PRANA CRAFTER – OPEL CROWN TRANSMISSIONS EP (D/L). POLSKA RADIO ONE – COLD SUN (Opium Eyes CD, D/L). HEAVY MOON – HEAVY MOON 1-6 (Arachnadiscs D/L). V/A – BOLD AS LOVE II (HeviSike D/L). THE DECADENT DAYZE – THESE ARE DECADENT DAYZE (D/L)

Laadeees an Genelmen……….Strange Things Are Happening are proud to present the (almost) return of the possibly world famous “Stuff You Can Download For Nowt From Bandcamp” Blog post (we really need a new title for this!!!!!). What we have done is round up the recent FREE STUFF TO DOWNLOAD Facebook posts and put them here, because with all the noise Facebook generates it is easy to miss things……….plus we have found a couple of groovy new downloads we also want to point you towards. 

Prana Crafter is the recording/performing pseudonym of Psych Folk guitarist William Sol. Recorded at around the same time as the tracks that made up Prana Crafter's album Rapture Of Planes, a five track EP of meditative guitar pieces, the Opel Crown Transmissions EP has been made available as a "name your price" download. Mixing together beautiful, delicate songs that have been compared to the early 60s output from Elektra and Vanguard along with more experimental/improvised, shamanic guitar overload, lo-fi Psych Rock excursions, the Rapture Of Planes album was released last year on Deep Water Acres to wide critical acclaim (read our review on Strange Things here http://theepsychedelicatessen.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/prana-crafter-rupture-of-planes-deep.html). The tracks from the EP were originally intended for the next Prana Crafter record, however Will is now working on blending the longer instrumentals with the 'songs' for the next album ( Popol Vuh meets Donovan or Neil Young if Crazy Horse was made up of the Cosmic Jokers crew has been mentioned........we wait with baited breath), so he has released these tracks for your delight and delectation. Available from the Prana Crafter Bandcamp page here https://pranacrafter.bandcamp.com/album/opal-crown-transmission-ep and Rapture Of Planes is still available from both the Deep Water Acres and Sunrise Ocean Bender web stores.

Thee Psychedelicatessen’s favourite Russian Psych Rock band Cosmic Letdown's own imprint Opium Eyes have released the second Polska Radio One album, Cold Sun, as a very limited CD run of 50 copies. The album is also available as a free download so you can try before you buy........here http://opiumeyesrecords.bandcamp.com/album/--4.

The whole of Polska Radio One's back catalogue is available as FREE "name your price" downloads from their Bandcamp site at https://polskaradioone.bandcamp.com/.  We absolutely recommend that you check these beauties out.........it's mind blowing stuff kidz.

Canadian purveyors of fine audio curios Arachnidiscs Recordings (their tagline "Music For And By Weirdos") have released the seventh Heavy Moon album since 2006, fittingly titled Heavy Moon 7.  Inspired by Pink Floyd, Hawkwind, Harmonia and Black Sabbath, Heavy Moon is a heavy psych/Kosmic jam studio side project of Jakob Rehlinger of Toronto-based improvisational space-rockers Moonwood. We will have a full review on Strange Things very soon. To celebrate this release all the previous six Heavy Moon albums have been made available as "name your price" downloads at https://heavymoons.bandcamp.com/, check ‘em out Spaceheads.

New from UK label HeviSikeRecords is a compilation of………errrr……..Heavy Psych. Bold As Love II has cuts from Elevators To The Grateful Sky, Lightsabres, Bright Curse, Desert Suns, Grifter, Dead Feathers, Astrodome, Stubb and Wired Mind………………..go to the HeviSike Bandcamp page  http://hevisike.bandcamp.com/album/bold-as-love-ii for a “name your price” download. It’s a great little label sampler which will hopefully turn you PsychHeads on, dig it People.

And finally………a cool little 3 tracker from Brighton band The Decadent Dayze of Garage/Psych with ‘Walter (Way To Go)’ the standout track from a bunch of Psych infused punky, energetic tunes. Download These Are Decadent Dayze from their Bandcamp page  http://thedecadentdayze.bandcamp.com/album/these-are-decadent-dayze and “name your price”.

THEE PSYCHEDELICATESSEN

MENIMALS – MENIMALS (Riot Season LP, CD. D/L).

Strange things are happening in Italy……..from that county’s thriving psychedelic scene come Menimals, a force of nature exploring the mysteries of chaos and creation. Shrouded in an enigmatic cloak of inscrutability, the four musicians are the sonic representation of the cosmic beauty and symmetry embodied in the Platonic solids, the classical elements of alchemy, and the symbolic animal spirits whose masks they wear:

The Rat: Drums/Hexahedron/Earth

The most stable element, the layer on which the other instruments stand.

The Chimera: Bass and Additional Guitar/Icosahedron/Water

Is complementary to earth and is the most mobile element.

The Griphon: Guitar and Production/Octahedron/Air

The water lies on the earth, the air lies in the surface of the water. Constantly flies between melody and noise.

Doctor Forge: Voice/Tetrahedron/Man/Fire

The most mutable and unpredictable element. May be a spark or a blaze. It carries the light. It's the lantern in the dark that shows the way.

Menimals' debut album is "a symphony of solids in five movements", a reference to the five shapes that make up the Platonic Solids and from which each of the Menimals was conceived. Behind the masks, myths and magic is a band whose improvisational investigation of Krautrock with strong ambient influences reflects an experimental worldview that reveals itself in the lyrics, visual aesthetic, and in the hypnotic live performances which are not just concerts but cinematic events in which they reconnect with the mysticism of nature. Breaking the boundary between men and animals, they interact with the audience through the psychedelia of their soundscapes. Live performances are rare due to the frail state of Dr Forge's health and the fact that he lives secluded upon another continent, North America, while his creatures toil in the hills of Northern Italy. This is quite a remarkable debut album blending together the dark ambience of experimental Psychedelia, free Jazz and Trip Hop as Dr Forge, with his scorched lungs and frail bones, weaves an archetypal story of the hero's journey through the five shapes related to the elemental root symbolized by each of the characters of Menimals.

“From the known to the unknown, each unknown becomes a familiar -- a spirit-creature of mysticism serving as spy and companion and jester. In the music, the listener is given both solace and a challenge to transcend”. A looping, double bass line introduces ‘In This Unforgiving Heat’ as the Menimals' debut album opens with a track not unlike Barry Adamson’s future noir imaginary soundtracks. A dark trip hop flavoured track not a million miles away from the shadowy, bluesy ambience of Portishead, blending Middle Eastern motifs with a heady jazz vibe…………it’s psychedelic, but not in a conventional way. The sinister, ethereal Future Jazz feel of ‘In This Unforgiving Heat’ spills over into ‘Dodecahedron, The Window Sphere’……..again a track that evokes Portishead at their most experimental. Imagine if the whole 90s Trip Hop scene had been fuelled on powerful hallucinogens and not big blunts then you may possibly get a handle where Menimals are coming from on these two strange but beautiful opening tracks. There is a change of pace and atmosphere as ‘Tetrahedron’ is probably the most “conventional” Psych Rock track on the album and is a slow burning ethereal swirl of a song which builds and builds until sparking into a high octane flame-out of scorching guitar noise. ‘Transition From A Cube To The Octahedron’ is a dark psychedelic masterpiece…………………somewhat akin to the tracks Bill Laswell recorded with William Burroughs in the mid 80s, Dr Forge’s cracked, vocal gravel whispering spoken text over an minimalistic soundscape of guitar, abstract white noise and sparse percussion serves to offer up a rationale of knowing in an increasingly convoluted world. Closing with ‘Bird On The Wing As A Hinge’, another beautifully constructed soundscape of pulsing bass, synth drone and delicate guitar figures, although experimental in structure, melody is never sacrificed as Menimals open a gate through which Doctor Forge and the creatures he engineered deliver their luminous messages of myth and truth to the world. Although not redefining the genre, Menimals are certainly pushing hard at its edges with their unique style of mystic multi-media at a time where psychedelic music is in danger of becoming very conservative, taking any preconceived notion of what modern psychedelia has evolved into and tipping it on its head. If there is such a thing as a psychedelic rule book, Menimals have torn it to shreds after scribbling all over the pages. It takes a few listens for the majesty of this record to really hit home but for the more inquisitive Psychonaut spending time in Menimals world of magic and mystery is a must.

The Menimals debut album is another one of Riot Season’s occasional forays into the psychedelic realm…………………….released on 9^th April 2016 and available in a super limited edition run of only 75 copies on black vinyl c/w insert plus a bonus CDr of the album when ordered directly from Riot Season. Available to pre-order from either the RiotSeason online store or their Bandcamp page at https://riotseasonrecords.bandcamp.com/album/menimals. The CDr along with a digital download of the album are both available separately from the same sources.

THEE PSYCHEDELICATESSEN

INTERKOSMOS – HYPNOTIZER (Sulatron Records CD, D/L, Pancromatic Records LP).

Finally receiving a fully mastered release on CD eight years after recording, Hypnotizer by kosmik kowboys Interkosmos is now available from Sulatron Records………and it’s been well worth the wait. Recorded as a series of studio jams with Electric Moon alumni Sula Bassana and Pablo Carneval along with Rip Kc guitarist Sergio Ceballos, after a tiny run of CDr’s sold out almost immediately Hypnotizer was originally only available as a download from Bandcamp and the netlabel Clinical Archives………………fast forward to 2016 and the album has been given a well-deserved official release (it’s a far too good a record to languish in the Sulatron vaults). Mixed by Sula Bassana and mastered by krautrock legend and regular Electric Moon studio wizard Eroc, with new artwork from Komet Lulu and a bonus live track, Hypnotiser is another gem in the Sulatron canon of great releases.

From experience, you know that you can trust Sulatron for quality Psychedelic Rock/Spacerock/Krautrock and Hypnotizer by Interkosmos does not disappoint. It’s an album of sprawling space sounds that tell stories of far galaxies and the goto soundtrack for a journey to the far out vastnesses of the inner cosmos. Less “heavy” than the recent releases from Sulatron, this is a far more psychedelic record where Interkosmos, as if linked by telekinetic energy, drift with the cosmic tides as a single entity. The six original tracks from Hypnotizer are all languid, swirly Acid Rock meditations that ebb and flow , buffeted by solar winds………glacial guitar licks hang suspended while a unobtrusive bass and drums propel the good starship Interkosmos on it’s journey to the stars. From the opening track ‘Lift Off’, this record is a total trip and the work of three skilled musicians who push and prod in thrilling directions until the music fuses single instruments into each other creating a cosmic oneness as the whole album melds together in a near seamless flow of musical consciousness. The bonus live track, ‘Samphonic Trip’, is by the second line up of Interkosmos which saw Sula Bassana take over guitar duties when Sergio Ceballos returned to Spain …………….this track has more in common with the psychedelic squall of cosmic jammers Electric Moon with heavy riffing and swirling wah-wah guitar underpinned by throbbing bass and thunderous drums pushing the track to an explosive ending. Break out the bong Spaceheads and get yer ears round this truly fantastic record.

The new version of Hypnotizer is out now on Sulatron Records and is available as both a CD and a download. You can get yer paws on the CD (limited edition of 500 copies) at the Sulatron online store and the download is available from the Interkosmos Bandcamp page at http://interkosmos-official.bandcamp.com/. There will also be a vinyl release for this record as the Norwegian label Pancromatic will release it as double vinyl (limited to 300 on marbled wax and 300 on black wax) sometime in April. Clear Spot will be distributing the album in Europe so we suggest you check their website for details.

THEE PSYCHEDELICATESSEN

JUJU – JUJU (Sunrise Ocean Bender LP, D/L)

JuJu is the latest incarnation of Sicily-based Gioele Valenti, who has previously recorded under the name Herself several records of apocalyptic folk lo-fi songs and was also a member of the Lay Llamas for the recording and touring of their Ostro album. His most recent release as Herself was the Gleaming EP, a fantastic collaboration with the Laissez Fairs (the Las Vegas based maximum Mod/Psych band formed by John Fallon ex of the legendary Irish/American 80s Psych band The Steppes), read the Strange Things Are Happening review here. His new project, released by Sunrise Ocean Bender, is an excursion into the Psych Magik of West African rhythmic psychedelia, ancient myths and Mediterranean neo-paganism. Mixing African grooves with distorted Psych Rock, the new JuJu release is a concept album of sorts, telling the story of  an on-going exodus from Africa that more often than not ends in ignored tragedies at sea, ‘a total defeat for humanity.’ Inspired by sources of Earth magic and soil secrets, JuJu strives to turn that defeat into a celebration of spirit and modern psychedelia…….. An endless thought to the forgotten of the sea……… We Are You.

This is a cyclical tale, beginning with the horrors of war and chaos that leads to a mass refugee flight to the coast and lost souls taking their chances with perilous boat journeys (which ultimately ends in disaster). The story goes full circle with even more poor souls needing to escape war and famine in a never ending cycle of despair as even more are lost to the sea. The album opens with ‘Samael’ (who is an Angel from Talmudic lore that brings death and destruction……….thank you Google) which has a pulsing bass heavy AfroPsych groove, a sound not unlike the mighty Goat's shamanistic rituals, before shifting up a gear and easing into the driving krautrocker 'We Spit On Yer Grave' who’s relentless motrik beat and swirling, distorted guitars reminiscent of TOY’s  Neu! influenced tunes. The rest of the record is equally impressive as the tale takes sail on the waters of the Mediterranean with the propulsive ‘Stars And Sea’ and ‘Sunrise Ocean’ linked together by the mournful piano and found sound sketch ‘Dance With The Fish’. This theme of desolation is continued with ‘Lost’ which starts with haunting piano and guitar before exploding into a full on contorted Psych Rock wig out of fuzzed out guitars and distorted voices. The whole thing then returns back to the start and we begin the whole journey again with the heavy fuzz rock AfroPsych of ‘Bring ‘Em War’……….JuJu is a poignant story of hope and loss, which we suspect has an element of personal reflection, with Gioele’s home of Sicily being one of the main refugee routes into Europe from West Africa, and wonderful blend of Psychedelia mixed with Afrobeat that is well worth spending time with......another great SOB release.

Limited to 250 copies on Orange Crush vinyl, JuJu is due for release on 6^th May 2016 and will be available to pre-order from 6^th April 2016 from the Sunrise OceanBender web store (the album will be distributed in N.A. by Cobraside and in Europe by Clear Spot). JuJu will also available as a digital download at sunriseoceanbender.bandcamp.com. The Herself and The Laissez Fairs five track EP, Gleaming, is still available on CD from the Herself Bandcamp page here http://herself1.bandcamp.com/releases.

THEE PSYCHEDELICATESSEN 

SURYA KRIS PETERS – THE HERMIT (Electric Magic LP)

Compiled from two previous digital only Electric Magic records releases (Status Flux and Moonstruck), The Hermit is the first LP from Surya Kris Peters. This is the solo project of Christian Peters, main brain of Samsara Blues Experiment and unlike the heavy Stoner Rock/Psychedelic Blues vibe of that band this is way more introspective, contemplative and evocative collection of music inspired by Krautrock, meditative Indian music and the sounds that soundtracked his earliest musical memories. Built on layers of instruments including various synthesizers, Fender Rhodes, electric organ, rhythm machines and electric and acoustic guitars along with more traditional/esoteric instrumentation including Irish bouzouki, sitar, harp, reed organ, gong, Tibetan singing bowl and bodhran, The Hermit is an album of eight aural explorations that invoke the early days of electronic music and the kind records that Virgin Records put out in their formative years along with the classic 1970s releases from Brain/Ohr records, to which Surya Kris Peters adds his own perspective creating warm, lush soundscapes that are both rooted to the mystery and magic of Mother Earth and from far beyond the stars.

Simply put, this is music for the higher spheres. The album opener, ‘Eremitage’ (from the Status Flux album), is a far out, Far East trip of drones, synth noise and tabla that explores the same sound space as 1970s German artists such as Popol Vuh and Klaus Schulze. Track two, ‘Ragamati’, continues in the same vain with the warm tones of a Fender Rhodes working in harmony with spiralling synthesizers. The whole album has been beautifully sequenced as tracks ebb and flow from Eastern flavoured tunes, through folk melodies, the beautiful ambience of the celestial ‘Snow Feather’, the oriental vibes of ‘Chandra Luna’(the stand out track on Moonstruck) to the gentle folk guitar of ‘La Morrina’. It’s a record that takes in influences from a range of artists such as French synthesizer drone-minimalist Eliane Radigue, 1970s Krautrock-pioneers Tangerine Dream, Cluster, Ash Ra Tempel and the previously mentioned Popol Vuh and Klaus Schulze, sounds from the Far East from the likes of Osamu Kitajima, Tomita and Ananda Shankar and early 70s British Prog/Experimental musicians such as Fripp & Eno, Mike Oldfield, Tim Blake and Steve Hillage but without being an exercise in nostalgia………it is a record that harks back to an era of ground breaking sonic experimentation but with a feel that is distinctly contemporary. The Hermit is a record of rare beauty which caught our ear immediately and a wonderful introduction to the music of Surya Kris Peters.

Due for release on 15^th April 2016 on Electric Magic Records and distributed by World In Sound records, The Hermit is available to pre-order from the Electric Magic online shop from 16/3/16. Available in a limited edition run of 100 copies on white vinyl with silk screened artwork and handwritten labels………not so much an album but true work of art and soon a collectors item!

THEE PSYCHEDELICATESSEN                   

PLASTIC CRIMEWAVE SYNDICATE – PLASTIC CRIMEWAVE SYNDICATE (Swordfish Records LP, D/L).

“Plastic Crimewave - He’s a guy, he’s a band, he’s a multi-coloured forward-thinking arthole of Tardis Dementions. He’s a Futuretro freak, he’s a sibilant gas, he’s a rock’n roll-a-holic” and who are we to disagree the Arch Drude, Julian Cope……..writer, artist, creator of the beloved psychedelic magazine Galactic Zoo Dossier, musician and arguably the Godfather of the current fertile Chicago Psych scene, Plastic Crimewave (aka Steve Krakow) has been making seriously far out records for the best part of 20 yrs. His previous band Plastic Crimewave Sound built up a massive cult following, releasing several critically acclaimed albums and touring with Comets on Fire, Acid Mothers Temple, and Oneida amongst others before disbanding. Plastic Crimewave Syndicate, led by Plastic Crimewave on guitar and vocals with bassist Anjru Kettering, formerly of windy city acid-rawk gods the Great Society Mind Destroyers; Dawn Aquarius on synth, who was part of Herbcraft and Cursillistas, Brainshadows and Oracle Offering; and Jose Bernal, who has pounded the skins for Bionic Cavemen and Dead Feathers as well, have been active since 2012 playing what can only be described as “Cosmik-Free-Punk” . Following their 2013 album The Golden Cage, gigs opening for Loop, Hawkwind and also playing with newer Psych bands like Woods, Purling Hiss and Quilt, the band have returned with a new album of pulverising Psych Rock which is a fusion of Chaos Magic, astral projection and sonic attack. "Now's the time to drink deeply from the grail of Psych, for its bearers, Plastic Crimewave Syndicate, are among us once more”.

Plastic Crimewave Syndicate’s self-titled second album comprises of six heavy and transcendental compositions which take inspiration from the relentless riffing of early Loop, the Kosmic Punk chaos of Chrome and Guru Guru and the 70s Space Rock adventures Hawkwind as they explore the outer dimensions of their sound. It’s an intense 40 minute trip which harks back to the best leftfield, underground Psychedelic Rock from the 70’s and 80’s, full of pounding drums, skull crushing heavy bass, swooping, bubbling synths and PC’s squalling, fuzzed out and distorted guitar that create a barrage of dense, thundering grooves and full on freak outs that will blow your mind and melt your face. Blasting off towards distant galaxies, the record opens with the riff heavy groove of ‘God of Lions’ which sounds like Loop and Chrome meeting in deep space and the rest of the album continues in the same vain. The driving motrik pulse and nimble bass lines that underpin swirling sonic brutality of ‘Envisioner’ give the track the feel of a Punk Hawkwind, a beautiful noise that is simultaneously both ferocious and mind expanding in equal proportions. The closing track, the 10 minute ‘Void of Eternity’, is destined to be a stoner classic……….a spliff odyssey so dense and unremitting it sucks all the sweet smelling vapour out of the room as you dissolve into your sofa, stoned immaculate. This is certainly one of the best Heavy Psych/Stoner Rock albums we have heard for a while and certainly one for all you children of the bong.

Plastic Crimewave Syndicate has been released, with an eye for authentic 70’s/80’s detail, on black, blue splatter vinyl in an extra-heavy cardboard sleeve by the Birmingham,UK label Swordfish, also home to luminaries like Roky Erickson, Sky Saxon and YHW13 (we have been buying records in their store for around 25 years and have just sussed they ran a really cool boutique label….duh!). Limited to 300 copies, the album is available to buy from their Ebay site or alternatively if you live in the West Midlands area you can always pop into the shop in Brum and get a copy directly. At time of writing there is no US distribution deal but keep ‘em peeled People as there is meant to be one in the pipeline, however you can get a digital download from the Plastic Crimewave Syndicate from their Bandcamp page https://pcwsyndicate.bandcamp.com/album/plastic-crimewave-syndicate and we would not be surprised if some of the cooler Chicago record stores are carrying a few copies. Galactic Zoo Dossier is published by Drag City and is available from their webstore here http://www.dragcity.com/artists/galactic-zoo-dossier.

THEE PSYCHEDELICATESSEN 

IMAAD WASIF with TWO PART BEAST – STRANGE HEXES (World In Sound LP, CD).

Currently playing with LA based Space Rock trio EFG, up to now guitarist Imaad Wasif has had quite an interesting and varied career on the fringes of the US Alt Rock scene…..amongst other projects, he was previously a member of The Folk Implosion, Alaska!, part of the Yeah, Yeah, Yeah’s touring band and is one half of the experimental duo Acid, who’s album Science Fiction With Acid has been described as “Prince in a CIA mind control experiment”. He has also recorded some very cool solo albums that combines both elements of Psychedelic Folk and Psych Rock and his second studio album Strange Hexes, which came out as a self-release in 2008, belongs to the lost gems of contemporary Psychedelic Rock music. Following his more introspective first self-titled solo album (released in 2006 on Kill Rock Stars) which featured minimal, acoustic songs reminiscent of Skip Spence’s Oar and Syd Barrett’s Opel, Strange Hexes was a “tense, trippy collection of songs that become fiercely emotional explorations” and “unbelievably intense with sparkling, raga-influenced guitar and a mystic bent” which unfortunately dropped right off the radar. It has always been a mystery why this fantastic record disappeared without trace with only a few Psych Rock heads ever hearing it……………….however the world has been put to right and German Psychedelic/Prog Rock label World In Sound are giving Strange Hexes the reissue treatment with a new official European CD/LP release.

Recorded with bass player Bobb Bruno (now part of Best Coast with Bethany Cosentino) and drummer Adam Garcia under the name Imaad Wasif with Two Part Beast, Strange Hexes traces a vein from late ‘60s West Coat Acid Rock to the more heavy, post-psychedelic, early 70s American guitar bands such as Neil Young & Crazy Horse. Taking on board the same 60s/70s Psych Rock influences as Dead Meadow, Black Mountain, Golden Void and Assemble Head In Sunburst Sound, this record switches between sonic bliss and bone-breaking intensity with Wasif playing the part of both fragile shamanic poet and wailing guitar God………….there are some seriously great tracks here. ‘Unveiling’ is an absolute face melter of a track, incorporating Eastern modal tunings and drones slowly unfolding into a blistering guitar workout. Of the other great songs, ‘Halcyon’ has a cool Blues vibe and ‘Spell’ is a really beautiful track, both tracks having echoes of Jeff Buckley’s song structures. The standout track has to be ‘Seventh Sign, which on the albums initial release was described as “a nearly perfectly crafted nightmare vision of Armageddon that hearkens back to the brooding post-psychedelia of Neil Young’s On the Beach”. Criminally ignored back in 2008, Strange Hexes is well worth getting acquainted with.

Due for release 15/4/16 on World In Sound, Strange Hexes will be available on vinyl LP and CD with both formats including liner notes and rare photos. Available soon from the World In Sound online store and groovy record shops.

THEE PSYCHEDELICATESSEN