Claudio Cataldi is a Palermo, Sicily based singer-songwriter who plays music based in what I’ll call “modern rock”, but with pop-psych and acid-folk influences. I almost dismissed this album as not for Aural Innovations, but upon a second closer spin started to tune in to the psychedelic aspects of Cataldi’s music and deft use of multiple instrumental elements and effects.

Song of Hate opens the set and is a melodic accessible rock song with haunting spacey soundscapes in the background, and I like how the soundscapes slowly develop into a ghostly, seductive string melody. September Air, Let’s Go To The Secret Place, Self Esteem, and Unconfined are the songs that struck me as having an interesting blend of pop-psych and modern rock. Usually when I use the term pop-psych it’s in reference to a strong, and even blatantly retro 60s influence, which is not the case with Cataldi’s music. September Air consists of uplifting pop-psych. Let’s Go to The Secret Place is a bouncy, rhythmic pop-psych tune with a grungy edge. Self Esteem is similar but more like a droning psychedelic take on an early 60s crooning love song. Unconfined is a bit more 60s infused and includes sweetly colorful surf guitar embellishments.

A Magic For You is one of the more heavy rocking songs of the set, with much more prominent bass and drums, but also freaky effects that keep things interesting. Take Care and Cal venture into folk-psych/wyrd-folk territory, the former being a peacefully lilting song with beautifully droning yet melodic strings. And Cal is a gorgeously bucolic folk-psych song. But my favorites of the set are Final and Nowadays. Final is a drugged, droney, spaced out psych song with potent atmospherics and trippy slide guitar garnishment. And Nowadays starts off as pastoral, upbeat wryd-folk, but later develops into a majestic, spaced out rocker with Shoegaze guitar and multiple string elements.

Very interesting album. I had to listen to this several times before I could write anything about it so it’s a pleasure to hear something that challenges me a bit. Homing Season is currently available digitally, though Cataldi is looking for a label to release it in physical form. It’s his third album though I see even more at his Bandcamp site.

To stream and download, visit the Claudio Cataldi Bandcamp site at: http://claudiocataldi.bandcamp.com

Reviewed by Jerry Kranitz

Wow, it’s been a long time since I’ve heard new music from Bag: Theory. Some background information is crucial, so bear with me. The roots of the band are to be found in Paper Bag, formed in 1983 by brothers Greg and Mark Segal, who held strict methodological views toward improvisation. The Paper Bag quartet of Greg (guitar), Mark (drums), George Radai (bass), and Kenny Ryman (keyboards/tape loops/percussion/vocals) recorded four albums for the SST label between 1987-89. Now don’t run away because I said SST! This was NOT a hardcore band. Paper Bag were an adventurous, highly eclectic unit who defied easy categorization, though they occupied multiple diverse points on the Prog and Jazz axis. CLICK HERE to read the article I wrote about them and the first incarnation of Bag: Theory in AI #21 (2002). The music and approach to improvisation is fascinating, and my sub-title to the article – “I Can’t Believe This Shit is Improvised!!” – is an understatement.

In early 2000, Mark Segal was asked if Paper Bag would reform for a benefit concert, and when this didn’t pan out Mark formed a new band that would be different from Paper Bag, though still based on the same rules of improvisation. This resulted in the 2001 released CD, A Good Ass-Kicking Wears Many Faces, plus a handful of live performance CDRs.

The present: After several fits and starts, scattered performances and an aborted tour, Bag: Theory now consists of Mark Segal (drums), Anthony Cossa (guitar), and Marc Mylar (saxophone) from the earlier Bag: Theory, plus Tony Fate (guitar) and Tom Stillwagon (bass). The band kick started rehearsals in late 2012, played their first gig in nearly three years on December 22nd, and will enter the studio in March to record a new album. The current album, Tap Dancing in a Mine Field, documents a live performance and is intended to let the world know that Bag: Theory is back and generate a buzz in advance of the upcoming studio album.

Despite the emphasis on improvisation, Bag: Theory is NOT about lengthy jams. It IS about control and direction. The seven tracks on Tap Dancing in a Mine Field, all recorded live, are between 3-6 minutes in length, each being a tightly knit and intricately wound unit of its own. I Pity The Fool alternates between spaced out punk-metallic free-jazz and cool grooving acid-surf rock. Gibberish Spoken in Tongues uses high energy Latin tinged percussion to anchor an acid-punk-jazz steamrolling rocker that conjures up twisted images of the old MX-80 Sound with a Santana rhythm section. Heights Of Excellence / No Big Loss consists of dreamy psychedelic rock with a nice combination of ambient and acidic guitars. The appropriately titled Link Floyd sounds like the Pink at their most Bluesy, with shades of psychedelia and jazzy sax swing. And speaking of sax swing, Mantis starts off as the Beatnik party you’ve been longing for, later devolving into a down ‘n dirty acid-punk-metal-jazz dirge. Gone Fission is a playful bit of tension-laced noodling. And Fast, Cheap, And Outta Booze is a balls-to-the-walls high action close to the set, being a brief acid-metal brain crushing rocker.

Yes, Bag: Theory are mighty lively these days and still cranking out music that forces me to continually remind myself that it’s all improvised. This set was performed front of a live audience so I’ll be waiting in anticipation for the results of their new studio album in the spring.

The information PACKED Paper Bag and Bag: Theory web sites can be found at: http://paperbagtheory.com
The Tap Dancing in a Mine Field CD can be purchased or downloaded for FREE from: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bagtheory

Reviewed by Jerry Kranitz

Outer Temple are a Toronto, Canada based ensemble who cover a lot of stylistic ground. Utilizing electric and acoustic guitars, bass, keyboards, synths, saxophone, drums, and a variety of percussion, including tablas, djembe, and berimbau, this all instrumental band can rock hard, crank out the grooves, go into space, psychedelia, and ambience.

Among my favorite tracks is The Hollow Earth, which starts off as an accessible and nicely melodic bit of atmospheric space-prog, but gets increasingly heavier and takes some interesting compositional twists and turns near the end, and gets downright crushing in its last moments. Lots happening in less than 5 minutes. Fantastic Voyage is precisely that… an ambient space-jazz and chill-out grooves excursion, colored by a variety of soundscapes and effects that all flow beautifully for 11 luscious minutes. The first half of the 10 minute Into The Blackness is a completely mind-bending psychedelic space exploration, transitioning to a heavy grooving and still psychedelic space-prog rocker for the second half, parts of which reminded me of Porcupine Tree. And then there’s the nearly 18 minute epic The Dreamquest Of Unknown Kadeth. This is the third album I’ve reviewed in the past year that’s had a track inspired by this H.P. Lovecraft novella. It opens with a wildly rhythmic mixture of acoustic guitars and space electronics. As the full band joins in the music develops some major melodic hooks, and then blasts into a high energy space-prog rocker. Around the 6 minute mark things ease into a quieter transitional segment with tablas, sparse, intermittent acoustic guitar, soundscapes, synths and other fun effects. Then approaching 11 minutes the percussive pace picks up and it feels like Hawkwind with an ethnic vibe, before returning to the opening theme.

The remaining tracks are very good too and explore some interesting territory. Magma Baby rocks hard with a jazzy element at times to the drums and keyboards, a King Crimson-ish edge to the guitars, and some of the rhythms have an off-kilter repetitive groove that remind me of early Circle. Arise is an accessible and nicely melodic hip shakin’ ambient groove rocker. Something Witchy kicks the grooves up a few notches, supported by awesome percussion and killer freaked out effects. Unhinged is a short, punchy heavy rocker with freaky effects. Psychomanteum has a 60s psychedelic feel. And Shrunken Heads borders on Metal at first, but then becomes a tightly wound 70s styled slab of blistering hard rock with spaced out effects, in the end adding some swingin’ percussion.

I quite enjoy this album, though it might be a wee bit too varied to get a sense of what Outer Temple are really about. I’ll be keen to hear what they do next.

The album can be streamed or downloaded at the Outer Temple web site: http://theoutertemple.bandcamp.com

Reviewed by Jerry Kranitz

Alan Davey’s first Al Chemical’s Lysergic Orchestra album came out in 2001 (later reissued as Vol. 1, with 5 additional tracks), and now we’ve got the just released Vol. 2. In 2011 while touring the US with Gunslinger, Alan and Kevin Sommers, who has done album art that I’m sure many of you have seen, visited Death Valley. The experience left such an impression on him that it inspired the music on this album. As Alan says, “Never has a place affected me like Death Valley. The silence there opens the mind to another level and musical ideas flood in.” Each of the ten tracks is named for a Death Valley location, and the 12 page booklet that accompanies the CD features photos of each of these locations.

Musically, Alan considers the Al Chemical albums an opportunity to indulge his more “experimental” interests. The opening song, Goodbye Death Valley, is a trademark Alan Davey “bass assassin” rocker. If you played this for me blind I would have identified it as Alan in the first 30 seconds. But it’s not really what this album is about. Bad Water rocks too, but has a dreamier spaced out quality, plus vocals by Kevin.

The rest of the album demonstrates Alan’s flair for thematic development, and music that would be ideal for film or television soundtracks, though it’s by no means short on Rock. Hell’s Gate is a moody, tense, atmospheric piece with orchestral elements. It has a powerful narrative drive and covers a lot of ground in barely 3 minutes. Dante’s View starts off similar, as a weirdly image inducing glom of soundscapes and effects, before launching into a melodic, easy paced rocker, and even has a bit of a Middle Eastern theme. The Racetrack covers a lot of ground too, with equal parts space-orchestral, electro-dance, Middle Eastern, and cool jazz elements. Mustard Canyon has a potently rhythmic electro throb, deep space symphonics, alien effects and dreamy melodies, and then in the last minute shifts to full blown dance mode. 49’ers is similar and includes spoken word by the late great Robert Calvert. Titus Canyon is a cool grooving, melodic spaced out piece that would be the perfect soundtrack theme music to Al Chemical: The Movie! Old Dinah is quite different, being a quirky, whimsical piece that’s part stage show, part Kurt Weill, and part alien effects. It’s tough to describe but very cool. Kevin is credited with “drunken hobo crooning” and that couldn’t be a more apt description. And Zabriskie Point is a deeply atmospheric piece that closes the set on a somber, yet meditative note.

Alan has built up quite a resume, having been in Hawkwind, Bedouin, Gunslinger, Pre-Med, The Meads of Asphodel, others I’m probably forgetting, plus numerous solo albums, and Al Chemical adds impressive and enjoyable variety to an already stellar body of work.

For more information visit the Alan Davey web site at: http://www.alandaveymusic.com
CLICK HERE to go directly to the Al Chemical CD
NOTE: Alan has a U.S. distributor now. When ordering from his web site you will pay normal for UK shipping charges. No extra for overseas.

Reviewed by Jerry Kranitz

Happy New Year!!!

Jerry Kranitz (in NO particular order)

Census of Hallucinations – Coming Of The Unicorn
Few bands bring together space rock, psychedelia and progressive rock like Census of Hallucinations. They really do sound like no one else but themselves.

Papir meets Electric Moon – The Papermoon Sessions
Two bands that excel at taking off and exploring, get together and do so TOGETHER!

Nektar – Journey To The Centre Of The Eye (Purple Pyramid reissue of this 1971 classic)
Nektar – Remember The Future (Purple Pyramid reissue)
Authorized reissues of two CLASSICS from the 70s. Journey To The Centre Of The Eye does not get the credit it deserves as a pioneering space rock album (IMO), and RTF is just a damn good Prog-Psych concept album.

Brujas de Sol – Moonliner
Young band of space explorers with lots of promise from my town, Columbus, Ohio. They kick ass LIVE too.

Space Mirrors – The Other Gods
Alisa Coral has been astounding me with her talent and creativity for a decade now. She takes space rock to dark, and very different places.

Manikin Timeshark – A Trick In Time
An 11th hour entry to my list. Manikin Timeshark marry space rock with 80s styled UK neo-prog with killer results.

Telstar Sound Drone – Comedown
Heavily 60s influenced psychedelia but with heavy doses of space rock. Some of the members are also in Baby Woodrose and I described them in my review as like a cross between Baby Woodrose and Vibravoid.

Computerchemist – Signatures I & II
Another outstanding marriage of space rock and progressive rock. Here’s only one of the analogies I made in my review – “All together it’s like a blend of Rubycon/Phaedra era Tangerine Dream and Eloy at their spaciest, with Steve Hackett sitting in on guitar.”

Mooch – Stations Of The Sun
Steve Palmer’s Mooch sometimes detours into 60s influenced song territory. This is one of the song albums, though in this case the inspiration is “70s Folk/Rock/Progressive territory in the style of bands such as Renaissance”. With two incredible female vocalists, he succeeds with stunning results.

Permanent Clear Light – Beyond These Things
Outstanding and stylistically varied set from this Finnish trio. It’s got infectiously melodic pop-psych, orchestral folk-pop-psych, spaced out Beatles-esque songs, acid-prog, and more.

Earthling Society – ZodiaK
Over the past decade, Earthling Society have been building up an impressive body of work, including both lengthy explorations and songs. Their latest has some of their best side-long (in LP terms) epics to date.

Giöbia – Introducing Night Sound
An excellent set of spaced out psychedelia from this Greek band. Bouzouki, sitar, organ, tripped out ethnic stylings… In my review I made references to both Vibravoid and Purple Overdose.

Vespero – Droga
From Russia, Vespero are one of the most exciting instrumental bands on the contemporary space rock scene. They evolve from one album to the next, never sounding exactly the same. Their latest is a space-prog powerhouse. Here’s a line from review – “Imagine a cross between King Crimson, Djam Karet, Ozric Tentacles, and early Genesis, and you might get something like Droga.”

BLIM – Zero / No Frills
CD reissue of two cassette only releases from 1992-93. If you like Ozric Tentacles, Omnia Opera, or any of the 80s UK festie-psych bands, and you don’t know BLIM, your life in incomplete.

Nik Turner – Space Gypsy
With the help of an exceptional backing band, the man has still got it… ’nuff said.

Mechanik – Velut Stella Splendida
From Spain, Mechanik play heavy driving acidic space rock and prog-psych. One reference I made in my review is, “like Robert Fripp gone acid rock”.

Alpha Omega – Down The Gravity Well
From Australia, if you want Hawkwind styled space rock, you must check these guys out.

Lamp Of The Universe – Transcendence
New Zealand musician Craig Williamson creates some of the most psychedelically spaced out trippy music I’ve ever heard.

beyond-o-matic – Relations At The Borders Between
From San Francisco, I was tickled when Trail Records released the first album of new recordings by these guys since 1998. Rhythmic grooving space rock, stoned riffage, dreamy atmospheric space rock… these guys sound like no one else.

Jeff Fitzgerald

For the first time this year, I decided not to count down the albums to number one. Doing that, I feel, makes it seem like the albums earlier in the list are somehow not that good. But every album on here is excellent, and represents, in my opinion, the best of what came out this past year. So, in alphabetical order, the best 20 albums of 2013…

Acid Mothers Temple and the Cosmic Inferno – Doobie Wonderland
Funk meets psychedelia with a Japanese twist. Actually, a surprisingly mellow album from a band that has played some of the heaviest music ever recorded. Makoto uses similar guitar tones to the ones he used on Pink Lady Lemonade, to very melodic effect.

Cosmic Trip Machine – Golden Horus Name
Classic styled melodic psychedelia with a European vibe to it. Heavy, dreamy, exotic and beautiful.

Electric Sorcery – Book of Lies
A great collection of tunes from these Vermont psych rockers. A delicious 60’s/70’s vibe envelopes everything, with a touch of 90’s jam band groove thrown in for good measure.

Hedersleben – Upgoer
Hedersleben was Nik Turner’s back-up band on his North American tour (two of its members were also in his studio band). Krautrock rhythms, hazy atmospheres and Ummagumma style psychedelic freakouts. What more could you ask for?

Lamp of the Universe – Transcendence
New Zealander Craig Williamson returns with perhaps the heaviest Lamp album to date (heavy being pretty relative here, it’s not a return to his Datura stoner rock days). Dreamy, blissed out, Eastern inspired psychedelia with some touches of blues and even noisy experimental guitar. Awesome stuff!

Mammatus – Heady Mental
Their first album in six years! Admittedly, this is all material recorded during their mid-2000’s heyday, but only finally mixed and finished in 2013. There is some terrific, mind melting stuff here though, especially the colossal 16-minute Brainbow/Brain Train. Definitely more of a leaning towards the spacerock side of their sound on this one too.

Melodic Energy Commission – Wave Packet
After a nine year hiatus, Don Xaliman and company return with a totally new sound: mellow, instrumental space jazz. Laidback and very cosmic, it incorporates elements of world music. And wild, white haired wizard George McDonald is there playing his incredible, custom built six arm Galactic Stream Theremin.

Monomyth – s/t
Epic instrumental psychedelic stoner rock with a sometimes Krautrock vibe, the debut from this Dutch band is superb, with the final epic 17-minute Huygens being a powerhouse standout.

Monster Magnet – Last Patrol
A strong comeback as Monster Magnet returns to their psychedelic roots and produces, arguably, their best album since Dopes to Infinity. The Mindless Ones was one of my favourite songs of the year.

MV & EE – Fuzzweed
Blissed out rural psychedelia from these prolific acid folk rockers, surprisingly their only new release this year, but features the epic 20-minute Poor Boy Excursions.

Psicomagia – Psicomagia
Dark and intense jazz rock fusion in the 70’s style, it could be compared, perhaps, to Mahavishnu Orchestra, except there is no guitar and the leads are taken by keyboards and sax. Plus, the entire album just oozes psychedelia from every dark crevice. Stunning!

ROVO & System 7 – Phoenix Rising
A triumphant return to the realms of spacerock and psychedelia for Steve Hillage and Miquette Girady, this is a collaboration with Japanese group ROVO. ROVO free Steve and Miquette from the need to develop the rhythms by providing a pulsing backdrop, allowing the two erstwhile spacerockers to soar to amazing cosmic heights on this all instrumental work.

Oceanfire – Exit-Rejuvenation
Signified and Civilian Zen multi-instrumentalist Keith Hill strikes out on his own, stripping away the metal and dance influences of his two groups for some terrific spacerock.

Our Solar System – Vårt Solsystem
Dungen’s Mattias Gustavsson nominally leads a group of ragtag space gypsies through this astounding album. Reminiscent of some of those obscure, early Krautrock tribal freakouts where almost anything goes. Spacey, yet earthy and organic too. Wildly orchestral and intensely rocking. A masterpiece!

Sendelica – The Kaleidoscopic Kat and Its Autoscopic Ego
The Welsh psych rockers add an element of electronica to their sound on this outing with startling effect! This is definitely one of the best experiments of this sort I have heard.

Sons of Hippies – Griffons at the Gates of Heaven
60’s psychedelia meets 70’s spacerock meets…80’s new wave? Sounds weird, but Sons of Hippies make it work!

Spids Nøgenhat – Kommer med fred
Second album from this Danish band comes 12 years after their first! It’s not quite as freaky as En Mærkelig Kop Te (2001) was, but makes up for it with some terrific song writing. In fact, it finds just about the perfect balance between powerful, hooky songs and psychedelic weirdness.

Nik Turner – Space Gypsy
Nik’s remarkable return to classic spacerock in the Hawkwind tradition finds him with a powerhouse band behind him and collection of awesome new songs written by both him and the other members of his band. Not a weak song from start to finish. Nik does Hawkwind better than the current lineup of the actual Hawkwind is doing it!

Steven Wilson – The Raven That Refused to Sing and other stories
With a new band and some terrific songwriting, Steven Wilson produces one of the best albums of his career, and certainly the best of the three he’s released under his own name. Progressive rock with some fusion undertones, instrumental hooks galore, astonishing playing and some truly moving lyrics and melodies. Plus, it was produced by Alan Parsons!

White Manna – Dune Worship
Noisy psychedelia with a definite spacerock vibe, this is the second album from these California jammers, and their best so far. Their sound has matured and become more exploratory, incorporating atmospherics and Krautrock style rhythms.

Christian Mumford

In no particular order other than the usual hermetic Freemason lodges, and double cheese w/ Pepperoni pizza to “go”, this Christmas Yuletide season!:

Architectural Metaphor – Everything You Know Is Wrong
Fantastic return from Massachusetts spacerock legends ArcMet. I also had some artwork of mine printed in this very psychedelic CD, plug plug!

Nik Turner – Space Gypsy
Troublemaking saxman Nik and various helpers from bands like Die Krupps and UK Subs, plus Simon House and friggin’ Steve Hillage. Very true to form in the classic Hawkwind style.

Black Sabbath – 13
Ozzy is back, with Sabbath, though not with the original drummer. Fantastic effort in the classic Sabbath sound!

Voïvod – Target Earth
The Canadian prog/space Science Fiction Thrashers return with a decent album with new guitarist Chewy copying the style of former one Piggy, not bad!

Steven Wilson – The Raven That Refused To Sing (And Other Stories)
Porcupine Tree man Wilson has carved out a solo career as well, and this album showcases some amazing and intricately played and composed prog. Highly recommended.

Acid FM – Electric No. 3
Detroit infused NWOBHM-styled power-stoners deliver a nice mix of live and studio material.

The Guild Navigators – Red Vision 7 EP
Great 4 track punky spacerock release from Ohio’s finest in the genre!

Monster Magnet – Last Patrol
This quite psychedelic album grew on me after giving it a slightly negative review at AI. Its better than I originally reported!

Øresund Space Collective – Hamburg Concerts 2013 [ltd. 200 copies]
A very interesting and catchy live release from our improvising friends in Copenhagen!

Øresund Space Collective – Organic Earthly Floatation [ltd. 500 copies] LP
Vinyl and download only greatness with a rare non-improvised Deadhead psychedelic and melodic beauty of an opening song!

Cathedral – The Last Spire
Farewell album from the Doom metal legends from UK, this is some heavy medieval and noisy stuff indeed…

Hawklords – Dream
A mixed bag of head on spacerock and mellow psychedelia from the composite latter day band that has little to do with the 70’s band.

Hawkwind – Spacehawks
Nice compilation of old and new and hitherto unheard material as played by the current line up of the band, with one track with Huw Lloyd-Langton making it a “must-have”.

Hawkwind – Warrior On The Edge Of Time [Atomhenge 2CD+DVD]
Oh, and Steven Wilson remixed it as well. Classic 1975 album finally gets an official remaster on CD, after so many pirate versions already out there!

The Legendary Pink Dots – The Gethsemane Option
Melodic yet noisy sounding album from the gothrocky spacerocky industrial-ish psychedelic beatnik New Wave masters of magick and mystery!

The Legendary Pink Dots – The Curse Of Marie Antoinette LP [ltd. 299 copies]
Beautiful picture disc full-lengther contains dreamy and poetic Shoegazer style ethereal and ghost-like mystical psychedelia from The Dotz.

Pre-Med – Einstein’s Day Off
Lovingly created spacerock from UK’s premier band with ex-Hawkwind/Bedouin/Gunslinger lawman Alan Davey on bass as well!

Space Mirrors – The Other Gods
International spacerock and metal collective return with a finely crafted yet very metallic release on the swedish Transubstans label with former Hawkwind sax/fluteman Nik Turner on a track.

Satyricon – Satyricon
Black metallers from Norway return with an album in the style of their “Nemesis Divina” classic 90’s album. Its some of their finest work, it is also very accessible and straight ahead stuff.

Sendelica – The Kaleidoscopic Kat And It’s Autoscopic Ego
Psychedelic meisters from Wales continue releasing som damn fine records in the instrumental Spacerock genre. Recommended to all prog/kraut/space/psych fans!

Huw Lloyd-Langton – Rare & Unreleased: Anthology 1971-2012 [2CD]
Nice compilation from former amongst us, ex-Hawkwind lead guitarist Huw. One disc has unreleased material, it is bluesy straight ahead rockiness from our now peacefully resting friend Huw.

Marillion – Clocks Already Ticking [live] [2DVD/3CD]
Workmanlike prog-popping veterans release a nice live triple live CD with all of the “Radiation” album played live, plus other selections from their 30+ year career.

Paul Roland – Hexen
Baroque pop meister Roland creates occultist hymns of songs about pagan mystery about witchcraft and other nature worship and deviltry, from ideas to a film soundtrack. One of his best latter day efforts, here on a small Italian label.

Melodic Energy Commission – Wave Packet
This is the band that used to include 70’s Hawkwind-hobbit Del Dettmar in their early daze, and is some extremely psychedelic Ozrics style instrumental LSD influenced spacyness.

V.A. – The League Of Psychedelic Gentlemen 7″ EP [w/ Nick Nicely, The Bevis Frond, Anton Barbeau / Three Minute Tease & Paul Roland] [Fruits De Mer label]
A vinyl only release with the strongest contributions being from Anton Barbeau and an old track from mr. Roland, as well as tha’Frond to round out the usual Psychedelic “Psuspects” [sic].

Keith Henderson

1. White Manna (US) – Dune Worship
http://whitemanna.bandcamp.com/album/dune-worship

2. Electric Eye (NO) – Pick-up, Lift-off, Space, Time
http://electriceye.bandcamp.com/album/pick-up-lift-off-space-time

3. Cave (US) – Threace
http://www.dragcity.com/products/threace
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaar268H5zI

4. Nik Turner (UK) – Space Gypsy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OytZekcZst4

5. Pyramidal (SP) – Frozen Galaxies
http://pyramidalmusic.bandcamp.com/album/frozen-galaxies

6. 3rd Ear Experience (US) – Boi
http://www.robbirobb.com/thirdearexperience/boi/

7. The Timelords (UK) – Convergence
http://thetimelords2.bandcamp.com/album/convergence

8. The Ultra Electric Mega Galactic (US) – S/T
http://theuemg.bandcamp.com/album/the-ultra-electric-mega-galactic

9. Oresund Space Collective (DK/US) – Organic Earthly Flotation
http://oresundspacecollective.bandcamp.com/album/organic-earthly-flotation

10. Brujas del Sol (US) – Moonliner
http://brujasdelsol.bandcamp.com/album/moonliner-2

11. Korai Orom (HU) – 2013
https://soundcloud.com/koraiorom
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uo4Khr3ByG8

12. Vespero (RU) – Droga
http://raig.bandcamp.com/album/vespero-droga

13. Spids Nogenhat (DK) – Kommer med fred
https://soundcloud.com/badafrorecords/sets/spids-n-genhat-kommer-med

14. Cambrian Explosion (US) – The Sun EP
http://cepdx.bandcamp.com/album/the-sun-ep

15. Mechanik (SP) – Velut Stella Splendida
https://raig.bandcamp.com/album/mechanik-velut-stella-splendida

16. Atomic Simao (UKR) – Nodo
http://atomicsimao.bandcamp.com/album/n-do

17. Luder (US) – Adelphophagia
http://smallstone.bandcamp.com/album/adelphophagia

18. Buddha Sentenza (DE) – South Western Lower Valley Rock
http://buddhasentenza.de/#audio

19. Kikagaku Moyo (JP) – S/T
http://geometricpatterns.bandcamp.com/album/kikagaku-moyo

20. Monkey3 (SUI) – The 5th Sun
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWu-r6rDJXM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbFqdgRk_oE

21. Giobia (IT) – Introducing Night Sound
http://giobiagiobia.bandcamp.com/album/introducing-night-sound

22. Chatham Rise (US) – S/T
http://pictureinmyearrecords.bandcamp.com/album/chatham-rise

23. Paradise 9 (UK) – Take Me To The Future
https://soundcloud.com/paradise-9

24. The Rendlesham Forest Incident (US) – Last Flight Of The Hope Dempsey
http://trfi.bandcamp.com/album/last-flight-of-the-hope-dempsey

25. Kamikaze Scotsmen (HU) – Ark EP (following Prologue EP, 2012)
http://kamikazescotsmen.bandcamp.com/album/ark

26. Mind! (SP) – Stunde Null
http://nooirax.bandcamp.com/album/stunde-null

27. Hawklords (UK) – Dream
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5zxNtViNCA

28. Lamp Of The Universe (NZ) – Transcendence
http://lampoftheuniverse.bandcamp.com/album/transcendence

29. Lumerians (US) – The High Frontier
https://soundcloud.com/lumerians

30. Hollow Mirrors (US) – Hollow Mirrors II
http://hollowmirrors.bandcamp.com/album/hollow-mirrors-ii

Archival Reissue Of The Year:
BLIM (UK) – Zero/No Frills cassettes (’92-’93)

Unreleased Recording Of The Year:
Perandg (NO) – Plains EP
https://soundcloud.com/perandg/sets/plains-ep

Album Cover Of The Year:
Lumerians – The High Frontier

Recent Return From Long Hiatus:
Dino Sorbello & Laughing Sky (US)
http://laughingsky.bandcamp.com/album/divine
http://dinosorbello.bandcamp.com

Special note of those bands releasing worthy albums in 2012 that I did not hear until 2013, including Baby Guru, Temple Of The Smoke, Glitter Wizard, Moon Duo, Het Droste Effect, Sundial, Pothead, Colour Haze, Camera, Golden Void, etc.

Mike Reed

Top 20 CD’s of 2013

Nik Turner – ‘Space Gypsy’
Motorhead – ‘Aftershock’
Monster Magnet – ‘Last Patrol’
Re-Stoned – ‘Analogy’
Aerosmith – ‘Rock For The Rising Sun’ DVD
Nektar – ‘Remember The Future’ CD reissue
Nektar – ‘Sounds Like This’ expanded 2-CD reissue
Widowmaker – self-titled 1976 CD reissue (Huw’s post-HW)
Hawklords – ‘We Are One’
Folkazoid – ‘II’
Dead Flowers – ‘For You’ (not the ’90’s UK band)
Djam Karet – ‘Trip’
Alice Cooper – ‘Old School (1964-1974) 4-CD box set
Plastic Overlord – Sonic Astronomy’
Dan Pound – ‘Return To Other Worlds’ 2-CD
Hawkwind – ‘Spacehawks’
Cosmic Circus Music – ‘Weisbaden 1973′
Acid Mothers Temple – ‘Doobie Wonderland’
Acid Mothers Temple – ‘In Search Of Lost Divine Ark’
U. D. O. – ‘Mean Machine’ CD reissue

Top Ten Concerts of 2013

Heart / Jason Bonham Led Zeppelin Experience (had 1st row)
Marilyn Manson / Alice Cooper
Moody Blues
Folkazoid (a Chilean space rock band)
Ian Anderson
Yes
Soundgarden
Nine Inch Nails
Iron Maiden
Diamond Head / Raven

Disappointments / bad news of 2013

Alvin Lee’s passing
Dick Dodd’s passing (Standells original drummer & vocalist)
No Motorhead U.S. tour
Hawkwind postponing their fall U.S. trek
Fact that (so few) traditional record stores now still exist

Based in Astrakhan, in southern Russia, Vespero have been quickly developing into one of the most exciting instrumental bands on the contemporary Space Rock scene. Utilizing elements of Space Rock, Psychedelia, Krautrock, Progressive Rock and ethnic influences, Vespero morph, mutate and blend their various influences into music that varies from one album to the next, but is always uniquely Vespero. After reviewing several of their releases and playing their music on Aural Innovations Space Rock Radio for some years now, we wanted to get more information about this electrifying group of musicians and conducted the following interview via email.

THANKS to Igor Gorley at R.A.I.G. for facilitating communication and translation!

Aural Innovations (AI): Vespero formed in 2003 and your first album (Rito) was released in 2007. How did the band come together originally and tell me about your activities in the four years that led to the release of Rito.

ARK (bass, keyboards): I started to play bass guitar and synths in a local psychedelic-rock band MIRABEAU. It was disbanded in 2003. Violinist Valentin Rulev and I decided to continue as VESPERO. We were joined by my brother Ivan on drums, Alexander Kuzovlev on guitar and some other musicians. During the first four years of existence, we were experimenting with various arts and styles, including Russian futuristic poetry, avant-garde theatre and dance, academic and pop music, rock and jazz… we’re searching to stabilize the line-up and to develop our own style. I think the core of the band was formed somewhere in 2004-05 when keyboardist Alex Klabukov came on board and Valentin left for Germany.

ALEX (synths, keyboards): I would call that time a period of training and education. We were learning to listen to each other and interact properly. We made quite a few amateurish recordings before Rito, but those were mostly drafts and low-quality live tapes. So I wouldn’t recommend that stuff to connoisseurs ☺

IVAN (drums): Many local musicians passed through the band that time. We were working with several singers, but the best one was Natasha Tyurina who joined in 2006 and helped to shape the concept of VESPERO for the next few years.

AI: Were there any specific goals or “grand plan” in mind at the beginning?

ARK: I think, no… We just wanted to play together and try ourselves in various areas like acid-jazz, post-punk, prog-fusion, avant-garde, psychedelia, etc. Then, we met Igor Gorely, a chef at R.A.I.G. Records. He selected several compositions to make our debut album. And when Rito was out, it became more or less clear to us what we want to do.

ALEX: We have different music tastes. So, I think our primary goal was to learn how to perform music that suited all of us. We’re still digging this, by the way ☺ Another goal was – and still is – to get maximum satisfaction from making music. I enjoy our rehearsing or recording sessions very much – the feeling is like magic pumping through our veins!

IVAN: Yes, Rito was probably a big turning point for us. No special plans before that, and suddenly we realized that our music is important for many other people, not only for us.

AI: It’s been interesting following Vespero’s musical evolution. Rito had a lot of variety, including ambient-soundscape elements, Gong-like space rock, space-groove-jazz, avant-prog-jazz, and spacey ethnic rock. And then the next album, Foam, was stylistically very consistent, with most tracks being characterized by an ethnic/tribal/ambient brand of psychedelia.

ARK: Chronologically, Foam was recorded before Rito, in December 2006. It’s a live bootleg which was re-mixed and published in 2008 on request of the New Jersey record-label Trail Records. That time, we played as a six-piece band and tried to add some authentic ethno-touches to our music. Foam is the first album of our “Liventures” series – a special line for presenting our live recordings, alternative versions, covers, etc.

IVAN: I really enjoy that period. For about six months, we had two drummers in the band. It was a great experience playing with Alexander Krupin, former MIRABEAU’s drummer.

AI: Both Rito and Foam had a female vocalist, and Foam had her on most tracks. But I don’t think I recall hearing vocals after Foam (except for Jennifer). Was there a specific reason for dropping the vocals?

ARK: Natalia Tyurina is a very talented singer. She was performing with VESPERO from January 2006 till June 2008. Then she left Astrakhan for Saint-Petersburg. We decided not to search for a replacement and switched to completely instrumental music. Our final work with Natalia was the studio album Surpassing All Kings, our second official release at R.A.I.G. It’s very different from Foam though. Arguably, that was an album with the strongest “prog-rock” influences, a sort of our own vision of “progressive rock” music. Surpassing All Kings was also the first album which was mixed and mastered by Alisa Coral of Space Mirrors. That partnership was very important to us – Alisa helped us a lot in finding our own sound.

AI: By The Waters Of Tomorrow went in a different direction, having lots of quite complex progressive rock. But there is a lot of variety and the space rock elements are prominent. For example, I like how Amaryllis starts off somewhat whimsical and then blasts off into a blistering space rock jam, then transitions to the more complex prog structures, and then back to space rock again. But yes, the prog rock elements took me (pleasantly) by surprise when I first heard this album.

ARK: By The Waters Of Tomorrow is a keystone album for us. We knew exactly our strong and weak points as well as what we wanted to achieve. We strived to expand our sound palette and invited Vladimir Belov, a cellist from Saint-Petersburg to join the line-up. Some tracks featured guest appearances of our past-member, violinist Valentine Rulev, flutist Natalya Dosoyevskaya, back-singer Elena Belozyorova, and synth-master Alisa Coral who also did the sound-production. Yes, prog-rock influences were strong on By The Waters Of Tomorrow… yet I hope we managed to create something beyond the genre’s clichés ☺

ALEX: Working on that album was a real challenge. We used new music equipment and recording technologies in our studio. And we wanted to give more fluid and atmospheric character to the songs. It’s great to learn that many music lovers around the globe assessed our efforts.

IVAN: We are grateful to all musicians and producers who helped us to make it possible! Vladimir Belov’s contribution to the album deserves a special mention. He is an incredible musician who has a unique feel for the balance between composition and improvisation.

AI: Sticking with the progressive rock influences topic, by the time The Split Thing was released a couple year later some of the music on those three tracks had taken on an overtly classic 70s progressive rock sound, though we’re also starting to see the high intensity heavy rocking space-ambient-prog sound emerge that would be more fully fleshed out on Subkraut.

ARK: I think that three tracks for The Split Thing reveal a softer, more delicate side of our music. We were honored to make a split release with one of Sula Bassana’s bands but had no intentions to sound like Zone Six or Electric Moon. The main idea behind that album was a contrast between free improvised, tough and heavy stuff of Zone Six and relatively short, structured and atmospheric instrumentals of Vespero.

AI: I liked the first three albums and The Split Thing a lot and for me these made Vespero a band to watch. But Subkraut was the first Vespero album to really blow my mind. In my review I made references to a more space rocking version of Korai Orom and mentioned Ozric Tentacles as analogies, though Vespero has their own sound that is distinct from those bands. Subkraut has some incredibly intense music, with tribal ethnic influences and some really cool deep space jazz infused space rock.

ARK: Thank you, Jerry! We love the music of Korai Orom and Ozric Tentacles… but Subkraut was mostly inspired by the German kraut-rock scene of the 70’s. We wanted to show our respects and delights to the bands like Amon Düül II, Tangerine Dream, Can, Guru Guru, Neu!, Faust… We love what they did and believe that their influence on modern pop and rock music can’t be underestimated.

ALEX: All tracks except the cello parts were recorded during three sessions at our rehearsal spot with subsequent overdubs. We plunged into kraut-rock retro aesthetic and tried to filter it through our own visions. Subkraut is yet another experiment for pleasure ☺

IVAN: You’re absolutely right about “tribal ethnic influences”. Our homeland is a crossroad of multiple Asian and European cultures. The echoes of ancient ethnic sound still can be heard in people’s songs of the Astrakhan region.

AI: Subkraut also had a very interesting theme and packaging. I’ve got the basic edition with the big beautiful map. And I’ve seen pictures on the RAIG site of the Seebar edition with the hard cover case, booklet postcards, vintage photographs, U-Boat pennant replicas, dog-tag and cuff-title. Tell me about what inspired the theme of this album and what all the items that accompanied it mean.

ARK: The design and packaging for Subkraut was in the ZonderZond design studio. It is directly related to the album’s plot… Actually, Subkraut tells the story about the expedition of the mysterious German submarine U-530 to Antarctica that happened somewhere in between 1940 and 1942. We used various conspiracy theories related to New Swabia, the ice-free Schirmacher Oasis, the “Highjump” expedition to Antarctica by the US admiral Richard Byrd in 1947, secrets of the modern German “Neumayer III” Antarctic station… and set forth our impressions in the manner of Matt Ruff, an American author of thriller, sci-fi and comic novels. Those who are familiar with his “Sewer, Gas & Electricity” could remember that the eco-terrorist submarine “Yabba-Dabba-Doo” found its shelter right under Liberty Island in the middle of New York Harbor… on the ruined underground berth for German U-boats. There was an old signpost in that fictional place saying “U-boats Willkommen Hier”. We thought it sounded like a proper title for our conspiralogically satiric kraut-rock-tinged album ☺

AI: Droga, your latest, is another total mind-blower. This is another album with lots of complex progressive rock compositions, though you’re still deep in space. In fact, I think I made more analogies to other bands than any previous Vespero review I’ve written. At the end of the review I said, “imagine a cross between King Crimson, Djam Karet, Ozric Tentacles, and early Genesis, and you might get something like Droga.” I think that variety of references I made speaks to the difficulty of trying to describe your music.

ARK: Thanks again, Jerry! Making Droga we wanted to express our feeling of the space within and around us. In some sense, these are wordless songs about our homeland – the Astrakhan region in Sothern Russia… about strange smells of the endless Steppe, huge empty prairies where ancient legends and mythos were born. Someone defined Droga as “Space-Canterbury” music… Probably, this is the most accurate description of our style ☺

IVAN: I think Droga exhausted our potentialities within the “progressive rock” genre ☺ I wouldn’t do another album in the same vein.

AI: So each album has its own distinct qualities. What kind of planning goes into a new Vespero album? Do you just get together and jam and see what happens? Are the tracks carefully composed?

ARK: Oh, it’s early to speak about a new Vespero album ☺ Making music is definitely a collective process for us. We think out new structures together, play a lot of jam-improvisations around invented themes, develop compositions, search for interesting harmonies and original sounds, and so forth. We can do it endlessly… until something wonderful happens: we get the album idea. In fact, any details can spur us – a new place we visit, another book one of us finished or movie or just a good story.

ALEX: We’re currently studying ancient Slavonic harmonies and folklore… our guitarist is learning to play an 8-string mandolin with a bow processed through a dozen of filters. We’re full of new ideas. But no one knows when all these exercises lead us to a new album.

IVAN: That’s true, we are very curious, sensitive and unpredictable persons ☺ So, it could happen any time.

AI: You’ve appeared on several Fruits de Mer compilations in the past couple years. The recently released Vespero single has two Pink Floyd covers, and you have contributed two Faust covers to Fruits de Mer compilations. Is there anything about Pink Floyd and Faust that stands out among your influences?

ARK: Pink Floyd and Faust are among our favorite bands. We were always curious about how their music could sound in our interpretation. But I don’t think we would ever go for making covers without Fruits de Mer Records. It was like Keith Jones invited us to a candy shop ☺ Thanks for that!

IVAN: I don’t know if we succeed in our retro-travels, but yes… it was excellent experience.

AI: Do you get to play live often? Where do you usually play and have you ever played outside Russia?

ARK: We play regularly in our hometown – probably once a month. And we tour Moscow and Saint-Petersburg twice a year. So… no we don’t get to play live often. This year, we were invited to play in Kiev, Ukraine. Except that, we have never performed outside Russia.

ALEX: But are always open to any invitations and proposals ☺

AI: You come from Astrakhan, in southern Russia. Is there an audience for the kind of music Vespero plays in your home town? Are there other space/psych/prog bands local to you?

ARK: We have about a hundred dedicated fans who come to our gigs in Astrakhan. We’re grateful for their support and happy to play for them. Though, our hometown is far from being a new capitol of space/psych/prog music ☺

IVAN: There are no other bands in Astrakhan playing this kind of music. We often share stage with MYSTIC MORRISON VISIONS from Volzhsky, a town located 400 kilometers from Astrakhan. This is a three-piece band playing superb prog-fusion music with some psychedelic touches. I would call them “spiritual brothers” of Vespero ☺

AI: Tell me about Vespero in concert. Do you typically play tracks from the albums? Is there any improvisation during your concerts?

ARK: We usually combine new material with already known songs in concerts. But stage improvisation is an important element of each performance. Live versions of our compositions are rather different from studio originals. Sometimes, we return to our earlier songs that are 3-4 years old and do some developments in composition and arrangement.

ALEX: Flight of the Lieutenant is a good example. This track was composed and recorded somewhere in 2011 as an exclusive for the French Falling Down IIV 2xCD compilation. The original version is around 6 minutes while the current live version lasts over 14 minutes. That’s how it sounded at our recent concert in Moscow: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ff_oUEMDH0E

AI: Your Facebook bio mentions, “avant-garde poetry and live theatrical performance”. Can you explain what that means?

ARK: As I said above, we had a period of strong infatuation with the Russian Avant-Garde and Futurism of 1900-1930, and we often incorporated elements of dance, pantomime, poetry readings into our stage shows through 2003-2006.

AI: Any new projects or future news that you would like to share?

ARK: We are currently working on the Vespero’s second DVD-album based on the materials from recent concerts in Moscow and Saint-Petersburg. Ivan and I are also involved in a collaborative project with guitarist Ilya Lipkin, a leader of the instrumental heavy-psyche band THE RE-STONED. A couple of songs have been already recorded, and we hope to continue in 2014, Let’s see what the Wood Horse Year will bring for us ☺

We send our warmest greetings to all music-lovers who believed and supported us through the years!
Thank you, Jerry, for this interview and opportunity to speak through Aural Innovations!

VESPERO DISCOGRAPHY

Home made discs and cassettes
Dust From The Silver Fingers (2004)
Milano 18.00. Live Vol.I (2004)
Like The Moon (2005)
Crabs Ashore (2006)
Bormotuha EP (2006)
Luxemburg 17.00. Live Vol.II (2006)
Concert at the Union Of Theatre Artists (2007)
Jet 5 Live (2007)

Official (studio) albums/EPs
Rito (R.A.I.G. Records, 2007, CD)
Surpassing All Kings (R.A.I.G. Records 2009, CD)
By the Waters of Tomorrow (R.A.I.G. Records 2010, CD)
Subkraut: U-Boats Willkommen Hier (R.A.I.G. Records 2012, CD / Krauted Mind Records 2012, 2×12″ LP – Germany)
Droga (R.A.I.G. Records 2013, CD)
Careful With That Axe, Eugene (Fruits de Mer Records 2013, 7″ vinyl – UK)

Liventures series (live albums)
Foam (Trail Records 2008, CD – USA)
Liventure #19 (R.A.I.G. Records 2008, CD-R)
Liventure #21 (Golden Pavilion Records 2010, 12″ LP – Portugal)
Liventures 2008-2010 (R.A.I.G. Records 2011, DVD)
Liventures, etc (R.A.I.G. Records 2013, CD-R)

Compilation & Split appearances
Psychedelic World Music (Trail Records 2012, CD – USA)
Falling Down IIV (Falling Down 2012, 2xCD – France)
Vespero & Zone Six / The Split Thing (Transubstans Records 2012,CD/12″ LP – Sweden)
Vespero vs. Temple Music – “Jennifer” (Fruits de Mer Records 2012, 7″ split vinyl – UK)
Shrunken Head Music (Fruits de Mer Records 2013, 2×7″ vinyl – UK)
Trail Records – Five Years In Space (Trail Recrods 2013, CD – USA)
Strange Fish 2 (Fruits de Mer Records 2013, 12″ LP – UK)

For more information visit the R.A.I.G. label web site at: http://www.raig.ru
Digital versions of all R.A.I.G. released can be streamed and purchased at: http://raig.bandcamp.com
Digital versions of Vespero’s albums can be streamed and purchased at: http://vespero.bandcamp.com

By Jerry Kranitz

A founding member of Yes, guitarist Peter Banks played on that bands first two albums before forming Flash with Ray Bennett on bass, Michael Hough on drums, and Colin Carter on vocals. Tony Kaye, another Yes founding member played keyboards on the first Flash album before moving on to co-found Badger. In Public documents a January 21, 1973 Kansas City performance featuring the quartet of Banks, Bennett, Hough and Carter. These archival recordings were in the works when Banks sadly passed away in March of this year, so it stands as a tribute to the guitarist.

In the CD notes, Banks bemoans the critics who accused Flash of sounding like Yes. Well, sure, Banks was a founder of that band. But I think the crucial difference is that rather than pigeonholing themselves with the type of “Prog” rock that characterized the post-Banks Yes albums, Flash also fit in easily with early 70s hard rock, though played by exceptional musicians who balanced interesting, imaginative, ever-shifting thematic twists and turns with a free-wheeling jam ethic (ok, so, “progressive hard rock”).

Most of the songs, at their core, are high energy rockers, skipping to and fro from the main themes to jazzy segments, whimsical bits, and Prog infused Yes-like constructions. The Yes comparisons are valid, though Flash in concert are rawer, edgier… a hard rock band with the ability to take their music to the next level of sophistication, without fully surrendering to the compositional restrictions that were the hallmark of so much 70s progressive rock. We’ve even got an extended drum solo, which Prog bands typically did not indulge in (ELP notwithstanding). Banks’ guitar chops are all over this set, without it feeling like a non-stop shred-fest. The performance showcases a creative musician who could turn-on-a-dime shift from standard hard rock solos, to dreamy ambience, jazz and swinging potency that borders on boogie-woogie.

The real monster of the set, and the one that will most appeal to Aural Innovations readers, is the 25 minute Dreams Of Heaven. Here we have Banks stepping fully into the spotlight. Banks shifts effortlessly through multiple styles, from frenetically wild to mantra inducing meditations. After a particularly peaceful solo, a volcanic noise-drone rumbles, and Banks tears off on a densely aggressive blend of feedback-laden Hendrix and Hawkwind Space Ritual, and then just as abruptly the band launch into the main theme of the song, while continuing to keep things loose and explore. As the music approaches the finale, it reaches mercury bursting levels of acid-drenched frenzy, and if any early 70s Prog rock could be considered “lysergic”, these brief moments are it. Early in the track I even hear bits of what sounds like could be The Byrds’ So You Want To Be A Rock and Roll Star, which is possible given that The Byrds shared the bill with Flash on this night! Maybe a nod to them?

Another comment by Banks in the CD notes, which he calls his war-cry is, “We have no keyboard player; I can do it all on my guitar, though I sometimes secretly wished for “the mighty swirling organ” of Tony Kaye, who played on our first album.” I dunno… I’d not heard much Flash prior to this live set, mostly being acquainted with Banks through the first two Yes albums and his Two Sides Of Peter Banks solo album. But judging by this live set, I’d say there’s a hell of a lot of exciting and varied music being made with just guitar, bass and drums.

For more information and to purchase In Public, visit http://www.peterbanks.net
The CD comes in a nice tri-fold cover and includes a 16 page booklet with memories of Peter Banks from fellow musicians and Flash crew.

Reviewed by Jerry Kranitz

Manikin Timeshark are a UK based band who play a blend of space rock and 80s styled neo-prog. They’ve been around for a while and if you search Manikin Timeshark at archive.org you’ll find numerous links to live shows and studio sessions that can streamed and downloaded. This year they released their first official album, A Trick In Time, recorded in June 2012 by Damian (space) Maguire on drums, (Saxy) Ellie Maguire on sax, Mike (Ponytron) Hewetson on keys, Martin (Golly) Clayton on guitar, “Natural” John McGowan on flute, and Anthony “Numbhair” Bristow on bass. I’ve been acquainted with keyboardist Mike Hewetson for a few years now. He was in the space-prog band Mothership Oracle and, in addition to Manikin Timeshark, currently plays in La Luna e Le Stelle, a space electronic project with Paul Owen and sometimes other musicians. Search them at archive.org to find lots of links to live performances and studio sessions.

A Trick In Time consists of 7 tracks and is about 53 minutes in length. Adrenalin opens the set and after a light spacey keyboard and flute intro, the band launch into a steady prog rocker with swingin’ sax. The music alternates between these two themes and the heavy sections have classic prog keyboards as well as a heavy Hammond organ sound. But the best part is the last 3 minutes, which is a smokin’ high intensity space-prog jam with chunky guitar chords and a monster solo, plus lots of killer varied keyboard action and all kinds of of stylistic influences happening at once. Airspace consists of classic 80s styled neo-prog with a toe dipped in the cosmos. This is high energy rockin’ stuff. I love the guitar, flute, sax, and keyboard combo. Hewetson cranks out a variety of keyboard sounds, both classic prog and totally spaced out. I should mention that he was in the band Galahad for a period in the late 80s, if anyone remembers them. A drum solo in the middle leads to a shifting of thematic gears to a slower paced but still highly intense section with symphonic keys and more killer ripping guitar solos.

Mortemacarbre and Shadow Chaser both feature a space-prog blend that I enjoyed, and the former is the one track of the set with vocals. Some of the keyboards on Dreamcatcher remind me of early IQ. But the wailing spaced out sax sound adds an edge to the music; a contrast that I like and gives Manikin Timeshark a distinct character that somewhat contravenes the neo-prog reference I’ve been making. And Clayton cranks out more killer guitar solos! At 12 minutes, Psychospasms is the longest track of the set. It opens with space synth patterns, flowing atmospheric washes, a lovely flute melody, and the sound of waves crashing against the shore. But once the full band kick in these guys are rockin’ hard and continually shifting thematic gears, blasting the listener with every instrument and stylistic influence in their arsenal, including some great alien attack spaced out effects. About halfway through, the music recedes and we find ourselves in a tension laden, ominously plodding creepy transition. But the pace quickly picks up again and we’ve returned to a multi-faceted world of heavy Hammonds, UFO electronics and saxophones. The music zig zags between these two themes, making for one hell of a space-prog rockin’ roller coaster ride that left me fairly well drained. Finally, Indimentional Time starts off as a trademark IQ styled prog rocker, but then halfway through shifts to cosmic space-prog with a brief but intense Hawkwind-like narrative bit.

In addition to my love for all things space/psych, I grew up on a steady diet of progressive rock and in the mid-80s discovered a mail order outfit here in the U.S. that gave me access to the so-called “neo-prog” bands that were sprouting up in the UK at the time. So Manikin Timeshark’s morphing of those influences with space rock appeals to me and they do a damn good job it. The sax adds a different dimension, the guitar often brings in a welcome good ‘ol hard rock element, and I love it when they include both sax and flute in the same songs. Looks like this will be the final entry to my Best of 2013 list.

To stream and download the album for free visit https://archive.org/details/ATrickInTime
NOTE: The CD is a digi-pack with a new and better remix than is heard on the archive.org download. The cost is £10, + £2 shipping in the UK, and £3 shipping outside the UK. Email mike.hewetson@talktalk.net for instructions.

Reviewed by Jerry Kranitz

I’ve long been acquainted with Tucson, Arizona based Eric Johnson through his work with Black Sun Ensemble and Sun Zoom Spark. Eric Johnson’s Action Figures is his first solo album, and it truly is a solo effort, with Eric writing all the music, playing all the instruments, and doing the CD art work.

There’s a lot of variety across the 13 songs on this album. Soul Retrieval, The Space Between and The Party Is Over are all chunky stompin’ rockers with a 70s feel. Soul Retrieval is a highlight, combining a cool dirty guitar sound and tasty acid psych guitar, and looming in the background is a Kraftwerk-like alien electro pattern that grooves along lightly with the heavy rock drumming. Inside Outside, Closer, and Demonstration are similar tunes, though with an upbeat groove. I like the sci-fi keyboard melody that contrasts with the rockin’ guitar on Closer. Demonstration is a bit different, having a psychedelic country feel and a cool combination of acoustic and dirty electric guitar.

Among my favorites is Barrett’s Blues, a stoned rocker that’s Bluesy but also has a bit of the ethnic feel of Black Sun Ensemble. The Device is a wickedly ass kickin’ monster guitar heavy spaced out hard psych rocker. Night Sea Journey, Black Queen, and Season of Circles are acoustic driven songs that blend folk and progressive rock. I especially like Eric’s acoustic guitar on Night Sea Journey. Season of Circles is a real standout, having a more intense prog-psych edge, and I like how the strained dissonant guitar offsets the otherwise pleasantly dreamy melodic drift.

Going in even more different directions is Orange Made World, an upbeat piano led instrumental with eerily pleasant spacey keys, alternating with dreamy ambient sections. And Carry Me Away is a blend of singer-songwriter and 60s pop-psych, and even has a bit of a Beatles feel.

In summary, there’s lots of interesting variety on Eric Johnson’s Action Figures. He employs a range of instrumentation and the production and arrangements are impressive for him having handled it all himself. For me the strongest tracks are the heavier ones with the psych influences, as well as the folk-prog infused songs. But that’s a reflection of my own taste. Eric serves up lots of variety without getting too stylistically scattered.

For more information visit the Slow Burn Records web site at: http://www.slowburnrecords.net

Reviewed by Jerry Kranitz

I never expected to see another Black Sun Ensemble album. The last one was 2008’s Across The Sea of Id: The Way to Eden, and even that was a surprise, given band member Eric Johnson’s comments about founder and guitar guru Jesus Acedo’s state of mind when I interviewed him in 2006. Jesus sadly passed away in March of this year, but it turns out that the band had reassembled in the fall of 2012 after a 5 year hiatus with the intention of seeking a new direction toward, as the promo sheet describes, “combining its well documented interest in ethnic music with ambient electronics and other keyboard-driven sounds.” The album was only half done when Jesus died, but supported by a grant from the Tucson Pima Arts Council, the remaining musicians recruited former members Bridget Keating on violin and Otto Terrorist on drums, plus other guests on oud and ethnic percussion to complete Behind Purple Clouds.

The album consists of 13 tracks and is just under an hour in length. Black Temple (a tribute to Popol Vuh) will transport you to a paisley colored Arabian desert, with its mind-bending combination of haunting keyboards, acidic psych guitar, siren seductive violin and ethnic percussion. Egyptian Magician will, on the other hand, transport you to a dance party in the Arabian desert. This is one of the new direction songs, with its electro beats and spaced out effects nicely embellishing this melodically bewitching groove tune. Dig that brief but cool stoned guitar. Mandala and Bastet are rocking and grooving ethnic psych tunes. Lotus and Jasmine are similar, though more trippy than rocking. Valley Of The Kings consists of psychedelia tailored made for belly dancers and dervishes, and includes a killer combination of oud and percussion. Jesus’ guitar and Bridget’s violin make for a luscious duo on Blue Thunder, a slow paced but intensely passionate and psychedelically symphonic song that would make great soundtrack music to a film. Captain Wormwood and Apollo Wolf are both classic Black Sun Ensemble rockers with Jesus in trademark dirty ripping psych guitar solo mode. I like the deep space effects, haunting atmospheric keys and pounding percussion on the psych rocking Watch The Stars. Red Temple has a cool and strange mixture of Middle Eastern and Reggae-ish grooves, plus a heavy Hammond sounding organ. Finally, the title track could not be a more fitting finale. Its just the trio of Jesus on guitar, Bridget on violin and Eric Johnson on organ, and is a tug at the heartstrings beauty, all the more emotional when I read in the promo sheet that this is the last piece of music Jesus recorded.

So this really is the Black Sun Ensemble swan song, and I must say they have gone out with a bang. Jesus Acedo was a hugely talented and creative though troubled soul who leaves behind a body of work dating back to 1985. CLICK HERE to catch the band in full flight on this 45 minute concert from 2005 I found on YouTube

For more information visit the Slow Burn Records web site at: http://www.slowburnrecords.net

Reviewed by Jerry Kranitz