I’ll be darned, after 15 years we’ve got a new album from Star Period Star. Their last album – Jet Propulsion Mystery Summer – was released in 1998 and really bowled me over. My review in AI #7 made references to Massacre, Dr Nerve, Thinking Plague, Cheer Accident, King Crimson, and I even threw in a comment about “Sex Pistols acid kosmiche”. The band were an Illinois based trio, though the current lineup only includes one of them, Dan Sweigert (guitars, bass, keyboards, bamboo flute, percussion and vocals), who has since relocated to South Carolina. New members include Joe Colone on bass, Pat Hamilton on keyboards, guitar and backing vocals, and Dan VanSchindel on drums and backing vocals. The only names from the last album are guests Ron Jagielnik on autoharp and treatments and Mike Sary (remember French TV?!) on fretless bass.

The set opens with Survivorman, a high energy and somewhat whimsical progressive rocker, with both organ and classic prog keyboards, and some fairly monstrous drumming. And ya gotta love lyrics like, “It took the whole day to boil the putrid water with a microscope.” Snares conjured up thoughts of the Residents collaborating with Magma for a heavy rockin’ Zheul-fest. Looking For You is one of the more overtly prog rock oriented songs, but it also has a bit of that avant-punk energy that I enjoyed so much on Jet Propulsion Mystery Summer, and there’s a swingin’ organ-led segment that’s good fun as well. I like the off-kilter rocking and quirkily accessible Synesthesia, which has a cool eerie alien synth line in the middle. I’m Into Miracles starts off as a pleasantly melodic acoustic led song, but near the 6 minute mark it shifts gears and rocks hard in prog-punk land, with some killer flashy screaming guitar and we’re treated to some disorienting rhythmic gymnastics. The title of the next song is a symbol… ( .. ) and is an instrumental that sounds like a tribute to Roger Trigaux’s Present. A Means To An End starts off as an accessible melodic rocker, but nothing sits still for long with these guys as they take off on an inspired prog gone acid-rock infused instrumental jam. And the album closes with an untitled bit of sparse experimental noodling.

Can’t See The Forest isn’t too far off from the last album, though I wouldn’t make most of the band analogies that I did then. Star Period Star have an oxymoronic flair for whimsical intensity that gives their music a distinct character, and despite my multiple references to progressive rock, there’s a raw edge and unpolished charm to the music that begs the question as to whether garage-prog is a genre. I might not like it as much as Jet Propulsion Mystery Summer, but with fewer analogies than I was able to identify on the previous album, Can’t See The Forest may well be further outside the box.

For more information visit the Crop Circle Collective web site at: http://cropcirclecollective.com

Reviewed by Jerry Kranitz

The latest from Mooch ship commander Steve Palmer is a three track, 30 minute EP that Steve describes as, an evocation of the longest night/shortest day of the year, which this year is on the 21st December at 14:49 GMT.

Winter Solstice consists of ambient/soundscape music utilizing synths, slide guitar, bells and other sound sources. The tracks flow smoothly from one to the next, though each has its own distinct qualities. Winter Solstice Part 1 features electronic ambient waves that lay the foundation over which deep space Bluesy slide guitar explores, accompanied by bells which, given the time of year, can’t help but inject a Holiday feel. There are actually two or three layers of guitar, and combined with the electronics, which alternate between intense drones, heavenly drift and spaced out melody, all sound and feel meditatively magical. Winter Solstice Part 2 is a spacey, rhythmic, yet reflective groove tune with killer cosmic synth sounds and inspiring melodies. It’s not unlike Steve’s Blue Lily Commission project. Finally, Winter Solstice Part 3 returns to the themes of Part 1, though it shifts gears continually throughout its nearly 12 minute length. Its deep space exploration all the way, featuring soaring space synths and slide guitar licks that at times take off and sound like they bleed into electronic effects. Pure cosmic beauty, and writing about it feels extra good as I kick off the beginning of long 4 day weekend.

Winter Solstice is available in mp3 or flac formats from http://www.musiczeit.com
CLICK HERE to go directly to the Winter Solstice page

Reviewed by Jerry Kranitz

C.G. (Christopher) Gross, though new to me, has been recording electronic music since the late 70s, and his Utility Recording label, which released this CD, began life as a cassette label in 1980. Mythos is based, to quote the letter that accompanied the CD, “mostly on H.P. Lovecraft’s early fantasy stories (as well as The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath).” Lovecraft has long been primo fodder for various styles of music. Most recently I recall Alisa Coral’s 2012 Space Mirrors album, In Darkness The Whisper, which was influenced by the author, and she too created an admirable interpretation of Kadath, a 22 minute 8 act space-metal suite.

I like it when electronic musicians take on a theme for their albums. I enjoy dwelling on the subject as I listen, and Lovecraft is a fun one to ponder with instrumental music, and dedicated fans will recognize most of the track titles. We’ve got the Gothic flavored space-symphonic The Silver Key. The sparse, minimal rushing wind, drones and eerie effects of R’lyeh. The angelic, space-orchestral and pleasantly melodic Steps Of Slumber and I Am Providence. Similar is the cosmically atmospheric and lightly melodic Poetry and the Gods. Among the more picturesque, imagine inducing tracks is Erich Zann, with its haunting alien effects alongside an orchestral theme and spacey efx’d melody. Cold Waste is all space-orchestral high intensity. I like the blend of soundscapes and Berlin school on Through the Gates. Plateau of Leng is less than a minute in length but is a high energy combination of drones and effects, though I felt less let down by its brevity when I heard the following track, the equally intense and efx’d Pickman’s Basement, with its creepy voice and music that brings to mind a John Carpenter soundtrack. Sunset City starts off with multiple parallel flowing soundscapes and then eases into a deep space-ambience. And Polaris wraps up the set with ambience and effects.

Most of the tracks are in the 2-4 minute range, so no lengthy stretch-out music here. Rather, Gross does a good job of creating a collection of synopses; concise musical statements that flow nicely from one to the next. Overall, Mythos is an enjoyable set of space-ambient/soundscapes/symphonic music.

Both CD and download versions of Mythos can be purchased at CDBaby (CLICK HERE) and Amazon (CLICK HERE). Downloads are also available at iTunes.

Reviewed by Jerry Kranitz

Italian heavy rockers Insider’s last album, released late last year and titled Vibrations From The Tapes, was a set of instrumental psychedelic improvisations. Event Horizon is their new album is the first set of composed pieces since 2005’s Simple Water Drops, so halle-fuckin’-lujah!! The band are still the trio of Marco Ranalli on electric and acoustic guitars and synths, Piero Ranalli on bass, and Stefano Di Rito on drums. The album includes 8 instrumental tracks in just under an hour.

Escape Velocity opens the set and consists of Stoner-Metal with a Prog rock edge. The music jams hard but there’s enough intensity, interesting melodic guitar and bass development and thematic shifts to keep this 7 minute track engaging. I also like the wah’d psych guitar dueling with the metal leads. Magnetic Field Lines starts off like a stoned version of Red-era King Crimson, and then transitions to a tastefully melodic and nicely spaced out Prog infused heavy rocker. Gravitational Mass alternates between a stoned and doomy vibe and a more upbeat tempo with seductive and uplifting melodies. I like the schizophrenic thematic twists and turns on this one. The feel good melodies within a Prog influenced Stoner-Metal context continues on Jet, and we’re treated to some fun and freaky space electronics near the finale. The title track is a short piece featuring pastoral acoustic guitar combined with HIGH intensity meteor shower space effects. I really dig the crazy contrast on this tune.

The entire album is about never staying in one place at the same time, but the 9 minute Expansion Of The Universe makes it explicit by listing 6 parts: Inertia > Quantum Fluctuations > Development Of Galaxies > Dark Energy > Synthesis Of Elements > The Present Universe. The spirit of heavy King Crimson rears its lovely head again, but we’ve also got Proggy keyboards, while the guitars remain firmly in hard rocking Stoner-Prog territory. This sucker ROCKS! Black Hole morphs between heavy Psych rock, spacey King Crimson and majestic Stoner-Prog. And White Hole is a Stoner-Metal jam with cool twiddling keyboard patterns at the beginning and heavier keyboards later.

I don’t think I’ve ever used the term Stoner-Prog before, but that’s what comes to mind as I consider the heavy riffage, thoughtful melodies, and compositional complexity that exceeds what I typically hear from the average Stoner band. But that’s just one reference and it would be wrong to label Insider a Stoner band anyway. In short, if you like your music on heavy side, with touches of Space Rock and Psychedelia, and a Prog-like consideration for thematic development, then Event Horizon is right up your alley.

For more information visit the Andruid Records web site at: http://www.andruidrecords.com

Reviewed by Jerry Kranitz

The latest from Northern California based Carlton Melton is a 5-track, 37 minute set available on CD and vinyl LP (black or green). Dig that killer cover art. The opening track, Slow Wake, couldn’t be more appropriately titled, as it consists of dreamily floating and totally trippy, dual guitar driven psychedelic atmosphere creation and mood alteration. Keeping On is next and gets into more aggressive space rocking territory, with one guitar cranking out intense strums and leads, the other trippily bubbling along, and a synth melody injecting an added dose of Kosmiche. The music sails along smoothly until after the four minute mark when everything explodes in a slow but monstrously spaced out psychedelic stew. Spiderwebs is another cosmically psychedelic ambient exploration. Sarsen is my favorite track of the set, being a high energy rocker with motorik drumming, searing acid-drone guitar, spaced out licks and alien synth effects, making for a killer jam that’s like a combination of Krautrock and new millennium Chrome. Finally, The Splurge is a stoned and droned exploration that chugs along at a valium-like pace, with creepy atmospherics and space-angst guitars.

Overall, Always Even is relatively short but enjoyable set and I like the combination of heaviness and ambience across the tracks. Along with bands like Vespero, Electric Moon, and Oresund Space Collective, Carlton Melton are among my favorites of the contemporary improvisational space rock bands. Also note that on April 13, 2014, Carlton Melton will be making their second appearance at the Roadburn Festival in Tilburg, The Netherlands.

For more information visit the Carlton Melton web site at: http://www.carltonmeltonmusic.com

Reviewed by Jerry Kranitz

I was introduced to Finnish musician Mika Rintala years ago through his work with Jussi Lehtisalo’s Ektro world of bands, including Circle, Lehtisalofamily, and Ektroverde (the latter being more or less a collaboration between Mika and Jussi), and then many albums of Mika’s own Verde project. An electrical engineer by trade, Mika has built a fascinating array of electronic instruments that are works of art AND functional. CLICK HERE to see a few that were in a gallery that I included with a 2001 interview in AI #14). Also CLICK HERE to see a recent video Mika posted on YouTube touring his amazing studio.

Petoviha is the latest Verde album, and includes numerous guests on percussion, French horn, viola de gamba (a 15th century bowed/fretted/string instrument), jouhikko (a traditional Finnish 2 or 3 stringed instrument), and other homemade Finnish traditional instruments. Put Petoviha in the Google translator and you’ll get “anger beast”, to which Mika adds “wild beast hatred” and “carnivore hatred”. More specifically, the theme of the album is Mika’s commentary on Finnish hunters who dislike carnivorous wild animals, partly due to the competition between man and beast for deer and rabbits.

Having heard quite a bit of Mika’s work over the years I was struck by prominence of traditional instruments. The combination of jazz and orchestral music with space electronics and sounds samples is fascinating, making for a compelling 70 minutes of music. The experience is difficult to describe so I’ll just share my freeform thoughts in an attempt to communicate a flavor of what all the mixing, morphing and blending is like across the 12 tracks that make up Petoviha. Among the highlights is Dekatronilokki, on which syncopated, harsh machinery electronic patterns duel with what sounds like a gaggle of chimpanzees howling in harmony. Susiaalinen Media features wild free-jazz improv, with frenzied drumming, guitar and keys, experimental manipulation of instruments, and intense electronics. Terassipeto elinvoimainen starts with sounds of nature, leading into a trippy Middle Eastern theme mixed with jazz, whimsical jaw-harp and space-ambience. Petoviha consists of dark, somber orchestral horns, a moody soloing bass, slowly spiraling electronic waves, and the sound of water splashing against the shore. On Vaarantunut naamakirjanarkomaani, stringed instruments create a passionately intense theme as the music chugs along at a choppy, stumbling, but steady rhythmic pace, like some kind of zombie robot orchestra, surrounded by floating and fluttering spacey keys. Hukka sukka has an interesting blend of wryd-folk acoustic guitar and dark, cinematic space electronics. Arvioimatta jätetty has a heart wrenchingly beautiful string melody surrounded by bee swarm alien electronics. My two favorite tracks are Kekkonen and Salametsästäjä, which back-to-back make for the best 18 minutes of the set. Kekkonen kicks off with water splashing and birds chirping, leading into multiple layers of robotic electronics, including efx’d voice and light jazz drumming, eventually building up to a mixture of Sun Ra styled jazz, soundscapes, sundry natural sounds, plus an avant-electronic melody and oddball rhythmic groove. And Salametsästäjä consists of haunting yet delightfully freaky space electronics combined with jazzy horn and percussion led orchestration, anchored by a throbbing repetitive electro pulse, waves of floating space-ambience, and all manner of fun frenzied and crazed electronic sounds crop up throughout.

In summary, Petoviha is one of the most challenging albums I’ve heard from Verde, and it’s the musical, electronic and sound sample combinations that kept me coming back for more. If you’re at all intrigued by what I’ve described, check this out. New treasures will be discovered on each repeated listen.

For more information visit the Verde web site at: http://www.verdeaudio.com
Visit the Karkia Mistika Records web site at: http://www.hahmot.net

Reviewed by Jerry Kranitz

I love when a band can combine different genres in such a seamless way that no single song can be defined as a specific type. It’s almost like creating a whole new kind of music. Italy’s Manthra Dei pull that off beautifully on their self-titled debut album, merging space rock, stoner rock and progressive styles into a psychedelic brew that will have your head spinning.

Perfect example is the 11-minute opening track, Stone Face, with its grungy desert riffing coming from guitarist Paolo Vacchelli, offset by the complex whirlwind rhythm play of bassist Branislav Ruzicic and drummer Michele Crepaldi. You already have something that goes beyond standard stoner rock here, but throw in some weird spacey effects and the pulsing, progressive keywork of Paolo Tognazzi on organ and synths and you’ve got a real powerhouse of sound on your hands.

And so it goes throughout the album, this perfect blending, from the heavy, thundering rock of Xolotl to the 70’s retroblast of Legendary Lamb (this track also featuring melodic vocal harmonies) to the reverent and stately organ of Urjammer. In fact, and no slight intended towards the other musicians who are all excellent, but it’s really Tognazzi’s superb keyboard playing that gives Manthra Dei its unique sound. The tracks are drenched in beautiful, acidic organ whether it’s the spacey effects laden passages of Xolotl or the energetic arpeggios of Stone Face, the mix allows the keyboard to shine and be the star through much of the album.

Things really and truly come together on the nearly 18-minute monster Blue Phantom. It opens with nearly 4-minutes of trippy, Floydian style ambience, all cymbal swells, sustained organ notes and freaky guitar effects, before it explodes into a swirling, delirious heavy psych jam that eventually leads into a very cool mellower passage with a mystical Middle Eastern vibe to it and a haunting melody that sounds like it’s played on a glockenspiel. Totally cool. The piece finishes with a mind blowing finale of crunching guitars, frantic rhythms and those sublime, arpeggiating keyboards.

The album’s not over yet though. The proceedings close with a gentle acoustic reprise of Stone Face, which makes me wish a little that they’d woven some of that acoustic playing into the other songs as well. Nonetheless, Manthra Dei, the album, is great from start to finish; an album that can unite stoner rock fans, space rock fans and fans of progressive music. There is much to love here and it’s well worth checking out.

For more info, visit: http://acidcosmonautrecords.bandcamp.com/album/manthra-dei
http://acidcosmonautrecords.bigcartel.com, and http://acidcosmonautrecords.blogspot.ca

Reviewed by Jeff Fitzgerald

My introduction to UK based Crystal Jacqueline was the 3-song 7″ from Fruits de Mer Records released earlier this year, on which she served up three tasty covers of psychedelic songs from the 60s. Jacqueline is also the singer and keyboardist in The Honey Pot, whose To The Edge Of The World album was released in 2012 and is an impressive set of 60s inspired pop-psych and garage rock (with some great retro orchestrations).

Jacqueline’s debut solo album consists of a dozen songs, both originals and covers. There’s lots of variety throughout the album, and while the pop-psych of The Honey Pot is present, there’s much more going on than that. Spacey psychedelia mixed with dirty Blues is the name of the game on the title track that opens the set. Dream 1 is a dancey rhythmic rocker with trippy contrasting guitar leads. Who Do You Love is a beautiful dreamy psychedelic pop song that’s 60s inspired but with a modern, rather than retro feel. By The Way is an angelic song with an interesting blend of medieval folk and Celtic influenced orchestration, fun freaky effects, and some of Jacqueline’s most passionate vocals of the set. I Break is a stripped down acoustic tune. Of the original songs, my two favorites are Alice and Light Is Love. Alice features scrumptiously lysergic float-on-a-cloud spaced out folky pop-psych, and I love the combination of space-slide guitar and orchestration. Light Is Love starts off as a mind-bending avant-psych song with heavily efx’d guitar, before launching into a high energy pop-psych rocker with a funky tripped out groove and some of the coolest efx’d guitar leads on the album. Nice!

Jacqueline goes for an interesting cross section in her choice of covers. The three songs from the Fruits de Mer 7″ are here. The Troggs’ Cousin Jane is a gently whispering and lightly orchestrated song and the polar opposite of that band’s best known hit. I like the dark piano lead and surreal synth melody, and Jacqueline’s voice is perfectly suited to anything with a 60s flavor. Jacqueline take the whimsical Prog-Psych of Second Hand’s 1968 song A Fairy Tale and gives it an edgier opening guitar segment, a much more psyched out solo later in the song, and makes it all happen at a faster and more energetic pace. The Rolling Stones’ Play With Fire is both hauntingly dreamy and intense, and I like the combination of bubbly psych guitar leads, acoustic guitar, piano and spacey symphonic keys. In Jacqueline’s hands, Gordon Lightfoot’s Sundown becomes a dark and dreamy orchestrated psych rocker. But my hands down favorite of the covers is the psychedelic take on Fly A Kite. YES, from the Mary Poppins movie! This is by no means a stretch in terms of song choice because it could be argued that ‘ol Walt’s flicks had more than a few psychedelic moments in them, however unintentional it may have been. The song begins as a lulling and oh so slightly acidic dreamy number, later launching into a heavier rocker with freaky warbling, wah’d and spacey guitar, plus a ripping lead once we’re in full majestic rock mode, before returning to the introductory lull for the finale. Wow, what a great example of taking a song out of its known context and completely reinterpreting it.

In summary, this is an impressive and intriguingly varied set of songs. The production and arrangements are very good and I like the mixture of originals and covers. It can be risky including so many covers on an album but Jacqueline, for the most part, takes the originals and does a good job of putting her own spin on them. The album is out on CD, but I see on Jacqueline’s Facebook page that a Kickstarter campaign was just successfully completed to have Sun Arise pressed in a vinyl edition.

For more information visit the Mega Dodo web site at: http://www.mega-dodo.co.uk
Streaming and ordering is available at: http://megadodo.bandcamp.com/album/sun-arise-2
Stream and order The Honey Pot album To The Edge Of The World at: http://megadodo.bandcamp.com/album/to-the-edge-of-the-world

Reviewed by Jerry Kranitz

Census of Hallucinations’ second release of 2013 travels a different path than its predecessor. Released in July, Spirit of Yellow consisted of reinterpretations of 13 songs from the Stone Premonitions catalog. Quoting from the press release for the album – “The quest to nail down definitive versions of Stone Premonitions’ better known songs was fueled in part by the possibilities for different interpretations to be culled from new members. And, for the authors, the thoughtful reflection of living with a song for many years can inspire an entirely different perspective with the benefit of hindsight. Tim [Jones] was further motivated by access to better technology in the digital domain, as songs that had great performances when they were originally recorded were not necessarily good quality recordings.”

Having been immersed in nearly the entire Stone Premonitions catalog for many years now, Spirit of Yellow was an interesting listen for me, though in some cases I couldn’t tear myself away from the originals. The new album – Coming of the Unicorn – does in a couple cases draw on the spirit of existing songs, but is largely characterized by the unique Space Rock/Psychedelia/Progressive Rock and song combination that has made the band so special over the years.

Joining Census of Hallucinations and Stone Premonitions label founders Tim Jones and Terri~B on this outing are John Simms from Clear Blue Sky on guitar, guitar synthesizer and bass, Maxine Marten on vocals, Stone Premonitions veterans Paddi and Dave Pipkin on drums and Steve Ellis on keyboards, plus guests Michael Steadman (programming), Kingsley burns (bass), and Mike Forse (backing vocals) on a few tracks.

The album opens with Something That Affects All People, an intense introductory soundscape instrumental with deep, cavernous ambience, space-prog keys, “Space Ritual” effects, and guitar that is both rocking and spaced out. This segues into Only Time Will Tell, which draws inspiration from Mountain Climbing, a song originally recorded with Tim and Terri’s band, The Rabbit’s Hat, as well as appearing on earlier Census of Hallucinations albums. Here it’s taken into an entirely different direction, being a rhythmic, gently rocking yet cosmically floating song, with guitar that is both rocking and psychedelically mind-bending, plus space electronics and classic, swooning Stone Premonitions vocals. As Within So Without dives back into space, consisting of ultra trippy soundscapes and effects combined with slow, brain massage guitar solos, all supported by an energetic rhythmic pulse. Put The Head On is a majestic heavy rocking space-prog instrumental with killer guitar. This is followed by the playfully mind-bending The Unicorn Is Coming, melting smoothly into Stars, which takes the Census of Hallucinations space classic My God, It’s Full Of Stars and sends it hurtling into a new rocking dimension, without losing the hypnotic exploratory elements. Miracle is a spirited, uplifting, space jazzy soulful vocal number. Electroid is a short, high powered instrumental that leads into the hip shakin’, cool groovin’, space Blues rockin’ Crystal Spheres Of Light. UFO Over Penrith is a spacey trippy interlude that sets the stage for Love You True, with its dreamily passionate and soulful vocals. The album concludes in deep space, with the brief Existential Vertigo and, finally, As Within So Without (Slight Return), a cosmic freakout that closes the set.

In summary, Coming Of The Unicorn represents Census of Hallucinations at their spaced out best. The album is largely instrumental, but the vocal numbers are well placed, making for a 13 track set that flows seamlessly from beginning to end. I’ll also add that while Tim Jones is a gifted guitarist, adding the incredibly talented John Simms on guitar enriches the music by bringing together two distinct yet complimentary musical personalities. And as with all Stone Premonitions releases, everything is masterfully crafted in the studio. Coming Of The Unicorn has also given me a better appreciation for the more song-oriented Spirit of Yellow. Taken together, the two albums, though very different from one another, represent everything that drew me to the Stone Premonitions world in the first place.

For more information visit the Stone Premonitions web site at: http://aural-innovations.com/stonepremonitions
(Disclaimer: I host the Stone Premonitions web site as a fan and admirer and do not “represent” the label in any official capacity)
Visit the Stone Premonitions web shop at: http://www.stonepremonitionswebshop.com

Reviewed by Jerry Kranitz

A bit of background… The Ohio based Guild Navigators have been around since the early 90s and headed up by Chris “Freak Spaceley” Mead. Further out West, Jet Jaguar were launched in Albuquerque, New Mexico in 2001 by Charles Van de Kree. Both have their own catalog of releases, but the two joined forces in 2008 for a split CD titled Jet Jaguar vs. The Guild Navigators Deathrace Beyond The Stars, and Mead and Van de Kree had the opportunity to meet and record together in 2009 during the brief period when the latter was teaching in Columbus, Ohio.

I knew the two had collaborated and have been chompin’ at the bit ever since to hear the results, which we now have available on this all too brief CDEP, billed to The Guild Navigators and and recorded by the quartet of Mead on guitar, vocals, sampler and FX, Van de Kree on guitar, synths and audio generator, Stinky on drums and Tony Chaffin on bass. I’ve heard some outstanding examples in recent years of metal infused space rock, but precious little punk inspired Spacecore, and that’s exactly The Guild Navigators deliver.

Red Vision 7 opens with swirling space synths and mission control voice samples, before launching into a scorched Earth space-thrashing assault. The music rocks out relentlessly and the electronics blaze away like the War of the Worlds is truly upon us. Mead’s vocals remind me of Marc Power with Born to Go, a band that Mead and anyone who attended the old Strange Daze Space Rock festivals will fondly remember. This is followed by a cover of Hawkwind’s Master Of The Universe that is so ass-kicking it just might bring a tear to the eyes of the song’s originators. Escape Warp Transmission is a brief freaked out transitional piece that puts the listener in a frightening launch pad, and leads into the final song, Glimmer, an easy-paced but monstrously intense space rocker with sci-fi keys and spacious chainsaw guitars and groove that reminds me of Farflung.

Crap!! I’m diggin’ this BIG time and before you know it it’s over. We need to get Mead and Van de Kree back together for a full album.

There’s no web site yet but email either Charles Van de Kree at st.magellan@yahoo.com or Chris Mead at cgmead@yahoo.com. They’re also still sorting out digital download availability so you can ask them about that too.

Reviewed by Jerry Kranitz