Chicago based psychsters The Luck Of Eden Hall have a sizable discography dating back to the early 90s, and have made many contributions to Fruits de Mer Records compilations and singles. Regal Crabomphone is the Fruits de Mer sub-label for releases that include original songs and the latest from The Luck Of Eden Hall is a 4-song single with two covers and two band penned tunes.

The first of the covers is a killer interpretation of The Doors’ Crystal Ship. I love the way it switches between dreamy and acidic sections. Proggy mellotron-ish orchestrations sail throughout, which sounds really cool paired with the molten guitar bits. The second cover is Black Sheep, by a band called SRC that I’d never heard of. A quick YouTube search took care of that, revealing that SRC was from Detroit and Black Sheep was released in ’68. The song has a haunting, doomy organ melody and shimmering acidic guitar licks. The Luck Of Eden Hall are faithful to the spirit of the original, especially the crucial organ riff. But the band put their own indelible stamp on the song, with their characteristic vocals, the drumming is more dramatic, and the guitar solos have a ripping STING.

The two band penned tunes are from their Alligators Eat Gumdrops album, released this past summer. Bangalore opens with a brief sitar/acid guitar combo intro and then quickly launches into a high energy psych rocker with chunky guitar chords and sitar riffs. This Is Strange has a great pop-psych sound, but also more of that chunky guitar that injects a heavier, meatier edge into the music. The spirit of the 60s lives large in this band, though the songs are no mere retro affair. The compositions are outstanding, and combined with top notch production and arrangement makes the music pretty damn impressive.

The single will be available mid-December and is limited to 750 copies, 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
Visit The Luck Of Eden Hall at: http://theluckofedenhall.com

Reviewed by Jerry Kranitz

Fruits de Mer have been coming up with some cracking ideas for theme albums. The White EP is a double 7″ set with covers of 8 songs by 8 different bands from The Beatles White Album (yeah, I know, technically just titled “The Beatles”). Here’s the rundown:

Three Minute Tease (Anton Barbeau’s band) do a more or less faithful cover of Cry Baby Cry. It’s got a more drugged, valium-like feel than the original, and Barbeau’s vocals alone make it quite different than the The Beatles. I got the same feel from The Seventh Ring Of Saturn’s cover of Savoy Truffle. Not nearly as rocking as the original, it nonetheless has a nice groove, and the jam segment has a cool dirty bar Blues vibe.

If I’d been tasked with assigning The Bevis Frond with their song, Glass Onion certainly would have been on my short list, and sure enough, it sounds exactly what you might expect Glass Onion to sound like if covered by The Bevis Frond. The Luck Of Eden Hall do a nearly spot on cover of Everybody’s Got Something To Hide Except For Me And My Monkey. Ditto for Jack Ellister’s spirited Dear Prudence. And Henry Padovani’s Long Long Long sounds like what the song might have if Nick Drake had done it.

Among the more adventurous re-interpretations of the set is The Pretty Things’ sedate rendition of the ultra-aggressive Helter Skelter. The Pretty Things ease the pace considerably, giving the song a steady rhythmic groove, light symphonics, and cool snaking acid guitar licks. But for sheer creative muscle flexing, Cranium Pie’s cover of The Continuing Story Of Bungalow Bill is the hands down winner for me. Jeeez… how do I describe this? It’s like they were first assigned to cover Revolution #9, got into the spirit of that piece, and then did an about-face and covered Bungalow Bill instead. Considering that Bungalow Bill was one of The Beatles fun novelty type songs, this is some pretty crazy stuff. I love it!

The single will be available mid-December and is limited to 1234 copies, 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 press play on the system and stand at the gates. I wait in silence, eager before the great shadowy nothing, charged in anticipation for my frequency to shift.

All around me, the bloated synthesizers bubble and toil, I align and proceed, understanding that the solitary walk into measureless blackness may take some time.

The monotonous tones and the recurrent distortions of frequency ensure that the submerged reality plays for eternity with no audible difference from when it began; this I assume is to accommodate for the natural vibrations of the total 3/4 fractal resonance system.

The reverberation I find is akin to being dead. But once in that place, one then assures oneself that nothing lasts forever, and one’s hopes lay on the premise that the constant attack of audible frequency will end before insanity consumes one by its constant repetition and its minimal droning.

At this point some initiates call out to their God for blessed release. Some on the other hand revel in this submerged reality, and become quite contented with the subtle hypnotic twinkling of electronics. I however take out a packet of rizla’s, and without remorse time long I sat, pondering that the occasional organ sounds a lot like the Crumar under my bed!

Without remorse I smoked numerous big ‘uns, and by the third phase I finally conclude that a tempo change is surely needed, but experience assured me that it would not come, and ‘like a day’ it did not materialize, and again I further time long sat twitching rizla’s.

Twenty minutes later, I fell asleep.

Resolutely based in the subtle phases of synthesizer sound creation, The Interstellar Cementmixers take the ethic of Tangerine Dream and make it their own. They do not try to further it, but rather they align with it. They take what the great pioneers of the genre have placed before them, and have interacted with it over and over throughout the 80 minutes of Submerged Reality. I like it because I love early Tangerine Dream, and I find that The Interstellar Cementmixers have this distinct Tangerine Dream feel, more in the vein of Atem or Zeit, as it is more noises and drones than it is sequenced patterns

Submerged Reality is a total mellow hypnotic headphone album, and a very subdued and melancholic one at that, as the title suggests!

For more info e-mail: planet.x@ntlworld.com

Reviewed by Albert Pollard

Projective Module is the latest project from J.C. Mendizabal, aka Kyron. And like so many well-produced Kyron albums, I find that the production of Other Things That Happened is also very well executed.

The mix of the subtle with the edgy seems to be in perfect equilibrium, making the journey through the album all the more pleasant without any injustice to the listener. The feel of the tracks to me lie in very ambient places, and if I was to sum up the sound, I would state that it is somewhere between Jorge Reyes on the subtle etheric level, and Son Kite on the transient minimal dance level. It is electronic orientated hypnotism that has melody, beat, and structure, rather than pure sound creation that has not, and it plays heavily with this melody and beat ethic throughout the majority of the twelve tracks of the album.

Other Things That Happened, according to the overview on the bio, is based entirely upon the conception that Three Immortals fell into a deep dark slumber and ventured far into realms of existence far beyond our own, seeding our nervous system with alien life! Yet, there is no mention to the condition that only through death can one truly and fully understand that the frequencies of immortality are the true opposite harmonic resonance’s of the present reality’s constant F# drone, and therefore cannot be penetrated materially due to the vast frequencial difference of a dense material body.

However, with a Merkaba, one could in theory bodily escape from this three-dimensional intergalactic universal monotony without being astrally dependant on the light body, as is with these supposed Immortals. So, for this reason I assume that the Immortals went nowhere and were indeed sleeping off a drug haze! Keep it up J. C.!

For more info, visit: http://www.blacknotemusic.com
Or e-mail: jcmg@earthlink.net

Reviewed by Albert Pollard

Playing heavily on the noise aspect of synthesizers, Jesus on Mars, in my opinion should be sent to Mars, and left to twiddle his knobs alone!

The sounds are in your face, and relentless with it. They seem to get under your skin and make you feel uncomfortable and somewhat agitated. As if that is its purpose! It plays along repetitive throughout the five tracks. It also has a definite feel of improvisation, which tends to add to the uncomfortable nature of the whole affair.

Certain sounds on here make me think of Edgar Froese’s solo stuff, i.e. Aqua and Epsilon in Malaysian Pale in particular, which really allows for the mismatched chaos to embed itself deep into the soul without much effort. The style is ambient, but it is also noisy. It has something unnatural about it, and I put this down to the stark clashes of sound, and the way that the constant sound levels throughout have no particular structure, which leaves one rather battered by the drones and the frequencies, without any respite.

There are parts that are mellow and relaxing, namingly track 4, Galactic Pot Healer, which is my favourite track, as this takes the Edger Froese sound in earnest, but on the whole I tend to find that Jesus on Mars is a very hard listen. I expect this of course with certain types of synthesizer sound creation. This is no bad thing, but I just find that it is too much of one thing and that there is not enough difference over the sixty plus minutes to really get me into it. The style of sound is somewhat a constant oppressive, so this in itself makes for a difficult listen.

For more info visit: http://dissolvingrecords.blogspot.ca
Or e-mail – dissolving.records@yahoo.co.uk

Reviewed by Albert Pollard

“Stubb” the album serves as both the recorded debut for the three-piece band of that name, and the first release by Superhot Records. Hailing from the UK, Stubb the band consist of Jack Dickinson on guitar and vocals, Pete Holland on bass and backing vocals, and Chris West on drums. The power-trio format and heavy blues rock approach bring to mind images of The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Cream (although without the quirkiness) and Taste, and all three bands are reflected in the music. No drum machines, synthesizers, lofty concepts or philosophising here (at least not until the acoustic Crosses You Bear, a two minute interlude that sits smack in the middle of the album), this band is all about fuzzy riffs, and speedy guitar solos, with generous amounts of wah-wah.

The intro and solos on album opener Road in particular are the sounds of late-period Hendrix rising from the grave, while Scale The Mountain – best track on the album – features a rolling groove that is hard to resist, with a barrage of surreal guitar effects to close. Dickinson’s vocals are perhaps not quite as strong as his guitar playing, but serve the purpose for the heavy rocking music. The album was recorded live in a basement with minimal overdubbing, but such is the power of the bass playing and drumming that the sound is very full and thick even without a rhythm guitar, as on Flame, the third track in. By track number four, Soul Mover, there is a danger of formula and repetition setting in, which the aforementioned two-minute Crosses You Bear manages to break up, although it also highlights the shortcomings of Jack Dickinson’s vocals. Hard Hearted Woman rolls out another head-shaking heavy rock groove in the tradition of Hendrix’s Foxy Lady, but with evil on her mind, before collapsing into sparse and echoing guitar solo over a slinky bassline. Crying River is about as close to a ballad as Stubb ever gets, while Galloping Horses manages to achieve semi-epic status across its seven minutes of fretboard mangling guitar solo.

At 35 minutes, Stubb the album is probably about the right duration, and will surely appeal to fans of ’70’s classic rock revivalists such as Colour Haze and Radio Moscow, as well as the original generation of psychedelic blues rock. Footage of the band performing such tracks as Hard Hearted Woman can be found on youtube, as can an amusing tongue-in-cheek clip of the band spinning the test pressing of Road.

For further information, go to http://www.superhotrecords.com/p/press.html
Superhot records can be contacted at chris@superhotrecords.com

Reviewed by Pat Albertson

If there was ever a CD cover that gave a perfect image of the music found on the disc inside, Ogressa’s Warts and All is surely it. The band name and album title only enhance the expectation of sludgy, grimy stoner rock, a promise that is absolutely delivered on throughout the album. The cover of Warts and All features the titular Ogressa advancing menacingly, brandishing a wooden club with iron spikes like she is getting set to bash your brains out, and with a suitably disgruntled look on her face. The mean dude in the shadows of the Ogressa monster is Zach Huskey, long surviving member of California stoner rock band The Dali’s Llama. While that band remains very much a going concern, Huskey is presumably suffering from creative overload, hence this new side project, where he is joined by Whores of Tijuana drummer Trent Ramseyer, who switches to lead vocals for Warts and All. While not likely to challenge Pavarotti or Bono, Ramseyer’s gravelly Ozzy-meets-Lemmy-in-a-dark-alley voice is well suited to the dirty, heavy guitar sounds of Ogressa.

The first three tracks on Warts And All set forth the recipe for the entire album, that being big fat grinding guitars and stomping rhythms, a-la mid-’70’s Black Sabbath. Indeed, Give Me Some Space practically screams Hole in the Sky at you, but if it is indeed a steal, it is a damn good one. Mange features some far out Huskey guitar soloing, which contains a bluesy element found in all the best ’70’s hard rock bands, while Rational Man opens with a few sustained power chords before moving into a gutsy driving mid-paced rocker, making it one of the albums highlights. Sound effects oddity She Awakens features Ogressa waking up, stomping around her cave, and presumably looking for a few humans whose bones she intends to grind to bake her bread. Lady Ogress is a slow doomy sludgefest that calls to mind the heavy nuggets of Leaf Hound, Warhorse, Uriah Heep and – inevitably – early Black Sabbath. The Boss is quite different, perhaps because it is the only non-original track on the album. First recorded by UK 1977 punk band The Mutants (who were dismissed by punks at the time for being too rocky), The Boss is a guitar instrumental that sounds a bit like The Ventures playing in a damp and dilapidated garage, nicely breaking up the overpowering distorted guitars found on much of the remaining album. Sonaran Debris, a world-weary sonic dirge featuring Huskey on vocals, is followed by the amazing and unstoppable Cuts on My Scars, a real standout track that ratchets up the tempo several notches, fast, funky and ploughing all before it. Album closers Snakehead and Animal Mask return to the sounds of the opening cuts, the former consisting of slow grinding menace, the latter swinging a lead-heavy groove.

Ogressa is a celebration of classic 1970’s heavy guitar rock, with a brief nod to “Nuggets”-era garage psych, and laced with ’90’s grunge and stoner rock. If the sound of Black Sabbath with all the miserable bits taken out sounds appealing, give this warts-and-all recording a spin; you will not be disappointed.

Access Ogressa’s website at: http://www.ogressa.com
Contact the band at ogressa@dalisllamarecords.com
The Dali Llama Records’ website address is http://www.dalisllamarecords.com

Reviewed by Pat Albertson

Not really sure as to what drew my attention to this CD to review for Aural Innovations. Perhaps it’s because I noticed the CD was a left-over from the submission list of titles to cover from the previous list of choices. Or maybe I simply dug the CD cover. Either way, I thoroughly enjoyed this debut CD effort from Hyne – a five-piece stoner rock collective from Hamburg, Germany. I couldn’t help but notice that this CD has no bar code or a catalog number. Therefore, I could only assume that the band had assembled this CD themselves which also sort of impressed me. Liked about every track here -like Loafer (which I thought sort of maybe had a Monster Magnet-like vibe), the full-throttled rocking title cut 3000 that definitely reminded me of Motorhead, the ass-kicking Slow Suicide (are we having another Motorhead moment?), Suck It which belongs on Internet radio and the nine-minute stoner mind-blower Cries From The Hidden which is, in my opinion, the CD’s best song – hands down. That leaves Vertical Roll, the head-banging Witch’s Cauldron and the finale Spirit of Now to this thirty-five minute outing of pure stoner / metal mayhem. 3000 undoubtedly possesses heavy guitars, mighty bass and droning drums to take its listeners all the way in. Sure, this sort of stoner rock has in fact been done over many times throughout the past so-many years, but 3000 is a fully welcomed (addition) to all the similar CD’s out there.

Line-up: Adam McLocklan – vocals, Sebastian Dietz and Christian Roos – guitars, Stefan Bucholz – bass and Bjorn Frohlich – drums. Should draw in fans of Kyuss, Monster Magnet (obviously), Dixie Witch, Sheavy, Electric Wizard, Orange Goblin, we can’t forget Motorhead and possibly Queens of the Stone Age. Essentially, a must-hear.

For more info, visit: http://www.hyne3000.de and http://www.myspace.com/hynerocks

Reviewed by Mike Reed

Of the hundreds of CD’s, tapes and vinyl albums I have, this release is one of a handful that I go to repeatedly if I want music that is truly art and music that sounds better and different every time I listen to it!! From Stillwater Oklahoma, The Gray Field Recordings is R. Loftiss and friends and Hypnagogia is a reissue on the excellent Reverb Worship label.

BLOODSTREAM: Instant other worldliness, R. Loftiss vocalization and then spoken lyrics with an array of sounds and noises. RING BELLS: Drumming and flute? Sounds like a Mayan ceremony or celebration! No listing of the musicians involved with this CD?! HOUSE OF GRAPE: Somber and still, repetitive ominous riff then some percussion and second guitar with spoken vocal thru a 1920 telephone! Yes, meditative and interestingly coolio. The vocal reminds me of Yoko on Revolution #9, “then you become naked”. This one sounds Tibetan!! IN EXODUS: Sounds like a top spinning with blips and blorps then some keyboard drone!! A stroll on another planet, yes!! PRELUDE TO AN ALCHEMICAL WEDDING: Classic experimental sound of droning stringed instruments. Great title!!! Get’s louder and heavier… sounds almost like an orchestra tuning up but more flowing, keeps going and growing, like walking thru an old dreamhouse! FORTY WHITE HORSES: Another great title, plunky guitar stoppin’ and startin’, then a second one… clear sound/recording… almost like someone got recorded preparing for a recording without knowing it! The big spoken/sung Rebecca vocal. Again, very beautiful and ethereal, then some violin, very nice… two female vocals. YOU HAVE SUFFERED: Recording of old scratchy record mixed together with the country record of “You Have Suffered” run thru loops and effects. NANCY’S SONG TO CHARLIE: Spoken word with cello… “and swallows us”… then light airy acoustic guitar riff with angel vocals and more spoken word. STARS FALL TO EARTH: Industrial growls then drum noise and loops. Sharon says it sounds spooky… now some piano and sampled vocal, very trippy, original, clear clean production. PASSIFLORA: Poetry recited by Rebecca with guitars… some singing then super distorted guitar… Pop/Noise? The next wave?? Picks up where Jesus and Mary Chain left off? CREEPING: Quiet doodling, atmospheric and contemplative. COLDSPACE (LIVE): Sounds like a cold space! Prolly was! Groaning instruments all slowly leaning on one another. Yes, very nice. It’s opening my third eye! Violin and cello?? No listing of instruments with CD?? Yes, sounds like it was recorded in a boathouse over a frozen lake. DRUM SLUT (LIVE): Speed violin, then smooshy electro drums. Very clean recording for being live. Sounds very Middle Eastern but also very modern and experimental. NANCY’S SONG TO CHARLIE (LIVE): Somber with somber vocals, then some pretty guitar, fantasy swooshes, then hops into another dimension… lilting guitar and back to somber vocals and cello, but lighter/different now! TULUM (DEMO): A Renaissance Festival sound, but nice… keeps developing, moving upwards and around, almost like a recital you’d hear at a University?! SCARED OF WOLVES (ORIGINAL): Last song on CD, eerieness, spoken vocal in the distance, then sung/spoke Rebecca live vocals… Gongs??… and back to eerie spoken distant vocal, taken from TV?, cool liquid piano tinkling, and it’s over…

For more info, visit: http://www.grayfieldrecordings.com and http://reverbworship.com

Reviewed by Carlton Crutcher

Panzerpappa are a Norwegian quartet with an interesting variety of instrumentation that includes saxophone, keyboards, drums, bass, electric and acoustic guitars, and everyone is credited with percussion. Numerous guests contribute bassoon, English horn, flute, xylophone, vibraphone, cello, violin and viola. Astromalist is the band’s fifth album since their debut in 2000, and their first for the Rune Grammofon label (and my introduction to their music).

The music across the album’s 7 tracks is firmly in the RIO/Avant-Prog mold, with Present and Univers Zero being the closest analogies, though Canterbury influences are also apparent (the promo sheet notes that one or more members played in Richard Sinclair’s band some years ago). But Panzerpappa occupy the more accessible end of the RIO/Avant-Prog spectrum. The music can be beautifully melodic, and only mildly dissonant, and indeed Panzerpappa have a flair for incorporating dissonance in a way that retains the music’s accessibility and makes it more interesting and compelling.

Bati La Takton!, Femtende Marsj, and Satam are the heavy rockers of the set. On Bati La Takton!, saxophone and guitar trade licks over the kind of intense rocking piano/bass interplay and rhythmic pattern that characterized the early Present albums. I also hear some Zappa-like compositional elements. Femtende Marsj is similar and brought to mind the soundtrack to a frantic movie chase scene. Then after a couple minutes the music takes a 360 degree turn into a calmer chamber music section, with voice samples talking about the Lockerbie bombing, before wrapping up with an intensely rocking finale. LOTS happening in a mere 4 minutes! Satam has a high energy rocking Univers Zero/Present feel, though it transitions through Canterbury flavored segments, and another section with guitar and piano interplay that I enjoyed, made all the more interesting by the addition of a brass section (which must be the keyboards). The musicians are then whipped into a frenzy for a full blown orchestral finale.

Ugler i Moseboka is a fun track with intriguingly varied themes. It opens with a lovely flute melody, soon taken over by a brief section that sounds like it could be the music to a Frank Sinatra song. It quickly takes on a Canterbury-ish vibe, though its highly orchestral and gorgeously melodic. But then it takes a slightly darker turn, starting to rock out a bit more, while retaining the orchestral elements. The pace quickly rises and falls, but never abruptly. These guys are like Olympic gymnasts of composition and arrangement. Anomia conjured up surreal images of a Fellini movie featuring some kind of gypsy jazz Italian street festival. The music is whimsical but also includes parts that will make listeners swoon. The title track is in some ways similar, and includes bits that sound exactly like the first Present album. Finally, at 9 minutes, Knute pa Traden is the longest track of the set. It begins with a lulling sax and flute duo, against mildly intense guitar, piano and rhythmic pace. And from there Panzerpappa take us through their continually shifting, slightly off-kilter and dissonant Prog rock thematic paces, seamlessly incorporating styles and influences faster than I can type the analogies that are popping into my head.

In summary, Panzerpappa will surely appeal to fans of the classic RIO bands like Univers Zero, Present, and Samla Mammas Manna, though they are accessible enough that the music may be a good introduction to the Avant-Prog world for Progheads with more mainstream tastes.

For more information you can visit the Rune Grammofon web site at: http://www.runegrammofon.com

Reviewed by Jerry Kranitz