ØRESUND SPACE COLLECTIVE – ODE TO A BLACK HOLE (Space Rock Productions LP, CD, D/L). ØRESUND SPACE COLLECTIVE – ORGANIC EARTHLY FLOATATION (Space Rock Productions CD).

From their Space Lab held in geo-stationary orbit above the ancient pyramids come further transmissions from the stoned version of the European Space Agency…………the Øresund Space Collective. Crewed by an ever changing company of Psychonauts led by the sonic Shaman Dr. Space, ØSC have been beaming the sounds of cosmos back to Earth for over a decade and Ode To A Black Hole is the 21^st release of fully improvised Space Rock from this prolific band. Recorded during the sessions for their last album, the epic Different Creatures (read Strange Things brainthink here), ØSC’s latest release is a radical departure from their usual swirly Prog Rock/Space Rock sound that takes its inspiration from bands such as Ozric Tentacles and also the proto Space Rock of 70s Prog/Psych/Kraut bands such as Gong, early Tangerine Dream, Pink Floyd, Amon Düül II and Space Rock titans, Hawkwind mixed with the freeform jamming of the late 60s West Coast bands like The Dead and QMS……….Ode To A Black Hole is a 52min doom drone jam inspired by UK Stoner Rock/Heavy Psych band BONG.

"Space is infinite, it is dark. Space is neutral, it is cold". 'Ode To A Black Hole' is a very slow evolving piece of music with synth drones, violin, pedal steel, minimal bass and measured, subtle drums combining to create a glacial soundscape from the furthest points of the universe. Split into two parts, this epic track drifts through deep space slowly gaining momentum…………massively atmospheric, 'Ode To A Black Hole' builds layer upon layer of sound until exploding into shards of noise around the 40 minute mark before collapsing back into itself into a spaced out coda of squalling guitars, bubbling synths and Hammond organ. It’s an absolute epic piece of heavy Psychedelic Space Rock, showing a much darker side to ØSC. This track has more in common with the lysergic adventures of cosmic explorers such as Electric Moon than their usual “Quicksilver Messenger Service/The Grateful Dead……In Space” vibe and will no doubt split opinion amongst fans of the band. However, Ode To A Black Hole will also open up the ears to a newer audience of Stoner Rock/Heavy PsychHeads that really can’t get to grips with the intense 70s style West Coast Acid Rock jamming of many of the the previous records but will really dig this gently unfolding trip to beyond the event horizon…………………..It’s a new development in the ever evolving cosmic journey of ØSC and it will be interesting to see where this leads.

Out now on Space Rock Productions, Ode To A Black Hole is available in a variety of formats…………….there is a limited vinyl run of 500 copies (100 on purple vinyl, 200 on magenta vinyl and 200 on good old black vinyl) and 500 copies on CD along with a digital download (in space no one can hear headphone spill). Available from the ØSC Bandcamp page at  https://oresundspacecollective.bandcamp.com/album/ode-to-a-black-hole, ........NB: All the vinyl copies are sold out on the Bandcamp site, however Space Rock Productions releases are available through Sapphire Records in Germany where there are copies available from their web shop along with the CD.

Also new from the Øresund Space Collective is a CD reissue of their 16^th album, Organic Earthly Floatation which was originally released 2013 as a vinyl/download only release, with the vinyl edition being long sold out. Featuring all the members of Danish Psychedelic Rock band Papir and American guitarist Daniel Lars, Organic Earthly Floatation is heavily guitar dominated with some amazing melodic, spacey and ripping guitar on four long exploratory tracks. Besides the opening track, 'Walking on Clouds', (an original composition from Daniel Lars), the rest of the tracks were totally improvised and at the time of release this beautifully mellow album was compared to the guitar pyrotechnics of Causa Sui. Including a previously unreleased 38 minute untitled bonus track, Organic Earthly Floatation is reissued by Space Rock Productions and is available now from the Sapphire Records web shop………it’s definitely the “Quicksilver Messenger Service/The Grateful Dead……In Space” incarnation of ØSC that fans of epic, tripped out Acid Rock jams will love.

THEE PSYCHEDELICATESSEN          

VIBRAVOID – PSYCHEDELIC BLUEPRINTS (Stoned Karma CD, D/L).

Towards the end of last century Vibravoid left the planet in their retro-fitted psychedelic starship, set the controls for the heart of the sun and ever since they have since been on an ongoing mission to turn on tune in and freak out, seeking new highs and revelations, turning on the universe on one planet at a time. After 25 years of beaming far out 60s influenced Psych Rock records back to Earth, they have dipped into their extensive back catalogue for an introspection of the years 2000-2013 which cover their far out releases for the very groovy Stoned Karma Records. Psychedelic Blueprints collects together 13 remastered tracks that could be described as a “Best Of”, which is a total gas and an essential purchase for fans of classic 60s psychedelia that are new to the tripped out sound of Vibravoid.

For the discerning PsychHead, what’s not to love about Vibravoid???………..all the key elements of the perfect 60s inspired psychedelic band are all here: fuzzed out guitars….check, swirling Farfisa organs…check, swinging sitars…check, groovy drums and bass holding down a steady but danceable backbeat…check, trippy phasing…check and lysergic lyricism…check. Together it’s a massive rave up down the U.F.O. Club circa 1967 which channels the best of early Pink Floyd, July, Tomorrow, Kaleidoscope along with a dash of the classic “Nuggets” bands such as the Seeds and Electric Prunes. There are some absolutely stunning tracks on this compilation including the cool tribute to Sky Saxon ‘Eruptions Of The Green Sun’ where typical studio trickery of1967 is reanimated, the Psych Pop headswirler ‘Doris Delay’and a mind blowing ‘Random Generated Future’ which contains a psychedelic instrumental part that could have come straight out of the Summer Of Love. In addition to the 60s inspired fuzzed up Psych Pop tunes, Psychedelic Blueprints contains some of Vibravoid’s more experimental sonic adventures including the acid drenched ‘The Politics Of Ecstasy’, the more abstract ‘Void Vibration’ and Spacemen 3 sound-alike ‘Save My Soul’ which is a psychedelic gospel song that evolves into an orgy of noise while setting the landmark for the abundant use of Mellotron and fuzz guitar. Designed to turn on new listeners to the majestic psychedelic splendour of Vibravoid, Psychedelic Blueprints certainly delivers the goods.

Released on CD/Download by Stoned Karma on 27^th May, Psychedelic Blueprints will be available from all the usual outlets and is available to pre-order now from the Stoned Karma website. Dig it kidz and turn on, tune in and trip out with Vibravoid.

THEE PSYCHEDELICATESSEN       

WEST SPACE AND LOVE – WEST SPACE AND LOVE Vol. ll (Space Rock Productions LP, CD).

Six years after the release of West Space and Love Vol.l, the three key members (the ØresundSpace Collective’s sonic shaman Dr Space and current and former members of the Swedish Heavy Prog band Siena Root, Love Forsberg and KG West) reunited in a studio to lay down some 70s krautrock influenced tracks for a brand new album. Whereas the previous collaboration was more of an acoustic, Indian music inspired album with five sitar based tracks that were totally improvised, Vol.ll is far more synthesizer based with WS&L conjuring up soundscapes that take inspiration from bands such as Tangerine Dream, Pink Floyd, Popol Vuh and Agitation Free. Another major difference is that this record is less of a collection of improvised pieces, having far more focus and a much stronger structure from more judicious self-editing than previously. It’s a fantastic listening experience as it twists and turns through the dimensions in sound, taking in early 70s Krautrock, Eastern flavoured Space Jazz, post-Psychedelic Pink Floyd, Indian music inspired improvisations and experimental percussion pieces………..we suggest you roll a few before this one hits the turntable.

Making it clear right from the outset where the influences lie with this record, the opening track is titled ‘Floyd’s Dream’ and like the title suggests it is a blend of classic Pink Floyd and Tangerine Dream……………the sound of pulsing sequencers and spiralling synths from TD’s mid 70s heyday underpin Gilmour-esque guitar playing, setting the controls for a journey through a burning brain which pulls you straight into WS&L’s infinite universe. There is a change of mood for ‘Khan Paan’ which taps into the Indian vibes of the first album and with the addition of violin and santoor from Jonathan Segal and Moa Danielson on this track and ‘Øscillations In D minor’ really takes everything up to another level. ‘Khan Paan’ with its jazzy violin has a the feel of John McLaughlin’s Eastern musical explorations with Shakti and the Mahavishnu Orchestra (once they slowed down enough to take a breath) while ‘Øscillations In D minor’ sounds more improvised, gently ebbing and flowing before exploding into a squalling Space Rock breakdown. ‘2002’ is an exhilarating improvised percussion led track full of bubbling and squelching synths and ‘Pig In Space’ again features Love Forsberg’s drumming on a track that would not sound out of place on Chrome’s Alien Soundtracks. Flip the disc and as well as the aforementioned ‘Øscillations In D minor’ there are two more excellent Kraut inspired ethnic musical excursions with more than a passing nod to post Syd Pink Floyd. ‘Anybody Out There’ is a mix of subtly pulsing synths/ethnic percussion and swirling synthesizers which sees WS&L moving into Popol Vuh territory which glides seamlessly into the albums closing track ‘Time Compression’. ‘Time Compression’ is a track that FloydHeads will really dig as it blends Richard Wright’s swelling Hammond sound with Eastern flavours………it’s a postcard from Sufi mystics with Wish You Were Here writ large. West Space And Love Vol.ll is an absolutely stunning mix of the not so very Far East and the very Far Out, blending together the core elements of pioneering early 70s German electronic music and evocative Eastern influences mixed with a substantial amount post Syd acid burnout and pre Roger Waters megalomaniac dickhead Pink Floyd which flows beautifully from start to finish………fans of the more spacy Psych bands, 70s ProgHeads and children of the bong need to check this record. Shine on you crazy Potheads.

West Space And Love Vol.ll is due for release by Space Rock Productions sometime in July (check the Space Rock Productions website for more details and distribution info) and will be available in a variety of formats……………..there will be a limited run of 600 vinyl copies (120 clear, 180 white and 300 black) and 500 copies on CD. Dig it People, it’s a corker of a record.

THEE PSYCHEDELICATESSEN               

7FAZ – FAZA A (PHASE A) EP (Nasiono Records CD, D/L).

Recently landing in our inbox is an EP of serious out-thereness from 7faz, a new project from Polish musician Karol Schwarz, the founder member of Pure Phase Ensemble. Featuring many of the musicians associated with Nasiono Records, the 7faz project explores the cosmic significance of the number seven that resonates in our universe in a series of seven EPs released during 2016. Seven is a mystical number. It is a symbol of wholeness, fulfilment and perfection in many mythologies and religions of the world; it symbolises the bond between time and space. It was an attribute of gods, its figure featured in architecture, holy scripts, commandments and cosmology. There were seven virtues, seven sacraments, seven liberal arts and seven bodily "glories" of the blessed in Heaven. And there is more…… there are seven days of the week, seven planets ruling the zodiac, seven rainbow colours, seven crystal systems and seven notes in music. The seven EPs/seven phases create seven musical spaces recorded on seven separate discs. Each phase usually consists of two parts: tuning (a tranquil, contemplative part) and a trip (a louder part).

The first EP, Faza A (Phase A), contains two tracks……….Part 1 is a meditative drone on four guitars, an analogue synthesizer, a sitar and a saxophone which is not unlike the more experimental/drugged out sonic adventures of Spacemen 3. It’s a musical mantra cleared of attack and more swirling than flowing, which is a total contrast to the second part of the EP. Part 2 (Basketball) is cacophonous Space Jazz that represents the flight of a ball thrown high up and falling to bounce again with the instruments playing extremely loud in unison to an escalating tempo before breaking down into chaotic noise……..think the Sun Ra Arkestra and  Spiritualized fighting over the lost chord. Both parts constitute separate entities but interconnect in an unusual way, complementing each other and they work on more than just one level, they can be just listened to, but they can also provide building blocks for musicians or DJs to manipulate or sample. As the whole seven phases are slowly revealed, then the cosmic interconnections will become clearer……..strange things are happening. This mix of Drone Rock and squalling Free Jazz is not going to be to everybody’s taste, but for those of you with a penchant for the more avant-garde you can stream the tracks on Soundcloud here.

Faza A is released on 20^th May on Nasiono Records and is available to pre-order now. The EP comes in two formats……there is a limited edition run of 100 CDs available from the Nasiono website and a digital download can be found on the Nasiono Bandcamp page https://7faz.bandcamp.com/album/faza-a. Faza B is scheduled for release on June 24^th.

THEE PSYCHEDELICATESSEN

FOLLOW THE SEA – BLUE JOY (Häxrummet Records LP, D/L).

Landing in our inbox a few days ago was Blue Joy, the debut album from the "Scandidelic" Noise Rock band Follow The Sea. The Stockholm based duo comprised of Erik Solfeldt and Magnus Lundgren draw inspiration from the Shoegaze scene, but there is a far more dark experimental ambient electronica edge to their music which really makes them stand out from the endless parade of MBV, Slowdive and Jesus And Mary Chain copyists which has become really boring........like all of the other previous genre “revivals”, the ‘Shoegaze revival’ is quickly starting to run out of steam due to a lack of any real innovation from many of the bands involved. Although Follow The Sea are grounded in classic fuzzed up and distorted early 90s Shoegaze, their debut album sees them exploring the far more interesting direction of ambient soundscaping and Drone Rock………more Seefeel than Slowdive.

Side one of Blue Joy has lots to love for fans of the Shoegaze Holy Trinity™……….the opening track ‘Dive’ is a joyous squall of distorted guitars while ‘In Time’ and ‘Fall’ are both a couple of atmospheric headswirlers that blend the elements of scuzzy fuzzed out Indie Rock with a shadowy Scandinavian melancholy. Although Follow The Sea’s most recent single ‘Virhe’ has more of an electronic dark heart, there is nothing here you will have not heard before but these tracks are very cool nevertheless. However, flip the disk and you will find the glacial ‘Breeze’, an epic 20 minute mix of cold ambient electronica and psychedelic Drone Rock. Performed by Follow the Sea along with sound designer and electronic music artist Niclas Lindgren (who also co-produced Blue Joy), ‘Breeze’ sees the band at their most innovative and experimental. Taking Eastern flavoured drones and re-tooling them for a Post-Rock age, the track slowly builds, evoking classic Popol Vuh and Tangerine Dream, gently throbbing but building in intensity until the drums finally kick in around the 15 minute mark exploding into a massive Krautrock/Space Rock groove before collapsing into an droning electronic coda………….with this track Follow The Sea have taken their Shoegaze influences to another place altogether, traveling to a far off distant psychedelic dimension, expanding their sonic vocabulary along the way. ‘Breeze’ is an excellent track you really must hear and Blue Joy is an album that shows a band not afraid to experiment……….hopefully a taster of the sonic possibilities to come.

Due for release on 25^th May through Häxrummet Records, Blue Joy is available to pre-order from Follow The Sea’s Bandcamp page at http://followthesea.bandcamp.com/ where it is available as a limited run of 200 copies on black vinyl and as a digital download.

THEEPSYCHEDELICATESSEN

THE LUCK OF EDEN HALL – THE ACCELERATION OF TIME (Headspin Records 2xLP, CD, D/L).

Er……..wow!.......after a recording career spanning over 25 years, Chicago’s psychedelic elder statesmen The Luck of Eden Hall have surpassed any of their previous records and have come up with an album, The Acceleration Of Time, which must be regarded as their finest to date. Falling somewhere between early 70s Prog Rock and full blown headswirling Psychedelic Rock, this record really should carry some kind of warning……… exposure to TLoEH’s sprawling double album masterpiece will most certainly lead to a seriously blown mind. Mixing up authentic vintage sounds (there is an absolute ton of lush, sweeping Mellotron on this record) with a modern Psych Rock sheen TLoEH have crafted a very Proggy wide screen vista with plenty of off kilter psychedelic moments that both “Classic Rock” purists and wild eyed psychonauts will love to bits…………it’s Yes, mid-period Floyd, King Crimson etc. etc. stripped of any pretentious musical over indulgence with an abundance of added kick-ass Rock ‘n’ Roll attitude.

It’s about time…….The Luck Of Eden Hall’s vaguely conceptual new record charting how time appears to speed up during the passing of the years opens with ‘Slow’, a peel of chiming/ticking clocks leading into a squall of swirling guitar and dreamy keyboard swell which sounds not unlike a third cousin, twice removed, of the lead track from the Dukes Of Stratosphear’s seminal mid 80s 25 O’Clock EP. One thing you really notice with this record compared to previous TLoEH albums is that keyboards are far more prominent than before…………The Acceleration Of Time is full of old school analogue keyboards sounds which give the tunes greater depth and texture, from bubbling synths intertwining with soaring guitar to gorgeous Mellotron washes which come to the fore on the epic Prog Rock inspired instrumentals on this album. ‘A Procession Of Marshmallow Soldiers Across The Clockwork Pudding’ is a classic 70s Prog/Psych style instrumental where synths and guitars twist around each other in a spiralling mad dance while ‘Channel 50 Creature Feature’ is a near 10 minutes of gently drifting, Floyd-esque alien soundscaping interspersed with bursts of furious guitar noise. This is possibly the most sonically adventurous and expansive album that TLoEH have recorded, another long instrumental track, the absolutely stunningly atmospheric ‘White Caps In The Wind’, where totally beautiful sweeping Mellotron wash combines with wonderfully understated guitar playing for that perfect headphone moment, allows the band to stretch out and explore the dynamics of the tune and they are not afraid to get their weird on with ‘You Asked About Water On Mars’ TLoEH adding a strange little Wendy/Walter Carlos Clockwork Orange/Switched On Bach interlude into what is effectively a mad 70s Glam stomper………as well as fitting into the theme of the record, a bit of a Bowie tribute maybe?????

Those of you already familiar with The Luck of Eden Hall will instantly recognise the overdriven crunching guitars and solid backbeat of ‘Blown To Kingdom Come’………..as well as wide screen, panoramic 70s Progressive Rock inspired tunes, The Acceleration Of Time also has more than its fair share of grandiose Psychedelic Rock tunes that TLoEH are known for which combines the Power Pop sugar rush of bands like the Raspberries with the twisted psychedelia of the 60s, with tracks like ‘The Happiness Vending Machine’ coming on like Cheap Trick on a drug bender. This is a seriously impressive record full of dark and shade but also massively uplifting………..by spreading over four sides of vinyl TLoEH have taken the opportunity to use this extended canvas to really expand sonically, from the symphonic thrash of ‘Another High Speed Blowout’ through the beautifully lush ‘Arthropoda Lepidoptera’ and ‘Only Robots Can Search The Deep Ocean Floor’ to the gentle psychedelia of ‘The Saints Are Quiet Above Us’ they show what can be achieved in the studio with great ideas, a fair bit of dedication and expert musical chops…………….God, we wish that all Prog/Psych albums were like this, however TLoEH seem to have an edge on many younger bands through their greater depth of musical knowledge and life experience……….let’s say that a bit more………er……..’maturity’ will always trump a shelf full of Harry Potter books and Muse albums when you are putting an album together about the progression of time. This truly remarkable album closes with the wigged out ‘A Man Of Conservative Style’ where TLoEH throw in the psychedelic kitchen sink adding layers of strange to an already berserk Psychedelic Pop number………you really need to check this record. The Luck of Eden Hall may have single-handedly fully restored the tarnished reputation of the concept album with this latest release…………it’s like Tales Of Topographic Oceans never happened (how we wish that was true). It’s only May but we think we have found our favorite record of 2016. The bar has been set incredibly high and it’s going to take a work of near genius for us to change our minds.

The Acceleration Of Time is due for release on June 1^st and is available in several formats to pre-order now. The limited edition of 500 2 x vinyl version is released on the Dutch label Headspin Records and is available to order via Clear Spot, the usual reputable outlets and The Luck of Eden Hall’s Bandcamp page https://theluckofedenhall.bandcamp.com/. It comes in two versions………250 copies on white vinyl and for those of you that think coloured vinyl records don’t sound very good there are 250 copies available on black vinyl.

Along with a regular CD release, there is a limited edition of 100 CDs with hand crafted pop-up cover available from TLoEH Bandcamp page where you can also purchase the digital download. Keep ‘em peeled for further TLoEH releases this year……..a single ‘The End of The Lane’ (a song inspired by Neil Gaiman's book Ocean at The End of The Lane, with original cover art by Mr. Gaiman himself) will be available as part of the Mega Dodo Records Singles Club and TLoEH Live At The Cromlech will be out on Fruits de Mer Records sometime soon…….Dig it People.

THEE PSYCHEDELICATESSEN

SUN AND THE WOLF – SALUTATIONS (World In Sound LP, CD, D/L).

Slipping under the radar a while back was the release of Salutations, the second album by Berlin based New Zealand Psych Rock band Sun And The Wolf. An album worth going back to discover, these nine cuts of excellent neo-Psychedelia continues on from the explosive and overdriven rhythm and blues that their debut White Buffalo boasted, while exploring darker realms of psychedelia and splashes of neo-World sounds.

Firstly, don’t be put off by the terrible cover artwork………with Psychedelia being as visual medium as much as an aural one, Salutations sleeve gives off all the wrong signals looking like the band are a bunch of twee Indie funsters and not a fantastic 80s/90s Psych/Shoegaze influenced band, however you have to admit they avoid all the usual Psych clichés with their choice of cover. Hidden beneath a sleeve that most PsychHeads would skip past while flicking through the racks in a record store, Sun And The Wolf have created an album that mixes together taut, incendiary Indie Rock with a technicolour psychedelic swirl that evokes such early 90s bands as House Of Love, Sun Dial, Levitation, Spiritualized and the early psychedelic EPs from Verve as the band explore the darker realms of fuzz driven psychedelia with catchy riffage and splashes of The Beatles´ lysergic era. It’s time to catch up with Sun And The Wolf……………Salutations boasts some outstanding Indie/Psych tunes, from the epic groove of ‘Settle Down’, the sleek Revolver period Beatles inspired ‘All We Need’, the dreamy ‘Ghetto Drum’ through to the motrik pulse of ‘The Fisherman’ and the squalling Psychedelic Rock of ‘Why Are We Not Fading’ before closing with the blissful ‘Never Sorry’. Somewhat under-appreciated on its initial release, Salutations is a really cool record that is well worth checking out.

Released by the wonderful German label World In Sound, Salutations is still available in a variety of formats…………the CD and vinyl versions are available from the usual outlets and the World In Sound Online store (where there are still a few copies pressed on orange vinyl available) while a digital download can be purchased from the World In Sound Bandcamp page at https://worldinsound.bandcamp.com/album/salutations.

THEE PSYCHEDELICATESSEN