutes heavily fuzzed guitar briefly kicks in, and soon after the music develops into a spaced out jamming song with a stoner vibe. Very nice. And speaking of stoner vibe, Put You Away picks up where Edge Of The World left off, before launching into a Monster Magnet styled rocker with the addition of Paul jamming hard on organ, plus another stinger of a guitar solo. Doctor Who, not surprisingly, given the title, is keyboard dominated, sounding very much like an old time sci-fi TV show theme, though it’s all still heavy rocking. And War Inside My Head closes the CD with what is probably the most metallic song of the set.

Without the keys and synths, Space Dirt would be a damn good but fairly straightforward hard rock album. But with the keys and synths we get something far more interesting. The bad news is that HydroElectric disbanded late last year. However, their web site is still active and the CD is available.

For more information you can visit the HydroElectric web site at: http://hydroelectricmusic.com

Reviewed by Jerry Kranitz

Chatham Rise are a Minneapolis based quintet who play a dreamy, melodic, Shoegaze brand of space rock. Last year’s debut was the No One EP, and now they’ve released their first full length, a self-titled 8 song vinyl LP and digital download that includes 3 of the 4 songs from the No One EP. Chatham Rise may not be doing anything dramatically different but they definitely excel at gorgeously mesmerizing melodies and multiple guitars creating a sense of gently floating cosmic drift. Among the standout tracks is Gone, with its sitar and Indian influenced injection that will sweep you away on a paisley colored cloud. Autopilot and Fall In are the heavier rockers of the set. But overall this is a put on the headphones, close your eyes and drift away full album experience. My office at work has a big window with a pleasant view of a residential neighborhood. I had to stop listening to this album on the job because I kept gazing blissfully out the window in a near trance.

For more information you can visit the Chatham Rise Bandcamp site at: http://pictureinmyearrecords.bandcamp.com/album/chatham-rise
If you’re in the Minneapolis area over 4th of July weekend (2013) there will be a bunch of psychedelic bands playing, including Chatham Rise, The Volta Sound, Highspire, my friends from Floorian, and more. Check it out at http://first-avenue.com/2013/BATHYSPHERE

Reviewed by Jerry Kranitz

Telstar Sound Drone are a Danish band that formed in 2007, released an EP, a 7″, and now their first full length album. One of the reasons it took so long to complete the album is that two members serve double duty in the frequently touring Baby Woodrose, which also gives you a hint as to what you might expect from the music on Comedown.

The band come tearing out of the starting gate with Through The Back Of Your Head, a hefty slab of hard rocking and ultra-trippy psychedelia, with dual guitars and spaced out effects. Satellited is next, with one guitar ripping out razor sharp licks while the other injects a surf-like edge and the bass throbs relentless in your head. The 7+ minute Feels Like A Ride is the longest song of the set. After a 2 minute intro of swirling flying saucer effects and slowly rumbling guitars, the vocal portion begins, the entire song being a floating outer space psychedelic journey. These guys really make good use of multiple guitars, with rhythmic strumming and heavily space efx’d guitars working in tandem. Feels Like A Ride bleeds smoothly into the acoustic guitar plus deep space soundscapes of Now See How, which has a vibe like the Hawkwind song Space Is Deep. We’re rocking hard again with the heavy driving, guitar screaming Evaporation. Lost Our Love has a killer combination of brain-frying efx’d UFO guitar, bubbling liquid trip guitar and a garage rocking edge, as well as a sweetly catchy melody. And the similarly tripped out Cabin Fever closes the album, giving the listener a chance to catch their breath.

In summary, I LOVE this album and it will easily make my Best of 2013 list. Telstar Sound Drone are heavily 60s influenced but they incorporate heavy doses of space rock into the music as well. Think of a cross between Baby Woodrose and Vibravoid.

Comedown will be released May 27th on vinyl LP and download. Note that the first 500 copies of the LP will include a CD of the entire album.

For more information visit the Bad Afro label web site at: http://www.badafro.dk
Visit the Telstar Sound Drone web site at: http://www.telstarsounddrone.com

Reviewed by Jerry Kranitz

The Quarkspace Spacefolds series of all improvisational jams continues with its 12th edition. As with the previous several Spacefolds, the new album features the original Quarkspace lineup of Darren Gough on guitar and bass, Chet Santia on bass, guitar and loops, Jay Swanson on keyboards, synth and loops, and Paul Williams on drums, synth, keyboards and loops.

The album opens with Remember The 614, on which Jay Swanson’s piano takes the lead for a melodic song that swings, with Darren adding a dose of swagger with his stinging Bluesy guitar solos. 614 is the Columbus, Ohio area code and I’m guessing the track title refers to Paul Williams’ move to Louisville, Kentucky last year, the last member to leave Cowtown, making Quarkspace officially a formerly Columbus-based band now. A Poor Man’s Diamond follows a similar theme, with Jay jamming away in his trademark majestically melodic style. Darren goes for the grooving tasteful solo on this one, and Chet’s bass jams along nicely too, contributing far more than mere backbone. I was thinking that we’re in slightly different territory for Quarkspace and then noticed the promo sheet reference to “a fresh take on influences from San Francisco to Alpha Centauri“. Sure, maybe a touch of San Francisco in these first two tracks, but still distinctly Quarkspace. Speaking of Alpha Centauri, Return of the Son of Quarkallax goes into deep space, picking up exactly where Quarkallax from Spacefolds 11 left off, being nearly 10 minutes of cinematic, high intensity space-prog with a bit of classic Berlin school electronics. The Flu for Christmas features guitar, piano and bass sharing lead melody duties. San Francisco meets Alpha Centauri comes to mind on South Pass, a spaced out jam with fun freaky loops, ultra funky bass, cool wah’d guitar licks, and ooooh-weeee-ooooh synths. More beautifully tasty soloing from Darren can be heard on the acoustic infused Blue Sky Aerodrome. Old Floyd Walks A Rugged Path has a cool grooving space jazz vibe, with both Bluesy and acidic guitar plus great cosmic synth and keyboard sounds. The Near Frame features more dreamy yet rhythmic melody focused jamming. On iCowboy, Paul jams away on drums and Jay grooves along in the background while the alien electronics, keys and soundscapes take control. And Jeptha’s Sleepy Waltz is a laid back groover that makes a nice closing track.

I do believe Quarkspace are coming up on a 30th anniversary in the next couple years. The interplay between the musicians absolutely makes the music on this set, demonstrating how so many years of playing together can lead to improvisational telepathy. And it really makes me miss the concert era of the mid-90s through early 2000s when Quarkspace live performances were frequent. Spacefolds albums always sound like they could have been composed and their live performances were the same way. Quarkspace would play the songs they had written and rehearsed, and transition just as smoothly to jams that audience members could easily think were part of the songs. Ah, but I’m getting lost in memories.

For more information you can visit the Quarkspace web site at: http://www.quarkspace.com
The album is a digital only release and is available from iTunes, Amazon, eMusic and other music services.

Reviewed by Jerry Kranitz

Well, this is an unexpected turn of events, even for someone like Don Falcone, who has built a whole career out of unlikely collaborations. Falcone first appeared on the mid-1990’s U.S. spacerock scene playing keyboards with Melting Euphoria on 1994’s Through The Strands Of Times, before moving on to a variety of projects, including Spaceship Eyes and Spirits Burning, who existed concurrently for a time in the late 1990’s. The first official Spirits Burning album was 1999’s New Worlds By Design, with subsequent releases including the co-credited Bridget Wishart projects Earth Born (2008) and Bloodlines (2009), and 2008’s Michael Moorcock archive-trawl Alien Injection. With their most recent album being 2011’s Behold The Action Man, a collaboration with sometime Hawkwind lyricist Roger Neville-Neil, Falcone must surely be one of the most well-connected pan-generational figures in spacerock, with work blending and crossing a multitude of styles. Clearlight, on the other hand is the vintage 1970’s symphonic progressive rock project of Frenchman Cyrille Verdeaux, a truly gifted keyboard player, around whom congregated an ever-changing array of guest stars (including members of Gong), to release a run of mainly instrumental albums, starting with 1975’s Clearlight Symphony. Verdeaux has continued to use the Clearlight name throughout the ’80’s and ’90’s, while also recording under his own name, to the extent that band and keyboard player have become virtually interchangable. The tragic death of his young son resulted in Verdeaux travelling to India, where he studied yoga and meditation, which strongly influenced his subsequent work on albums such as Ethnicolours, Messenger Of The Sun, Journey To Tantraland, and his most recent release, 2007’s Shamballa – A Journey To The Crystal World.

So much for the back-story. As can be expected then, Healthy Music In Large Doses is an eclectic album, which spans a number of genres. One thing to make clear at the onset is that, despite input from several one-time Hawkwind members, and Falcone’s own space-rocking past, this is definitely not a full-on spacerock experience. Rather, the music on this mainly-instrumental album is rooted in jazz, folk, psychedelic pop and even reggae. The album opens with Treasures At The Dawn Of The Century, a kind of world music piece featuring multiple synths, organ, flute and tabla. Raised On Coal And Oil, strongly features the violin of Stella Fergusson, who appears able to reach notes of such height that only dogs can hear them, interweaving with Verdeaux’s gentle piano arpeggios across seven minutes of floating and bass-driven jazz. Our Secret Cloud is a gentle, almost spiritual, piece which opens with chanted male/female vocals, moving into purely ambient territory, including what appears to be backward guitar, and closing with a reprised choral passage. Verdeaux provides spoken-word vocals – in French – over tenor and soprano sax-flavoured jazz on Infinite City, while Falcone’s percussion duties include marimba, sound eggs, finger cymbals, U.S. kitchen bell and Italian rattlesnake! Unusual percussion aside, this is truly prog rock at its most jazzy, bringing to mind latter day Soft Machine, or Bill Bruford’s Earthworks. Cyndee Lee Rule’s violin weaves its way through the Indian sitars and woodwinds of Hand Signals & Daily Horoscopes, which contains a piano passage strongly evoking the original Clearlight Symphony. The standard of musicianship here is just jaw-dropping, while never being showy. Cool Can Of Cola On The Forehead (one of the few tracks on which Cyrille Verdeaux does not play) is funky reggae, perfectly evoking the image suggested by the title. Healing Power Of Magnets sounds so close to Pink Floyd’s classic Breathe that it is a wonder Gilmour and Waters are not given a co-writing credit; the music suggesting the same feeling of melting euphoria as Dark Side Floyd (and for which Falcone named his first band). Verdeaux again steps back on the dreamy synth-led Travellin [sic] Sideways, while Falcone gets a credit for providing ocean and wind; additional synths are provided by Paul Hayles, who was briefly a Hawk and Sonic Assassin. Kingdom Of Music is another perfectly titled track, with fluttering arpeggios dancing on the wind. Michael Clare supplies dazzeling bass playing on the jazzy In Search Of Friends On The Day Of Masks, with gliss guitars by Gong associate Fabio Golfetti, who provides more of the same on the brief shimmering sound picture that is Italian Lake. The Road To Shave Ice is as baffling as its title would suggest, with Thom Evans (of Hawk associates Melodic Energy Commission) credited with “playing” wrench, umbrella and jaw harps, and Falcone contributing samples of ocean waves, Luau rhythms and chants, and gift shop instruments. Reggae-flavouring is sprinkled on album closer Bring It Down, written and sung by Gong’s Daevid Allen, and certainly sounding like it, with eco-warning lyrics – “Telecommunication sits in castles made of sand” – contrasting with the jolly melodies and tenor saxes of Purjah.

Healthy Music In Large Doses does pretty much what it says on the tin, and sounds much like you would expect from a collaboration of minds that released Found In Nature and Clearlight Symphony. Spacerock it most certainly isn’t, but seekers of a gentle yet funky uplifting panacea will find much to enjoy here, and in most generous doses too!

For further information on Spirits Burning, go to http://www.spiritsburning.com or http://www.myspace.com/spiritsburning
Further information on Clearlight can be found at http://www.clearlight888music.com

Reviewed by Pat Albertson

Hot on the heels of their debut release, Aurora Symphony, Red Planet Orchestra is back with Secrets of Eternity. Red Planet Orchestra is the UK based duo of Vincent Rees and Peter Smith, who were the same musicians who created the T30 Control albums Blade Of The Sun (2003) and Hollow Earth (2006). Secrets Of Eternity consists of 4 tracks – two lengthy pieces and two shorter ones.

Cosmos Remix and Time Drift are the short tracks at just under 5 minutes each. Cosmos Remix is pure floating orchestral space electronics. I like the combination of astral electronic wind instruments and flittering effects that sound like a flock of birds greeting the new day. And in the last minute we hear lovely spoken word in Welsh by guest Heather Jones. Time Drift features heavenly, meditative floating space, with a low end bass sensation that rumbled in my brain under the headphones, shooting star synths, and more brief spoken word by Heather Jones.

The 31 minute Eyes Of An Angel and 12 minute Rapture Of The Cosmos are the epics of the album. If you were to look up “Space Symphony” in the encyclopedia, instead of words it should be represented by a link that plays these tracks. The titles are appropriate as this is angelic and rapturous music indeed, with its combination of majestic symphonics, astral string section, moody soundscape drone, and gradually, almost imperceptibly developing melody. Heather Jones spoken word returns briefly on Rapture Of The Cosmos, and though I don’t understand Welsh, her voice is soothing and is an ideal match for the music.

In summary, another beautiful set from Red Planet Orchestra. Throughout the album I imagined myself in an outdoor concert hall, the cosmic electronic symphony playing at night under the stars. This would be ideal to perform in a planetarium.

For more information visit the Red Planet Orchestra web site at: http://redplanetorchestra.bandcamp.com
The site notes that a limited edition CD of the album will be released later in the year

Reviewed by Jerry Kranitz

Ask the casual music listener what they consider to be the sound of the ’90’s, and the most likely answers you get will be a combination of grunge and alt rock, or techno and Britpop. Few indeed would be familiar with what was then known as the “new wave of US spacerock”, the isolated strands of which were brought together to a certain extent by the legendary Cleopatra label, which released a number of compilations featuring bands like Farflung, Pressurehed, Alien Planetscapes, Anubian Lights and Architectural Metaphor, performing either their own material or classic rock covers of the likes of King Crimson, Pink Floyd and Hawkwind. Buried deep underground, these bands helped to inspire a third and current generation of spacerock bands including Oresund Space Collective, Secret Saucer, Litmus, First Band From Outer Space and plenty more who are still going strong today. Although Cleopatra Records is still a going concern, things have been rather quiet for most of those American bands that kept the flame alive in the ’90’s. The release of Architectural Metaphor’s Everything You Know Is Wrong is therefore a most welcome surprise, a bit like finding a gold nugget amongst rubble thought picked clean.

Although a version of Architectural Metaphor, built around keyboard player Paul Eggleston, was releasing cassettes in the late 1980’s, it took the arrival of guitarist Greg Kozlowski to record their proper debut album, 1995’s “Odysseum Galacti”, which contained a version of Hawkwind’s Sonic Attack, a statement of intent if ever there was one. 1997’s Creature Of The Velvet Void featured a twelve minute take on Hawkwind’s Golden Void and, far less obviously, The Velvet Underground’s All Tomorrow’s Parties (a storming version of Pink Floyd’s Echoes was a staple of their live set). Appearing at the Strange Days Space Rock Festivals and opening for the likes of Gong, Pressurehed, Ozric Tentacles and (perhaps unsurprisingly) Hawkwind, the band line-up which recorded 2004’s live Other Music included former Dinosaur Jr drummer Pat “Murph” Murphy. Between then and now there have been no new transmissions from spaceship ArcMet, and it appeared as though the band had vanished into a black hole. However, 2013 has heralded the release of Everything You Know Is Wrong, a stunning return which features “new” vocalist Andrea Aguayo (she actually joined in 2005, but this is her recorded debut with the band). Actually, it may be not be completely accurate to call this release a “new” album, as rumour has it that the tracks were recorded in 2005, and that the band may not be a functioning unit. Nonetheless, Everything You Know Is Wrong is a full length studio album of previously unreleased tracks that serves as a great introduction to the band for those (myself included) who missed them first time around.

The album opens with the riffy Apocalypse, which sounds a little like early Uriah Heep, but with wailing female vocals, and a crunching freakout guitar solo. Strangely, Architectural Metaphor have never had a permanent bass player, but this absence just gives Murph more room for his jazz-style drumming, and gives the band a kind of “dislocated” sound (in a good way!). With that Echoes cover in their live set, and On The Run appearing on 2004’s Other Music, it is no secret that the band have a heavy Pink Floyd influence, and Nuclear Sun features Saucerful Of Secrets-style choral vocals. The writing credits include Deb Young, drummer/vocalist who left the band in early 2000. The three-minute title track is a semi-acoustic ballad that showcases the soulful vocals of Andrea Aguayo, who won a couple of awards in jazz magazine Downbeat before she turned 18. The title Neu Klangfarbenmelodie would suggest motorik rhythms, but instead we get nine minutes of wild spacerock improvisation built on jazz drums, freaky guitars and whooshing keyboards. The Temple Song is just a two minute interlude before Wasserfall (Zeit), which features spooky wordless female vocals, pulsing synths and Gilmour-esque sustained guitar lines. S.P.Q.R is another three-way spacey jam credited to the core instrumental trio of Eggleston, Kozlowski and Murphy, parts of which sound like their interpretation of Cirkus from the Cleopatra tribute King Crimson album Schizoid Dimension. With no bass in evidence, the riff is held down by Eggleston’s keyboards with Kozlowski and Murphy soloing over the top. A second Wasserfall, subtitled Der Weltraum, runs for a scant two and a half minutes, before the final track, an amazing cover of Roxy’s In Every Dreamhome A Heartache [sic] kicks in (is it just me, or does this sound like the chord sequence to Hawkwind’s Assualt And Battery?).

Regardless of the origins of these tracks and the current status of the band itself, Everything You Know Is Wrong is an excellent slice of classic spacerock that deserves heavy rotation on my CD player, and has made me want to investigate their earlier work. Let’s hope it is more than just an epitaph to a great band.

For more information, see the band’s website http://www.architecturalmetaphor.com
NOTE: At the time of publication this web site is still under construction. Inquiries for the CD should go to arcmet@yahoo.com

Reviewed by Pat Albertson

Ambient music can so easily fall into the trap of long, repetitive and frankly, quite boring swashes of synth pads. There’s all sorts of that kind of stuff out there. So when something like Dadirri’s Electrified Space Bacterium comes along, it is a welcome shock to the system. This is ambient music that is alive, complex and stimulating. Not that you can’t just kick back and chill out to it, but it is the kind of ambient music that Brian Eno described, music that can just as easily fade into the background as it can grab your attention and make you really listen.

Dadirri is a side project of Australian musician VisOrtis, who has been involved with numerous bands, collaborations and solo projects over the years, including Vocabularinist, DJ Urinal Cake, buMscUzz, and Mekigah. On this particular project, he teams up with 30 year veteran home taper Ken Clinger from Pittsburgh. The music on Electrified Space Bacterium is very different from the chaos and mayhem often present in VisOrtis’ other projects, but although it is a much more chilled out, ambient space sound, it can be just as challenging to listen to, which makes it far more fascinating than your run-of-the-mill ambient music.

The pieces on this album are mostly shorter tracks in the 3 1.2 to 6 1/2 minute range, which gives VisOrtis and Clinger a chance to conceptualize and execute a number of different sonic realizations. The music slips sideways through lyseric landscapes, easing from lilting and gently melodic to disquieting and even disorienting, often within the same piece. It’s like listening to music broadcasts from another world, mere hazy fragments reaching your ears, as it is joined by rich, organic, earthly resonances that paint hallucinatory colors within. Throughout the album, and perhaps tying it together, there is a sonic motif, something like the sound of a million bells ringing, caught on the wind, and heard from far away, that permeates many of the tracks, sometimes rising to the surface, sometimes sinking to depths. It’s quite a unique sound, and lends elements of both wistful nostalgia and intriguing mystery to the proceedings.

This is more than just ambient music. Electrified Space Bacterium comprises fully realized psychedelic environments, trippy dreamscapes for your journey down the ambient expressway into the blazing night. Lay back in the darkness with the headphones on and get swept away.

For more info, visit: http://kenclinger.bandcamp.com/album/electrified-space-bacterium and http://visortis.tumblr.com

Reviewed by Jeff Fitzgerald

The latest from Austin, Texas based Book Of Shadows features 7 tracks and nearly 80 full minutes on a limited edition CDR of only 150 individually numbered copies from Kendra Steiner Editions. As usual, the lineup of musicians can vary from one track to the next, with mainstays Carlton and Sharon Crutcher being the constants.

The set opens with Dragonfly Children, featuring the trio of Carlton, Sharon, and Aaron Bennack on guitar, keys and beats. This is a wild and freaky combination of Sharon’s vocals, spaced out electronics, guitar manipulations and effects, and a chugging rhythmic machine-like pulse. After a couple minutes Aaron settles into a repetitive guitar pattern, part of which adds a pleasant melodic sense, while Sharon continues her angelic chant and the UFO electronics flit about. LOTS happening here and I love the way Book Of Shadows puts it all together. A strong opening track. Serpent is another Carlton/Sharon/Aaron trio piece, this time with Carlton and Sharon on vocals and Aaron on percussion. Sharon chants while Carlton creates aggressive spitted shushes and whispers and Aaron jams away on rhythmic percussion. A short but interesting piece. Cherrywood features the quartet of Carlton and Sharon plus Brett Humphrey and Steve Marsh on guitar and electronics. It starts off with searing drone guitar, improv guitar noodling plus other effects, some of which have a Frippoid soundscape vibe, Sharon’s frighteningly witchy howls, a pack of chirping birds, and then takes off from there. This is all about haunting mood and atmosphere creation, with lots of interesting guitar sounds and effects, as well as creative interplay between Brett and Steve. And things get incredibly intense at times. It’s a great blend of ambience and sound exploration, but the real power of the piece is the gripping narrative flow that kept me riveted throughout its 24+ minute length.

Vineland features a 6 member lineup, with Carlton, Sharon, a guitar trio of Aaron, Brett and Derek Rogers, and Jonathan Hone on bass. At nearly 19 minutes this is another lengthy stretch-out track. Sharon chants and a droney electronic wave hovers over the proceedings while the guitars do their magic. Once again we get a sense of narrative flow, in this case like some kind of sonic avant-noise theater production, where the musicians function as actors putting on a play. The pace and intensity level ebb and flow, with mood and ambience sometimes dominating, and at others times the guitars seem to be simultaneously dueling, merging and meshing. There’s some great bass parts too where I could feel the low end drone tear right through my body. Goddess Played the Wind Chymes is a less than one minute transitional piece featuring [you guessed it] wind chymes, leading into the 25+ minute To Merry Mary and Little Bitty Bette Easter ’70, which is performed by the quintet of Sharon, Carlton, Aaron on keys and Brett and Steve on guitar and electronics. The piece consists of slowly developing drone guitar, UFO electronics, wailing effects and some pretty scaring vocal effects from Sharon. We later get some contrasting melodic guitar soloing, a spaced out soundscape wave, old time Wurlitzer sounding organ, a deep thudding bass line, and a hodgepodge of other fun sounds, making for one of the wildest mash-mash of elements on the album. Finally, Thinking of Daniel is a short duo piece with Aaron on chord organ and Jason Zenmoth on guitar. Another fine set from Book Of Shadows.

For more information you can visit the Kendra Steiner Editions web site at: http://kendrasteinereditions.wordpress.com

Reviewed by Jerry Kranitz