The Cosmic Arc is headed up by German musician Tibor Fredmann, who I had previously been acquainted with through his duo project with Sigi Hümmer, The Cosmic Garden. On Feed Your Head, multi-instrumentalist Fredmann utilizes synths, mellotron, sitar, electric and acoustic guitars, piano strings, percussion, drums, voices, and field recordings, along with assistance from saxophonist Michael Hornstein and UK singer Mia. The promo sheet describes the music as combining “the influence of the pioneers of German electronic music (Kraftwerk, Can, Tangerine Dream, Popol Vuh, Amon Düül) with ambient, art-rock and space rock influences”. That’s a pretty good description but doesn’t begin to communicate the variety of influences that come together all at once on this album.

The title track opens the set, sounding like a more rock oriented take on the early Tangerine Dream sound, plus Kraftwerk styled robotic electronics and melodies against an icy electro rhythmic pulse. Radiant Meteor Explosion starts off as 1980s minimal electro-pop with a deep space symphonic edge, later adding a cool funky groove. When The Days Get Dark features heavenly drifting and swirling keys, winding and wailing efx’d guitar lines, jazz-in-space sax, and Mia’s impassioned chants, against robotic dance rhythms. Sun King sweeps the listener off into dreamy, droney, meditative, yet rhythmic floating space, with celestial symphonics, ethnic percussion, and blissful song-like guitar leads. Organic consists of multiple layers of hypnotic space waves and drones, seductive wailing guitar lines, rapid-fire, off-kilter yet strangely rhythmic electro patterns, and Mia’s cavernously efx’d chants. Into The Matrix traverses through multiple intensely cinematic deep space themes. Ammersee is a quietly understated sax driven spaced out lounge-jazz piece. Achtung Baustelle is simultaneously tribal and robotic, rhythmic and dreamy-drifty, like Kraftwerk in floating electronic space with a dose of trippy grooving tablas plus chill-out grooves. And Transmission Love is a harmonious blend of jazz-in-space, avant-world music, and high powered dance floor rush.

The beauty and allure of Feed Your Head is the diversity of influences that all come together so seamlessly. This is one of those albums that can only be absorbed over multiple listens, as it reveal new bits, pieces and treasures with each subsequent spin.

For more information visit The Cosmic Arc at: http://thecosmicarc.bandcamp.com, http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/thecosmicarc, and https://soundcloud.com/the-cosmic-arc

Reviewed by Jerry Kranitz

From Spring Valley, Illinois, Gushing Cloud’s follow up to his debut 2010 EP Prism Shelter is a fascinatingly varied patchwork of colors, ideas, and musical character spread over realms of electronic, ambient and noisy/experimental/progressive rock music.

MARCHING OUR YONDERS: The music comes down from high space etherealness and then becomes funky boogie rock. Transcendent rock music without being this or that… just is-ness. A largeful sound of is-ness! Some gremlin child-like vocals. The boogie and woogie is relentless. WITNESS: Yes, I’m witness to the marvel that is Gushing Cloud, more sideways rock ‘n’ space music. Now the sax… but not so much sax as to disrupt the righteous roll and rockness cruising down the bobbing culverts of High On Space Rock!!! Yup, it’s gettin’ down time with Gushing Cloud! PRISON SWELTER: Yes, the big Badass riffage. Still no discernable vocals or lyrical message, which is fine with me! Yes, give us more and louder. BEAT WINGS IN VAIN: The wings are fluttering gently around the smokey room looking for a soft couch to descend upon, but then alights itself to a moderate rock gruuvness, and then what!? I have to wonder if this is something that can be translated into a live venue situation or mainly studio trickery… does it matter? No?! TURNFLEW: Starts to conjur Zappa jazz rock studio tan other worldliness. I have to admit that I appeciate that there are no sensitive world weary male vocals about seals or trees or the oceans turning to blood etc. NOT TO DREAM: Just pure D weirdness, just like the Goddess always wanted rock ‘n’ roll to be! Please don’t worry about the pin heads working the bar down at the club or your fickle confused friends or even the jaded too many mescaline enema reviewers at AI. Yes, just make yore fucked up weirdass rock music for all eternity to enjoy! RETURN TO HUNGER: Yes, Gushing Cloud has given me the hunger to devour the groovoid rock mana from High On. Yes, up on this stage with the wind of hawks I feel so high and mighty… let’s go on a crime spree for Ajna and Tisra Til! GESTURING STREAM: My wife Sharon sez “It has that phat Jah Wobble bass sound, that’s why I like it so much!” And that jus about sez it all!! Yes, this CD leaves out all the non-sense and non essentials that muck up most rock music releases and just concentrates on the good stuff real shit that music is supposed to be! Can any reviewer say anything more positive than that!?!?! Yes, I’m Gushing on the Cloud!! Starts to sound like Mardi Gras on three hits of Owsley Sunshine!!!! DIRT BEAM: More skewered sideways rock, done in majestic Gushing Cloud mode. Oh, it’s Uber over the top GC’ness. I have the music turned up so loud that I can understand the words that the cats are saying to me…. and the beat goes on…

For more information visit the Intangible Cat web site at: http://intangiblecat.com
Stream and download at: http://gushingcloud.bandcamp.com

Reviewed by Carlton Crutcher

Yuri Gagarin are a Swedish band and I believe this self-titled LP is their debut. The music is all instrumental, ultra-heavy space rock that draws on stoner, metal and hard rock influences to create a non-stop, full frontal deep space cosmic blitzkrieg.

First Orbit is a blistering stoner-metal space rocker with Blanga-like repetitive riffage and basic but catchy melodies. The sonic assault guitars blaze away while the space synths soar, rising and falling, bubbling and splashing as they weave their cosmic arc. An instrumental version of Litmus without the prog elements would be a good analogy. Sonic Invasion 2910 continues down a similar path, in this case bringing to mind a more metallic version of Farflung. Za Kosmosom lays down a steadily stoned space-metal foundation over which the guitar leads the way in hypnotic om chant fashion, which sounds great along with the wah’d liquid psychedelic leads. As hard and heavy as this tune is, the music has a mesmerizing quality, being simultaneously punishing and trance-inducing. Finally, The Big Rip is the most rock ‘n’ rolling track of the set, being a Hawkwind in a heavy metal wrapper, intergalactic battle for a free universe space rock anthem.

The album may be under 40 minutes long, but Yuri Gagarin have pulled out the big guns, with a set that will leave you stunned, shaken, and begging for more. For fans of Litmus, Farflung, First Band From Outer Space, and Stone Oak Cosmonaut. Vinyl junkies – check out that cover art.

For digital streaming and download visit the Yuri Gagarin Bandcamp site at: http://yurigagarinswe.bandcamp.com
The Levande Begravd Records web site is at: http://levande-begravd.blogspot.com. It’s in Swedish so if you’re interested in the vinyl I recommended emailing them at levandebegravd1@gmail.com

Reviewed by Jerry Kranitz

This 3″ EP by the duo of D. Petri and Doggy P. Lips from Spring Valley, Illinois is intended as a progressive advance toward an actualization of some sort of ‘new experimental-psychedelia’, or at least a uniquely new flavor. UNTITLED 1:14: Begins with far away 1930’s styled recordings along with a man talking and crumbling things. UNTITLED 2:22: Goes into melodic dreamy guitar and swelling keyboard (almost said organ), a mixture of shoegaze and middle ages monastery! UNTITLED 2:53: No listing for who plays what but very out there and pleasant, burbling water sounds underneath two dualing guitars. A bit of synth fritz hovering about. I bet these guys are the strangest two people in Spring Valley. UNTITLED 6:50: Guitar loop with second guitar on top, simple and nice… yes, like most sincere musicians. Some keyboard swooshes and now the hypno drum, sounds live but a repetitive pattern. Who to compare this with? Maybe some later period Ash Ra Tempel?! Yes, high praise indeed! Gets more intense, then the second drum and you start to hear the Swans influence. Hey, this is pretty badass, modern sorta stuff. They better watch out or people will start throwing money at them. UNTITLED 2:40: Quiet, far away transition from previous track. Now the Betty Scott dialogue from 1979 at 1513 16th Street in North West Washington, DC at the Embassy Building. Betty’s never seen a stranger yet, if you want to be treated like a friend and neighbor you treat the other person that way, you go Betty!!! I assume this is one of the guys grandmother? Or maybe just a found recording!?!? UNTITLED 7:54: More stylized etherealness, yes, the coolest cats in Spring Valley, Illinois! Isn’t that where the Simpsons live?!? More loveliness for the outro track, some distortion mixed in? Or is that just my CD player? Oh, it’s intentional, yes, art! Suddenly goes into Middle Eastern/Mid-Western hypno guitar/drum raga… closes with some more Betty Grandma in DC… how do they get so much music on a 3″ CD?? Yes, it’s quite fabulous.

For more information visit the Intangible Cat web site at: http://intangiblecat.com

Reviewed by Carlton Crutcher

Howling Larsons is a new project from Stillwater, Oklahoma based R (Rebecca) Loftiss, from The Gray Field Recordings and the AntiClock Records label, and UK based Alan Trench of Temple Music. Having heard both Gray Field Recordings and Temple Music, I was delighted and not at all surprised to read the promo sheet description of Howling Larsons as, “noveau occult psychedelia full of twists and whispers, a many layered mycelium of psilocybic delights”. Now that’s a tasty characterization that brings a disc to the front of the promo pile. And sure enough, Fool Of Sound And Furry is a mucho cool and varied album, and one that can only be absorbed and digested over multiple spins. I’ll give you the nickel tour of the 12 tracks…

Air opens like some old horror movie, with eerie soundtrack styled music and a creepy narrative about the multiplication and housing patterns of demons. A flute melody keeps cropping up that adds a somewhat Oriental feel, which is an interesting contrast combined with the spectral atmospherics. And the whole thing gets hauntingly psychedelic when the ghostly voices and freaky looped effects kick in. Duane Allman’s Hand starts off with freaky avant Delta Blues performed on a dead windswept planet, soon transitioning to a psychedelically macabre and droningly drugged blend of singing, soundscapes and woodland sound samples. Sunblind consists of strange but hauntingly pleasant drifting ambience, which takes on a more pastoral tone when the acoustic guitar joins in. The acoustic guitar seems to mark a transition because at this point we find ourselves in more song oriented territory.

A Measure is a pleasant wyrd/pagan folk-psych song with spacey electronic embellishments. Cold Winter Sun starts off similar, but then veers into a tribal, acid-psych rock jam. And Then You Are features poetic narration and an odd 60s vibe, conjuring up images of dosed flower children dancing in a field (slow motion of course). Something On Your Mind and Mother Moon are both delicately trippy, lysergic, and sweetly melodic folk-psych songs. Empires and Dominions is a bouncy hippie party song. I like the combination of strumming acoustic guitar, orchestral strings, oddball electronic effects, and well placed dissonance. Fell of Dark is an acid damaged, spaced out, avant-experimental folk-psych stew. And the last two tracks place spoken word narrative amidst interesting and very different musical themes. For Nihil its dark, deep space soundscapes and effects, and for Accidental Being it’s a chaotically controlled mélange of rhythmic machine shop percussion, choral background harmonies and avant-garde chamber jazz.

If you’re still with me and intrigued by what I’ve described then I highly recommend Howling Larsons. Rebecca and Alan take familiar sounds and styles and bring them together in creatively unfamiliar ways, making for a challenging and off the beaten path psychedelic experience. But don’t hesitate because this disc is pressed in a miniscule run of only 50 copies.

For more information you can visit the Howling Larsons web site at: http://www.howlinglarsons.com
The CD is available in the UK from Reverb Worship at: http://www.reverbworship.com and in the US from AntiClock Records at: http://www.anticlock.net

Reviewed by Jerry Kranitz

Black Space Riders are a German quintet of dual guitars, bass, drums and vocals, who play a mixture of Metal and Stoner rock, played in a carefully developed narrative style. D:REI is their third album and like last year’s Light Is The New Black, the “Space” is mostly thematic, though there is ambience and effects to be heard throughout the album that inject a cosmic edge into the music. D:REI is a concept album and I think it’s worth sharing the summary from the band’s web site:

A lonesome way out of a somehow doomed world: Retreat! A voyage into the deepest inside, into a galaxy of inwardness, called the ‘Inner Space': Peace, freedom, depressioin and deepest isolation.
Almost lost in the caverns of subconsciousness… then finally: A way back to the outside. A staggering return: A world battered down – ashes and ruins, grey in black! Destroyed by mankind, finished by the “Memitim”. Old prophecies and meaningful predictions… just in case mankind failed to extinguish itself.
A couple survivors leaving a devastated world. Drifting on their way to find a new beginning.
A voyage, primarily an escape, later a search, meaning and an end in itself. The journey as a transformation. Total destruction as the root of a new beginning. The destination had become meaningless…

The album consists of 13 songs, grouped into four sections – Defiance, Ruins, Escape, and Beyond. Stare At The Water opens with waves crashing on the shore, ambient bass and guitar melodies, an oscillating swirl of effects, and then BAM!!… a full blown metallic rock ‘n’ roll assault. It’s got a cool 70s dual guitar hard rock feel, plus the metal and stoner-ish vibe, but also receding into quieter yet intense atmospheric segments. Bang! Boom! War! (Outside My Head) takes us from rock ‘n’ roll to something far more brutal, with a thudding stoned metal march and warlord-like vocals. One of Black Space Riders’ strengths is their attention to thematic development, so nothing sits still for long and the music veers through tension laden quieter moments between the onslaughts. Rising From The Ashes Of Our World features blasts of stoned guitar, with chords sustained in drones that are momentarily hypnotic until interrupted by the next burst. The song alternates between intense ambient metal, a contemporary brand of metal, Black Sabbath styled stoner sludge, and blazing metallic rock ‘n’ roll. These guys are continually shifting gears as they tell their story of war and destruction.

And on we go throughout the set. There’s lots of variety and it all flows seamlessly. There’s the spaced out punk-metal of Give Gravitation To The People. Way To Me consists of dense rock ‘n’ rolling theatrical metal with brief bits of classic 70s twin guitar solo. The GOD-Survivor reaches orchestral levels of metallic intensity. I like the meditative, ambient tribal march of I See. Leave is alternately steamroller heavy and ambient, punctuated by trippy Middle Eastern bits. The 10 minute Space Angel opens with spacey drifting soundscapes, before settling into a stoned groove that is simultaneously lulling and crushing. I dig the psychedelic doom of Major Tom Waits, as well as the space-doom and punishing rock ‘n’ metal roll of The Everlasting Circle Of Infinity. And going off into a slightly different direction is the quirkily New Wave-ish Letter To A Young One.

I really liked last year’s Light Is The New Black album, and while D:REI is very much in the same mold, it’s a far more ambitious effort, showcasing a band who is clearly learning and improving all the time. Very impressive.

For more information you can visit the Black Space Riders web site at: http://www.blackspaceriders.com
U.S. readers should find the at Heavy Ripples as of the end of January: http://www.heavyripples.bigcartel.com

Reviewed by Jerry Kranitz

Papir are the Danish instrumental trio of Nicklas Sorensen on guitar, Christian Becher Clausen on bass, and Christoffer Brochmann Christensen on drums. IIII is their (surprise!) fourth album and the follow up to last year’s III, with an excellent collaboration album with Germany’s Electric Moon titled The Papermoon Sessions falling in between. The album consists of four tracks, all numbered rather than named, and is around 47 minutes in length.

Three of the tracks feature a gorgeously, psychedelically melodic Papir, with both the guitar and bass laying down uplifting parallel melodies. In fact, the bass focus on melody often leaves drummer Brochmann as the principle rhythmic driver, a task he handles like a skilled navigator. I love the way the band sweep the listener along like cosmic pied pipers, falling somewhere on the dreamy psychedelic/Shoegaze axis, and oh so gradually building up to periodic acid-stoned blasts of heavy rock. My “holy shit”!! favorite track of the set is the 22 minute epic third cut. Much of it brings to mind a convergence of Ash Ra Tempel and the Grateful Dead, injected with a magical jazz and dance groove serum. Sorensen’s guitar trips along in killer jamming space while Brochmann pounds away relentlessly, and Clausen’s bass leads at times are so low end and penetrating that I wonder if he’s preparing for a spot in a new lineup of Magma. There’s lots happening here and what starts off with an improvisational feel slowly builds up to a monstrously shattering, tightly arranged psych-prog rocking tour de force. All in all we’re treated to high energy rock, mystical lysergic enchantment, and cool grooving improvisational wonder, all wrapped up in one spellbinding magic carpet ride.

I can easily see Papir appealing to a variety of psychedelically inclined audiences. On the one hand they are tailor made for fans of extended improvisational excursions, the likes of which made them such an appropriate pairing for Electric Moon. The Shoegaze crowd would surely dig them, though there’s far more activity and elusive sophistication in Papir’s constructions than the typical Shoegaze band. I also see the Godspeed/Sigur Ros crowd enjoying Papir. Papir rocks harder than either of those bands, but what they share in common is the slowly developing, majestic soaring reach of their music, and a cinematic sense of heartfelt passion. This will be the first entry in my Best of 2014 list.

For more information visit the Papir web site at: http://papirband.com
Visit the El Paraiso Records web site at: http://www.elparaisorecords.com

Reviewed by Jerry Kranitz

WOW! Hawkwind made a special trip to Norway to play Drammen and it was a blast and a successful party or “Love-In” more than a concert. Their hotel was a 20 second walk from the venue and while standing outside talking to other concert goers I bumped into Tim Blake who was on his way inside the venue and I shook his hand and he said and pointed at his feet, “all I got is my sandals!” for the Norwegian winter. But it was not that cold as we were enjoying a warm spell this winter here up north. I was hooking up with my best pal since we attended kindergarten in the 70’s, and we share a love of krautrock and synth exotic music and share other bonds as well. He had tickets and we went inside after I had met some people from northern Norway and Sweden from the Hawkwind Facebook group, Per Arne and his friends. Very nice! The venue was medium sized and it was about 300-350 people present. Beer was “cheap” by Norwegian standards, 76,- NOK (roughly 12 dollars) for a half litre glass. I drank 4 beers over the course of the night. Someone had given me a 1/4 gram of polish fairy dust I ingested in the lavatory stalls as a christmas gift. Hadn’t done THAT for years, so I enjoyed the free buzz. So, the concert was the band in top form, an amazing night. From what I had gathered from bootlegs I had heard from 2011-2013 I was not expecting it to be so energetic and punky. Mr. Dibs was the frontman and main singer of the night, Dave to the far left and only did vocals on The Demented Man and chorusing on a very punky Its All Lies. Kings Of Speed was fantastic, so was Assault & Battery / Golden Void. But the real highlights for me were Steppenwolf at the very start, and Reefer Madness at the very end. The crowd was ecstatic by that point and the band had a screen behind them with video collages and such but little light show. Assassins Of Allah was awesome as well. The band was tight and punky and very well “in tune”. Hawkwind left the stage at midnight sharp after a blistering encore of Utopia and Silver Machine. I met Jon Christian from the FM radio show I host here at AI and Pål from a paper I sometimes write for or draw comics for called Gateavisa while standing outside where a joint was being passed around after the show, waiting for the bus home. I think I took 5 hits off it (hog!) and passed it on. All in all a VERY successful show, and the crowd was like one huge tribe partying. EVERYONE left with a smile on their face and it was a night to remember… Mindblowing! In 2 weeks Monster Magnet are at the same venue so I might show up again there in the city of Drammen, about 1/2 hour away from Oslo. Long may they fly! Hawkwind that is.

Setlist

Seasons
Steppenwolf
The Hills Have Ears
Assault & Battery / Golden Void
Opa Loka
Demented Man
Magnu
Spiral Galaxy
Dying Seas
Kings Of Speed
Sentinel
Its All Lies
Reefer Madness
Assassins Of Allah
—-
Utopia
Silver Machine

Reviewed by Christian Eric Mumford

Lunarmare are a Greek band that play space rock with a contemporary power rock edge. Their self-titled debut consists of ten tracks, four of which are “Trans Lunar Injection” transitional bits that typically include Nasa-astronaut and other such voice samples. Bullet is a power rocker with an accessible contemporary rock feel, but also a prominent spacey keyboard presence. The killer space rocking Rings of Saturn is my favorite track of the set. It’s totally cosmic, it’s hypnotic, it’s atmospheric, it jams, it’s stoned, it’s intense, it grooves… I dig it. Forget & Forgive is a dynamic metal-melodic-atmospheric tune. Pale Blue Dot is another hot track, consisting of dark and ominous space symphonic rocking drift that builds up to Lunarmare’s brand of deep space power rock. Less on the spacey side but as powerful as anything on the album is the metallic rocking Answer. And Overthought is a tasty slab of space metal with monstrously potent jamming that closes the set.

In summary, this is a pretty hot album. Using the “contemporary power rock” description means I’m clutching at straws a bit so it’s hard to make analogies. I suspect fans of the past decade of Porcupine Tree would dig these guys, though Lunarmare are more overtly space rock than the Tree. Check ’em out and hear for yourself.

For more information visit the Lunarmare web site at: http://lunarmare.bandcamp.com

Reviewed by Jerry Kranitz

Grey Mouse are a Russian sextet who utilize vocals, guitar, bass, drums, percussion, sitar, didjeridoo, and jaw harp to play music rooted in 70s hard psych rock, but also includes trippy Indian/Middle Eastern influences. I had heard one track from the band a couple years ago on the Trail Records Psychedelic World Music compilation. Trip is their third album, and though it lists 10 tracks on the back of the CD, when I popped it in I noticed there is only one long track, which I’m guessing is to emphasize the “trip” aspect of the album. And sure enough, while each of the ten tracks is discernable from one another, the CD does indeed flow like one large piece.

This is a very cool album. On the one hand, we’ve got 70s hard psych rock and Middle Eastern infused psychedelia, but there’s also a theatrical aspect to Grey Mouse, and I wasn’t surprised to read in the promo sheet that in collaboration with the Moscow Film Club they have performed live soundtracks to early 20th century silent films. Didge, harmonica and percussion are put to good use in the intense introductory minutes with dark, droning, harsh, cavernous noise and howls. Then a solo harmonica plays away like some cowboy on the prairie, which quickly shifts as bass, drums and vocals join in to create an avant-theatrical setting. After a couple of angry vocal outbursts the band launch into a heavy psych rocker that only lasts a moment before receding back into the avant-theatrical noodling, and back and forth we go. The band rocks hard with a bit of a stoned edge, and I really dig the bass, which has an almost Zheul-like feel, and the harmonica injects a cool dirty Blues. White Noise Radio kicks off with trippy vocal chanting and jaw harp, before firing off a deeply intense stoned Sabbath inspired rocker. But after a few minutes the music take a turn and we’re in ominous and ever-changing theatrical prog-psych territory, with Victoria Barsukova alternating between singing and spoken word narrative. Chunikhin Kirill is a damn good drummer and I credit him for much of the dramatic impact on this piece. Other highlights include Ultima Thule, which features trippy sitar and electric guitar, with Victoria’s previously hard rocking Blues inflected vocals taking on a sultry siren of the harem quality. I like how the music alternates between psychedelically mind-bending and stoned intense rocking, and even when Grey Mouse are rocking hard the sitar is still tripping along in the background. I love the finale, which is melodic and grooving, but then slings into a heavy majestic psych rocker with killer guitar and sitar solos. Lullaby begins with spacey Blues guitar and droning didge and Victoria doing a brief narrative. Then we switch to whimsically paced rhythms, before settling into a stoned grooving and highly intense rocker with more cool psych guitar solos, and finally coming in for a Bluesy ambient atmospheric landing. Threat is a potent stoned rock ‘n’ roller with a theatrical edge. And it’s a shock when all of a sudden we do a 180 degree turn to the track Snow (Spiral Walk), which is another excellent combination of electric guitar and sitar, as the band alternate between, and combine seductive, trippy psychedelia and hard edged 70s influenced monster psych rock. And I love how even when the band are in their most potent hard rocking mode the sitar is still jamming along. Man, that guitar and sitar sound so cool together! The remainder of the album consists of more cool grooving stoned and trippy rock and stoned hard psych rock, some with a theatrical progressive edge, and finally the trip ends peacefully with a didge and chanting vocal finale.

In summary, I really enjoyed this album. Grey Mouse do a fine job of taking varied psychedelic and hard rock influences from the 70s and bringing it all together into a thoughtfully thematic and often highly dramatic whole.

For more information visit the Grey Mouse web site at: http://greymouse.ru
Listen to Grey Mouse at: https://soundcloud.com/grey-mouse-band/sets
Facebook readers can keep up with the band’s activities at: https://www.facebook.com/greymouseband

Reviewed by Jerry Kranitz