GLOWPEOPLE – HAPPEN (Cosmic Primitive Records CD, D/L). SPURIOUS TRANSIENTS – PLANET CANTALOUPE EP (7” Vinyl).

Following their 2013 debut album Things, West Midlands and the surrounding Shires based Glowpeople return with a new release. Though underground festival favourites, Glowpeople are not retro Prog throwbacks who think that when Gentle Giant split up was the day the music died, but sonic adventurers taking their cues from much more experimental, jazz tinged, cosmic musik and Happen is an enthralling blend of Miles Davis Bitches Brew era Jazz Fusion, Ambient Dub and Future Funk but also succeeds in transcending genres. There is some impressive stuff on this record……. from the liquid funk of ‘Gap The Mind’, the monster groove of ‘Medusa’, the early 90s Ambient Dub excursions of 'Touch It', the album title track echoing the music Jah Wobble made with Holgar Czukay in the mid 80s and all the way through to the cosmic soundscapes of ‘Abstract’ (even though this is head music I would be hard pressed to call that much of this album truly "psychedelic", however there are some strong elements of classic Prog/Psych and with Steve Hillage influenced soloing, ‘Tie Dye Sky’ loudly screams “WE LIKE GONG!.... LOTS!”). Mainly improvisational and mostly instrumental, Happen is not going to be everybody’s cup of mushroom tea as it could be argued that some of the tracks could have benefited with a tighter structure from a bit more self-editing in the recording process, nonetheless there are some great tunes and really interesting ideas here…… The band strongly recommend that you listen to this record in the same heightened state that it was recorded in and I very much doubt they just had a couple of light ales each before going into the studio.

Happen is available now from Cosmic Primitive Records as either a CD or a digital download and while CD stocks last, directly from the band at  http://glowpeople.soundawesome.com/ or at their live shows………Tune in, turn on, Glow.

 

Coming very soon on 7” vinyl………..Planet Cantaloupe, a new EP from Welsh Kosmische Musik/Psychedelia influenced band Spurious Transients. The band was originally the solo project of Gavin Lloyd Wilson and since the very promising Portraits Of A Landscape album released last year, Spurious Transients have now expanded to a sextet which includes sitar/tanpura and saxophone as part of the line-up. The new EP shows a marked change in direction from the debut album which mixed sitar drones, soaring EBow guitars, sweeping synths, minimal electronics and found sounds/field recordings to create harsh Electroacoustic music and more psych tinged, ambient/cosmic soundscapes as the new tracks have a much more jazzier feel than before. The track ‘Planet Cantaloupe’ is a fantastic, loose limbed, wonky Space Jazz/Psychedelic jam which is later reprised with added bubbling electronics. Also included on the EP is the more experimental ‘Gitarau Cosmig’ which was recorded during the Portraits Of A Landscape sessions but was not included on the album……..it’s  a pretty challenging listen with buzzing synths, clattering guitar and plodding drums……..I can’t help feeling that  Spurious Transients may have missed a trick here by not including one of the excellent, more psychedelic cuts from the album instead (‘Under The Same Stars’ which features singer/composer Ghost Dust would have worked really well).

Planet Cantaloupe will be available on 7” coloured vinyl sometime in July….check the bands Facebook page for details. In the meantime Portraits Of A Landscape is still available as either a CD or Download from the Spurious Transients Bandcamp page https://spurioustransients.bandcamp.com and is worth checking out for the more psych tinged, ambient/cosmic side of the album…….play the last four tracks either stupid loud or listen to them on headphones, they sound great.

THEE PSYCHEDELICATESSEN