Regal Crabomophone is the Fruits der Mer Records sub-label created to release both original songs and covers, and like the Fruits de Mer annuals, this one finds a home for songs that FdM Keith could fit in anywhere else during the year.

On this year’s annual we’re treated to two tasty originals. Mark McDowell is a UK based musician I don’t think I’ve heard before. His Girls Of Belvoir is a beauty of a lilting folk-pop-psych song with woodwinds and violin, pulsating phased guitar, and sporadic guitar leads that add an edge to this otherwise dreamy song. I need to explore more of Mark’s music.

Octopus Syng was for a long time a solo project of Finnish musician Jaire, though I think he may have taken on more members now. His Listen With The Moths is a perfect companion to Mark McDowell’s song. It starts off as a gentle but rhythmic folky brand of 60s inspired psychedelia. But after a few minutes the music blasts off into a heavier rocking but trippily angelic psych tune. I love the vocal harmonies which are gorgeously retro 60s. And at nearly 8 minutes Jaire really stretches out and we get some scrumptious psychy guitar leads.

The single will be available mid-November, and as usual this is vinyl ONLY, no CDs or downloads. If interested you better hurry because Fruits de Mer releases sell out QUICK!

For more information visit the Fruits de Mer Records web site at: http://www.fruitsdemerrecords.com

Reviewed by Jerry Kranitz

I’ll start by telling you that unless you regularly purchased Fruits de Mer Records releases throughout 2013 you can’t get this. So why am I reviewing it? I’ve grown to love this label so call it a “membership has its privileges” plug. Being a Fruits de Mer “member” simply means that if you purchase all their vinyl delights throughout the year you get an oh so awesome freebie as the end year holidays roll in.

In August the label held their first ever live event – the Fruits de Mer All-Dayer, held in London and featuring Jack Ellister (Netherlands), Sendelica (Wales), The Luck Of Eden Hall (US), Stay (Spain), and headliners The Pretty Things. The members’ freebie this year is a 7″ featuring one track from all but The Pretty Things, who had to be excluded because they’ve got a live album coming out soon.

Jack Ellister is a psychedelic maestro who did an acoustic set at the All-Dayer and his Old South is a lovely tune with a 70s singer-songwriter feel. Stay’s I Don’t See Myself is a swingin’ slab of R&B infused psychedelia. Sendelica’s Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Buddha is a cool rhythmic blend of trippy tribal and ethnic influences wrapped around a Pink Floyd Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun core. And The Luck Of Eden Hall do a feisty spaced out rockin’ cover of Pink Floyd’s Lucifer Sam. Wish I could have attended this event!

For more information visit the Fruits de Mer Records web site at: http://www.fruitsdemerrecords.com

Reviewed by Jerry Kranitz

I’ll get your attention by saying that Dave Mihaly has done time as percussionist in Mushroom, having played on a half dozen of their albums. Rivers is the second of his Shimmering Leaves Ensemble albums and features an interesting and varied collection of steadily brewing free-jazz, ambient-jazz, and vocal numbers. But that’s a simplistic description of this 13 track collection which is ultimately difficult to adequately describe.

I like the acoustic guitar and percussion rhythms which inject a strange but pleasant vibe on Oil Painting for Adolphe Sax & Coleman Hawkins. The viola sings and the horns blow some jazzy swing. Other highlights include A Bientot, a melancholy viola, trumpet and acoustic guitar instrumental, best described by the last line of the CD notes – “like wisteria and Spanish moss drooping down from hazy rafters some golden afternoon.” There’s an element of free-form experimental exploration on Mudang, yet it’s accessible and pleasant, with mildly wailing and singing horns that are efx’d and may even be looped. It’s all very slow and understated with a beautiful drifting ambience. Willoughby and Red Mask features an avant-jazz combination of high energy drumming, dueling trumpet, sax and viola, and old time funky wah’d guitar. Among my favorites is Honu, which after an avant-jazz inspired mariachi intro transitions to ambient guitar, viola and horns backed by free-jazz drumming. This is a perfect warm-up for the 9 minute multi-faceted title track, which consists of a cool grooving blend of lounge jazz and Coltrane, a lovely trumpet and singing viola duet, and acoustic guitar tripping along slowly to free-jazz percussion and an underlying tension laden ambience, which gets nicely screechy and borders on the psychedelic. Lots happening here. There are also 4 vocal numbers. I’m not good at singer-songwriter analogies but The Cat Tried to Catch a Hummingbird is like a Tom Waits song with tastefully jamming sax and whimsical percussion. The one that really caught my attention, though, is Cherry Blossom Road, with its spacey ambience and distant ghostly viola that surrounds Dave singing along to slowly soloing electric guitar.

In summary, an interesting set that I wouldn’t begin to know how to classify. Jazz fans may be intrigued. Singer-songwriter fans might get confused. Adventurous types with cross-genre tastes will find much to enjoy across repeated spins.

For more information you can visit the Dave Mihaly web site at: http://www.davemihaly.com

Reviewed by Jerry Kranitz

Brian Noring is a veteran electronic music hometaper from Iowa who had been inactive until recently inspired to return to music by Hal McGee, another homemade music luminary who long time Aural Innovations readers will know. Seeing Brian back in action, Atlanta area electronic musician Dave Fuglewicz reached out for a collaboration. Brian sent him a couple CDs worth of source files which Dave “twisted and mutated, adding my own synth voices using my modest collection of VST software synths”. The results can be heard on their new collaboration, Furious Cactus.

Among the darker pieces is the title track, with its cavernous, bowels-of-the-starship space electronics. The music conjures up images of a claustrophobic stroll through the ship’s engine room, with all the attendant machinery and a looming alien presence. The music is minimal but weaves its way along a slowly evolving linear path. The Forbidden Road has an ominous feel, with vaguely Proggy keys. I like the multiple cosmic effects working at once, but not too busily, and there’s an interesting use of percussive effects too. The Transoxian Express is similarly foreboding and would make a great soundtrack piece.

Veering in a somewhat different direction is The Bells Of Axum. A valium-like ambient foundation is set for the bells, which makes for an interesting contrast and gives the music an uplifting melodic boost. Bonafide is similar, combining freaky holiday bells with whooshing UFO and cosmic windswept effects. I wonder if Netflix has Santa Claus Conquers The Martians? I dig the whimsically frenzied main theme on Terrobolem Parts 1 and 2. The Void Is The Boundary is a wild, multi-layered roller coaster ride that takes the spaced out themes that have characterized the album and adds a healthy dose of noise. Fractal Companions features a cool combination of busily flittering effects, a lovely melody, and damned if the beloved droid r2d2 isn’t the lead singer. And Chuchunga Chant has what seems to be a strange spaced out duet between a church organ and kazoo (which is probably an efx’d voice).

In summary, Furious Cactus is a varied set of image inducing electronic space excursions. It’s an intriguing listen from start to finish, in large part due to the combination of disparate elements that come together so seamlessly. Check it out.

Furious Cactus is available for free download from archive.org: https://archive.org/details/furious_cactus
Dave Fuglewicz would enjoy hearing from anyone who downloads the album. You can reach him at: fuglewiczd@bellsouth.net

Reviewed by Jerry Kranitz

Anyone who has been checking out Aural Innovations on a regular basis will have come across a few frequently recurring names – Hawkwind, Acid Mothers Temple, Ozric Tentacles – either through album reviews of those bands, or name-checked as influences. Another frequent flier on AI, perhaps less of a household name but extremely prolific just the same, is Oresund Space Collective, a constantly changing roster of players built around the synths of Dr Space and Mogens, and a shared love of improvised music. Now they are back again, releasing their 16th (!!!) album as a limited edition (500 copies) vinyl gatefold, entitled Organic Space Floatation. Last year’s Give Your Brain A rest From The Matrix featured guests from hard spacerockers First Band From Outer Space, while West, Space And Love showcased guests from Siena Root, jamming along with the ever-present Dr Space. Organic Earthly Floatation sees the arrival of yet more talented Scandanavians in the form of Kristoffer Brochmanns, Nicklas Sorensens and Christian Becher Clausen of the Copenhagen band Papir. Also along for the ride is American guitarist Daniel Lars, who breaks with Oresund tradition by bringing with him opening track Walking On Clouds, the first time that the Collective have utilised a pre-written track upon which to jam; up until now, everything they have done has been completely improvised.

The 19 minute Walking On Clouds, is the undoubted highlight of this guitar-based album, with lots of dreamy guitar over a chord sequence that brings to mind the opening notes of ’60’s supergroup Blind Faith’s Can’t Find My Way Home mixed up with Hawkwind’s You Know You’re Only Dreaming, although this is an entirely instrumental piece, as is about 99% of everything done by Oresund. There are bits of Grateful Dead in there too, as well as Neil Young and Crazy Horse – check out Drifting Back from 2012’s Psychedelic Pill for the evidence – but the most apparent (and most obvious, given the guest list) influence is that of Papir and fellow monolithic guitar trio Causa Sui. This is not hard rocking stuff, but rather huge guitar soundtracks, with waves of synthesizer periodically breaking through and then submerging again. Near the end of part one of Clouds, the guitars reach a screaming climax, before backing off again as the track winds down and fades into the second part, much shorter at just over six minutes. The Collective have never been about egos and solos, but rather a tapestry of instruments weaving in and out of the mix. Being a vinyl only release at this time (although it is to be hoped that an official CD release will follow), the track lengths are divided into approximate album length, with both parts of Walking On Clouds making up a 25 minute A-side. Carlos On The Moon starts out more organically, as one would expect from a purely improvisational piece, and drifts gently through its 17 minutes. Album closer Neptune Rising serves as a satisfying conclusion to 45 minutes of etherial spacerock.

It must be mentioned that the cover of Organic Earthly Floatation (drawn by Finnish artist Eetu Pellonpaa) is eye catching, to put it mildly – it looks like he has invited Hawkwind’s Stacia in to model – and a full size 12″ album sleeve would look even more impressive. Long time fans of Oresund are likely to enjoy both cover and contents, while it also serves as an excellent point of entry for newcomers. Causa Sui and Papir fans would also be advised to check out at least side one of this interstellar floatation device.

For further information, go to http://oresundspacecollective.com or http://oresunspacecollective.bandcamp.com
The band can be contacted at oresundspacecollective@gmail.com

Reviewed by Pat Albertson

Spids Nogenhat (Danish term for magic mushrooms) originally formed from members of On Trial, a band that produced numerous offshoots, including Ghost Rocket, Black Beacon Orchestra, and, perhaps best known to Aural Innovations readers, Baby Woodrose and Dragontears. Twelve years after their 2001 debut, Spids Nogenhat release their second album, Kommer Med Fred (Danish for We Come In Peace). The album is 38 minutes long, with 7 original songs and one cover.

After a high intensity oscillators plus acoustic guitars blast off, Mere Lys launches into a catchy song that can only be described as a space rock version of Baby Woodrose. And the spirit of Baby Woodrose is very much in evidence throughout the album. Lever vi Nu? is an acoustic driven spaced out slab of psychedelic pop. The lyrics may be in Danish but damn, these are all such a catchy songs. Lolland Falster is an easy paced tune with a bit of a garage folk-psych feel, and has a cool combination of 60s west coast guitar, bubbling liquid psych guitar, and searing acidic licks. Vand, Brod Og Te is similar but without the acid licks. Spids Nogenhat I Graesset explores similar territory, being both steady paced and intense, and its warbled psych guitar leads have a sharp sting. Jorden Kalder is a trippy psychedelic magic carpet dream ride. Fred goes in a different direction, being a freeform freak flag waving pagan folk-psych trip that sounds like it would be at home on one of the first couple Spacious Mind albums. And then there’s Den Gennemsigtige Mand, a cover by a band I’ve never heard of called Furekaben. A little Googling reveals them to have been a Danish band that existed from the late 60s – early 70s. I couldn’t find this song but listened to a few others by them on YouTube and hear lo-fi and completely freaky acid-pagan folk. Spids Nogenhat make the song dreamy/trippy but also inject an anthem-like quality. Another great combination of guitars, with spacey fluttering patterns and gorgeously tasteful and ripping acid leads.

In summary, if you like Baby Woodrose you’re guaranteed to like this. It’s definitely on the spacier side. It also fits well with the Bad Afro label theme, and kudos to these guys for so consistently releasing such high quality psychedelic music.

For more information you can visit the Bad Afro Records web site at: http://www.badafro.dk
Visit Spids Nogenhat on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/spidsnogenhat

Reviewed by Jerry Kranitz

Veteran Aural Innovations readers will know that we’re big fans here of the San Francisco band Mushroom, and I’m happy to see this 3-CD set finally release, in its entirety, the May 24, 1998 show in which Mushroom backed Kevin Ayers, who passed away in February of this year. Mushroom drummer and bandleader Pat Thomas explains that the pairing came about in part due to a recommendation made to Ayers by Martin Wakeling, who published a UK based Kevin Ayers fanzine and was a Mushroom fan. Further sealing the deal, Michael Clare, bassist of Daevid Allen’s University of Errors, also knew Ayers and, as Thomas says, “did the real hands on arrangements of getting Kevin to come to San Francisco and stay at my apartment for a week.”

The first CD consists of Mushroom’s opening solo set, and on this night they were the sextet of Pat Thomas on drums, Erik Pearson on guitar and flute, Graham Connah on keyboards, Michael Holt on keyboards and Mellotron, Alec Palao on bass, and Dan Olmstead on guitar (Olmstead would bow out when Ayers took the stage).

The set opens with Leni Riefenstahl, a studio version of which would appear on Mushroom’s Aether Records LP the following year. A repetitive bass riff creates the foundation over which flute, Mellotron and keys casually and contemplatively drift. Oscillating alien electronics make for a freaky counterpoint to the flute and keys. And as the band slowly join in they retain the cool grooving feel of the intro, though the guitar gets nicely rocking, sounding like Neil Young’s Crazy Horse had hopped on stage. I love the combination of that dirty guitar and jazzy flute and keys. The Reeperbahn is next, originally on the band’s debut LP, and reissued the year of this show on the Cream of Mushroom CD. This is the kind of rockin’, groovin’, and eccentric Mushroom that caught my attention years ago with their killer combination of psychedelic, krautrock, jazz, and experimental influences. The infectiously melodic and hip shakin’ Martina, Queen of Hamburg is another song I know from Cream of Mushroom (which was a “sorta” crossover album with the Alive And In Full Bloom CD). This is followed by a trippy jazz and rock improv. We’ll Take You There goes into totally freaked out psych rocking heaven, with juxtaposed opening riffs that sound like Neil Young fucking with both Ohio and the Footloose theme. The last track is a spaced out jam of the Ayers penned Soft Machine song, We Did It Again, which leads into Ayers joining the band on stage.

Discs 2 and 3 consist of the full Kevin Ayers backed by Mushroom set. Each CD runs as individual continuous tracks so you can’t easily choose which songs you want to hear, but speaking for myself, I’m ok with that because it is, after all, a live show, meant to be heard as a whole.

Given Ayers’ Soft Machine roots, Mushroom made a glove fit of a backing band. Other than “Ratledge-isms” cropping up in the keyboards, Mushroom don’t really sound like Soft Machine. Rather, the commonalities are to found in each band’s unique psychedelic/progressive relationship to jazz, and, in Mushroom’s case, this extends to krautrock, pop, soul and more, depending on which of their albums you happen to be listening to. At one point in the set Ayers points out that he only had 5 hours to rehearse with the band, which is pretty damn impressive given how seamlessly the music gels. There’s an English troubadour element to Ayers and throughout the set we’re treated to his songs, interspersed with instrumental workouts. There’s lots of variety too. We’ve got the bluesy swing of Champagne And Valium and Strange Blue Coloured Moon. Lady Rachel is darkly moody, with beautify flute and guitar led instrumental forays. I like the flowing melodic spacey prog and experimental pop of Decadence. Why Are We Sleeping is simultaneously heavy rocking, dream-like and whimsical. Ghost Train comes across like a folk-prog minstrel song. I love the lively, uplifting blues rock of Didn’t Feel Lonely Till I Thought Of You. And there’s even some sad country song to be heard in I Don’t Depend On You. It’s a great set and an outstanding pairing of talents. Ayers had collaborated with a variety of luminaries in his career, and in subsequent years Mushroom would go on to do the same.

As you can see from the picture, the packaging is simple. Three CDRs without artwork, plus a 7 page printout with an excellent essay about Ayers in general and this evening in particular by San Francisco based poet and rock critic Michael Layne Heath, track listings and credits. But the price is right for this gem that will appeal to both Mushroom and Kevin Ayers fans.

Copies of this 3-disk set are extremely limited and are available directly from the band for US $20 in the US; all others: US $32. Price includes postage. Simply PayPal the money to normalsf@earthlink.net.

Reviewed by Jerry Kranitz

Let it never be said that Nik Turner is mellowing with old age. From his relentless touring, to his dozens of guest appearances on other people’s albums, to this, his latest solo album, the 73 year old shows no signs of slowing down.

Space Gypsy is simply just brimming over with a remarkable vitality, and Nik’s dynamism can be heard coming through, on every track. But a good part of this amazing energy can also be attributed to Nik’s choice of members for his band. Rather than drawing on the spacerock collective as he’s done before, this time out Nik hand-picked musicians from the punk and industrial scene. Along for the ride are UK Subs co-founder Nicky Garratt on guitar and his Subs band mate Jason Willer on drums. On bass is Jeff Pitchinini, (AKA Geoff Myles), from early punk rock band Chelsea. Rounding out the group is Jürgen Engler, front man of the excellent German industrial band Die Krupps, on guitar, Moog synths and Mellotron. Engler also produces the album. But despite the backgrounds of the band members, make no mistake, Space Gypsy is not a punk or industrial album, it is pure SPACEROCK, but highly infused with the energy of those genres.

Nik is in fine form whether squonking away on his sax on the rockers, or taking some lovely melodic turns on both sax and flute on the mellower cuts. It’s great to hear all those crazy and wonderful sounds he developed in his Hawkwind days again, but Nik is a much better player now than he was back then. After years of honing his skills on his own solo works and on collaborations with others, the Nik Turner of today has an amazing range, from heavy rock n’ roll sax blowing to wild free jazz freakouts (check out the final minute of We Ride the Timewinds) to deliciously melodic pop-style sax hooks like those on the track Anti-Matter. He also does some absolutely gorgeous flute playing on some of the mellower tracks like the softer Galaxy Rise (reminding me a bit of The Demented Man with its seagull cries, acoustic guitar picking and stately Mellotron) and especially on the almost album closer, the epic The Visitor. Vocally he’s also in fine form, whether he’s playing the detached, lost astronaut of the superbly rocking opening cut Fallen Angel STS-SI-L or the paranoid punk of the bonus track Something’s Not Right or story-telling on the darkly psychedelic epic The Coming of the Maya.

The rest of his band is a knockout too. One time punker Nicky Garrett is just as comfortable pummelling out the heavy electric riffs as he is strumming and picking the acoustic guitar. Willer and Pitchinini make for a top notch rhythm section that are as tight or as loose as Nik needs them to be, and Engler piles on the sweeping Mellotron chords and cosmic swathes of Moog electronics with reckless abandon, upping the cosmic quotient considerably. Nik’s former Hawkmate Simon House also contributes stunning violin to a couple of the tracks and erstwhile (and perhaps future) spacerocker Steve Hillage makes an appearance as well.

Of course, all the great playing in the world wouldn’t make any difference if the songs weren’t good. Are they? You bet they are! Everyone in the band has at least one writing credit, with many of the members, including Nik himself, with several credits. It’s clear that Nik has tapped into a great pool of talent here as these are some of the best spacerock songs to come out from any former or current member of Hawkwind in quite some time. They are just bubbling over with memorable riffs, catchy melodic hooks, and stunning psychedelic explorations. Engler’s production is also superb, giving the album just the right amount of sheen without overdoing it, letting all the instruments breathe and come alive. There is no doubt in my mind that Space Gypsy will be high on my top 10 albums of 2013. Highly recommended for spacerock fans everywhere!

For more info, visit: http://www.nikturner.com and http://cleorecs.com/home

Reviewed by Jeff Fitzgerald

Comets Ov Cupid returns with its third release, following Metalgazer (2007) and Western Lands (2010). Vril Kosmische Urkraft finds the former Skye Klad and Satyrswitch frontman Jason Kesselring expanding on the territory he plumbed in Western Lands, a mix of noisy drones, quaking metal, and cosmic folk. This time out, the mostly instrumental album explores the depths and chasms of Germanic and Norse mythology and mysticism, taking the listener on a journey deep into the realms of the hollow earth and beyond.

Vril was the ancient cosmic power harnessed by the advanced beings that dwelled in the hollow of the earth in The Coming Race, the 1871 novel by British writer Edward Bulwer-Lytton (and indeed, kosmische meaning ‘cosmic’ and urkraft meaning ‘ancient power’ fall in line with this). It certainly does seem that Kesselring is tapping into some kind of power as he unleashes the shivering drone attack of Mysterium Cosmographicum, the opening track on the album. It’s a brief piece, less than two minutes, before we’re flung full force into the throbbing intensity of Sleipner, featuring Kesselring’s trademark sound: a roar of hazy noise; enormous, fuzzed out bass; drum loops buried deep, deep in the mix, and relentlessly creative guitar soloing. It’s a thundering anthem for Odin’s steed. Viking Spacecraft, both a nod, one would presume, to ancient Norse explorers, and the unmanned vessels that landed on Mars in the 1970’s, takes a similar direction, but this time replaces the galloping rhythm with more of a zoned out interplanetary vibe. It’s pure spacerock for the cosmically inclined, perhaps one last glimpse of the outer cosmos before Kesselring turns the listeners attention inward with the brooding soundscape of The Hollow Earth.

It’s as if he’s provided us with a map (Mysterium Cosmographicum) and the transportation of both ancient myth and the space age, then set us on a course into the unknown (something he did well on Western Lands too). Here, besides the aforementioned The Hollow Earth, the unknown manifests in the hauntingly melodic Ultima Thule; the weird, psychedelic folk of Valknut; and the eerie dronescape and restless chants of Ginnungagap (the name that the ancient Norse gave to the vast, primordial void that existed before the universe was created). The album concludes with the rollicking heavy metal stomp of Jormungand and the desolate, empty landscapes evoked by The Eternal Ice (a reference perhaps to the Norse end of the world?). And although that may leave the listener a bit chilled, it’s a good chill, the kind of chill that sends shivers up one’s spine, say, after having witnessed a manifestation of the unexplained, touched the cosmic or dreamed the endless dream.

Kesselring takes a very unique and intriguing approach to mixing his music, like an alchemist experimenting, often inverting the typical mix, burying drums and muting melodies in favour of textural explorations. It serves his music well. One always gets a sense that there is something hidden beneath, some ancient secret or lost wisdom swirling under the surface. It makes the listener want to dig deeper, to find what lies within. But there’s the magic of Comets Ov Cupid: one can never quite find it. It remains elusive and mysterious, as all great cosmic secrets should remain.

For more info, visit: http://cometsovcupid.bandcamp.com and http://cometsovcupid.com

Reviewed by Jeff Fitzgerald

BLIM were a UK based band who released two cassette albums in 1992 and 1993, which have been reissued as a 20th anniversary re-mastered 30 track 2-CD set (includes 7 bonus tracks not on the original cassettes). Formed by the core of Andy Read, Tony Child, and Neil Spragg, BLIM played an eclectic blend of Space Rock, Prog, Jazz, Psych, Ska, Punk, and miscellaneous you-name-its. A huge number of bands emerged from the 1980s so-called festie psych scene in the UK, but like The Great Imperial Yo-Yo, Krom Lek, and Omnia Opera (of which Spragg was/is a member), BLIM were crack musicians playing mind-boggling rock that could be simultaneously intense and fun.

The first album, Zero, features the 6-piece lineup of Read on guitar/vocals, Child on keyboards/FX/samples, Spragg on drums/vocals, plus Ben ‘BJ’ Garniner on bass, Phil Cook on sax/vocals, and Nigel Pugh on flute/keyboards. Among the highlights is Derangement, a space-prog instrumental that starts off rocking with Hawkwind alien synths, flowing classic prog keyboards, swingin’ sax, and the spirit of Gong looming, but then shifts to a higher intensity space rocker with an almost metallic crunch to the guitars, before changing gears once again to a dreamy, flute driven melodic segment, and then steamrolls over the listener for the finale. F features turn-on-a-dime transitions between cool grooving lounge-jazz in space and Omnia Opera styled guitar intensity, plus the tripped out whimsy that I recall from The Great Imperial Yo-Yo, as well as another mind-massage flute led bit. Yeah, these guys are all over the place, but space rockers who are also progheads will love the compositional gymnastics and now ya see it, now ya don’t arrangements. Synchromesh is a similarly varied spaced out power-prog instrumental that includes a guest synth solo from Omnia Opera’s Ade Scholefield (both albums were recorded at Ade’s studio). The guitar on all these tracks is monstrous and I have to say that… move over Ed Wynne… Andy Read is one of the 80s/90s space rock era’s great guitarists. The nearly 12 minute Disappearance starts off quite sedate, with drifting acoustic guitar, flute, sax, and throbbing fretless sounding bass, then shifts to a threateningly moody King Crimson-ish feel, before launching into the BLIM brand of blistering full frontal assault power rock, and then shifts back… you get the idea. The mood lightens with Country & Eastern – I smoke a little ganja, I smoke a little hash, wheeeeeeeeeee!!!

For No Frills, BLIM paired down to the quartet of Read, Child, Spragg, and Robert Illesh on bass/mandolin/keyboards/vocals. The space rock elements are by no means gone, but this album is more about prog infused heavy rock (plus other fun stuff) and tight-as-a-knot performances. Standouts include The Noup, which puts the spotlight on Read and some serious guitar shredding plus a killer bass sound from Illesh, and includes dead on riffage from Gong’s Master Builder. Junk is a head-spinning space-prog workout with more monster guitar. Sparsely & Much is a schizophrenic, whirling ride, transitioning between jazz-funk-psych-rock, funky Discipline-era King Crimson, and throbbing spacey Reggae/Dub grooves. I love it. Ditto for Vector, which see-saws between a blend of Red-era King Crimson and punk, to hyper-kinetic Ska, and includes spaced out meteor shower electro oscillations. Plop starts off as a cool grooving rocker, which reminds me of the jazzier songs on Snakefinger’s Manual of Errors album, and then launches into a blistering high intensity hard rock/jazz/metal exercise. Wet Potato is a hard rock carnival that will throw your equilibrium completely off. These guys are fucking TIGHT! And Ocean and Beejayone are surprisingly pastoral (for BLIM), the latter dishing out some of the most tastefully rocking guitar licks of the set.

So… wow, what a roller coaster ride. Can’t believe I’d not heard of these guys, though I see now that Neil mentions BLIM in Doug Shaver’s Omnia Opera interview published in Aural Innovations #8 back in ’99. Summarizing “quote” descriptions of these guys are impossible. But what the hell… let’s have some fun… imagine Ozric Tentacles, King Crimson and Frank Zappa at an Allan Holdsworth backyard BBQ, and you might get something like BLIM. You want this. That is all.

For more information you can visit the BLIM web site at: http://www.blimmusic.co.uk
Stream and purchase at: http://blim.bandcamp.com

Reviewed by Jerry Kranitz