Antero Mentu- Näin unta Kaukaisesta Maasta (ECD2024215)

Antero is a multi-instrumentalist (primarily a guitarist), who has performed on a number of albums since 2005 but this is the first under this own name. ‘He is backed by: 

Jesper Anastasiadis- Contrabass, Amanda Blomqvist- Drums, Percussion, Markus Pajakkala- Flute, and Otto Eskelinen- Shakuhachi, Keyboards, Percussion. Antero plays Guitar, Electric Guitar, Keyboards, and Percussion.

The music is instrumental and the album divided into 6 pieces. The first part is quite a dark and driven by deep horns, bells and other percussion.  Part 2 kicks in with bass and drum beat and then a lovely guitar takes the lead. Next the flute comes in for a solo. Lovely music. Part 3 is more uptempo and driven by the guitar and percussion rhythm. Later the flute with some nice reverb on layers in nicely the hypnotic playing. Part 4 is a bit spacey with some nice piano and more simple themes explored on the instruments (guitar, piano, deep bass). IT slowly evolves. This is a super cool track. I just sort of disappeared into the music and vibe. Part 5 is very spaced out and dreamy...  The last part features some lovely guitar to start and then the bass, drums and other instruments float in as it builds.. A very relaxing and exploring musical experience. Enjoy.. The digipack has a booklet with some really interesting artwork. The rest of the info is all in Finnish so I have no idea what it is about… Lovely album…

The digipack has a booklet with some really interesting artwork. The rest of the info is all in Finnish so I have no idea what it is about… Lovely album…

https://anteromentu.bandcamp.com/album/n-in-unta-kaukaisesta-maasta 

Positive Wave- Metsälapsi (Humu Records HUMU041)

Positive Wave is an old band from Finland that has been around since 1998 but I have never heard them!  My friend Eetu sent me this CD. He did the very cool artwork for the CD. They are a 6 piece band (4 guest musicians also play on the album). Susan is the lead vocalist and has a very nice voice to compliment the music. She sings in Finnish so forget understanding it!! The album features 11 tracks ranging from the short 2 min track to the title track at over 9mins. The opening track, 1930, is a piano driven track, with a sort of traditional almost polka like feel at times but darker. Varpunen features some trumpet in this mid paced track with an almost ska feel to it. Lato is a very nice track, reminds me of Wigwam or something.. Love the middle section on this track. Great back and forth with the guitar and keys… Kupla is a bit jazzy…Ritariperhonen is a short track with just voice and acoustic guitar. Toukokuun Lokit starts slowly but then builds up with a sort of dark thread before a Hidira Spacefolk like riff kicks in and then off to the guitar solo. Love the bass line and groove on Maadisko!! Iiris starts slowly but then builds nicely. Great vocals on this track. Pelota is quite funky with some really nice horn work to compliment the piano and vibe. Dig it!! Japanin Laiva is a proggy one with lots of changes. The long title track ends this quite nice album with a more explorative nature and space start. 

I guess these guys are like prog-folk rock of sorts if I had to put them into a category but the CD is very eclectic and diverse.. I really enjoyed it a lot… Check them out…

http://positivewave.net

Lords of Form- False Light EP

Lords of Form is a group lead by Niall Hone (ex Hawkwind, Tribe of Cro). This is their most recent EP, which comes bundled with the first batch of the bands first vinyl called Our Shared Humanit out now on the UK label, Skidmark Multimedia. It is a compilation of tracks from the bands first 3 releases. 5 tracks, total.  Pity it is too expensive to buy in the EU otherwise I would love to own this one.. Here is the bands description of the LP:


Its Revolution Time – A hard-hitting opener that sets the tone with its commanding riffs and soaring vocals. A song for the times we face as a collective on this planet

Fhhu – Electronic’s build with memorable melodies that calm the listener.

Break My Gaze – Dynamic shifts and moments of emotional intensity, interspersed with improvisational sections.

23 Strangers – This track builds using synthesisers into a full blown space rock romp.

Everyone Knows Your Name – A high-energy track that is over in little over two minutes.

We Soothe, You Suffer –Over 20 minutes of improvised sonic mayhem. Drums pound and guitars sore, the cosmic nod is strong here!

Here is my take on the new EP, Krakern vs. XC, starts off with some strange sounds but then heads off into a more spacey territory with echoed guitar and vocals but a mean ass bass drive. It spaces out in the middle section with a nice melodic solo before getting a bit angry and taking another melodic turn.  Trippy song… Blood Dream is like movie soundtrack stuff and quite dark and creepy.  The Vestibule of Solitude starts quite spacey with a pad synth, some very deep sounds that shook the floor of my listening room (I have a subwoofer). Again, this could be some soundtrack music. I love it when the Tangerine Dream like synth arpeggio starts. Cool track. Stardust brings back the heavy riffs. A nice Huw Lloyd Langton like lead guitar line eventually takes the lead. It comes down as they jam it out a bit.  The current band is: Niall Hone, Jamie Gillet, George Cobbold, and Trim. 

https://lordsofform.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/lordsofform

TOP 20 RECORDS FOR 2024

I actually do not feel like I have one fave record this year.. These are the ones that I played a lot and enjoyed a lot but I can not really order them…  They are all great…

MONKEY3 - Welcome To The Machine  (Switzerland)

Cosmic Fall- Back where the Fire Falls (Germany)

The Cosmic Dead- Infinite Peaks (Scotland)

MOON GOOSE- Murmurations (UK) 

Sacri Monti- Retrieval (US)

Blackberry Smoke- Be Right Here (US)

The Bevis Frond - Focus On Nature 2LP (UK)

Causa Sui - From The Source LP (DENMARK)

FU MANCHU - The Return Of Tomorrow (US) 

WHITE HILLS- Beyond this Fiction (US)

LYDSYN- Højspændt (DENMARK)

The Kryss Talmeth Experience- When the Wheels Fall Off  (Scotland)

Astral Magic Featuring Bridget Wishart - Ad Infinitum LP/CD (FINLAND)

Deep Purple - = 1 (UK)

ZAKK SABBATH- Doomed Forever Forever Doomed (US)

International Space Station - Vol. 2 (2024)

DELVING- All Paths Diverge (GERMANY) 

OBSESSED, THE- Gilded Sorrow  (US 2024) 

Stonerhenge- Solaris (Belarus)

BURN ON THE BAYOU- TRIBUTE TO CCR  (US 2024)

I like some of my own bands releases this year as much as many of these but did not put them on the list…  Here is what I had out this year…

Stonerhenge- Solaris (Self Released)

I was very happy to release Serge´s album before this on CD on my Space Rock Productions label this year. Even though it has not sold that well, I think it is is a great album and so is this follow up, a double album with a specific 16 part theme and video inspired by the famous novel by Stanisław Lem.

IT is best to just watch it with the video (here). The album is about 75mins long spacey movements, hard rocking parts and a lot of cool guitar playing, which I really love. Very well done and the folks he worked with on the video did a great job as well.  It is a bit slow at times but that is ok as then you can focus on listening to the music more.  A great album.. Well worth taking 75mins of your life to enjoy.. A  lot of passion and dedication went into creating this for sure.. 

https://stonerhenge.bandcamp.com/album/solaris

The Kryss Talmeth Experience - When The Wheels Fall Off (Kozmik Artifactz)

TKTE is a psychedelic stoner band from Edinburgh Scotland with a bluesy edge. I have never heard this band before. The band formed in 2016 and this is their 2nd effort.  The album opens with the blues, a bit Trower like, Jump into the Fire.  Definitely a guitar riff you have heard before when the song kicks in but the band deliver the groove…. Carnegie, who hands the guitars is also a raw passionate singer.  Media Content starts with an affected bass line before the more doomy riff kicks in. They go from doom to groove quite seamlessly on this one. Next up is the title track, great groove but then they really take it down to spaced out bluesy territory and even have some low level synths to add some atmosphere…. it builds up again at the end with a more metallic riff. Gentleman's Surprise is instrumental and  starts with only the drums and then the bass kicks in with a great riff and off we go in a mid paced bluesy riff with some nice delays on the guitar. Love it…  Great guitar solo follows, one of the best on the record for sure..  Jamies Revenge, is a more stoner rock vibe. Great wah guitar solo on this one.  If you buy the digital album you get an uptempo bonus track called Pleasure Monkey and a really long one called Rough guide to tripping in the Desert!!  I guess you could say as for modern comparisons, bands like Child, Magic Jove (RIP), Geezer are as close as you can get but they are for sure rooted more in the 70s… as are the bands mentioned above..  A very cool record. 

https://thekrysstalmethexperience.bandcamp.com/ 

https://kozmik-shop.com/

Cosmic Fall- Back where the Fire Flows (Clostridium)

 

These cool guys from Berlin opened for ØSC (Øresund Space Collective) some years ago and they were a great band. Daniel, the drummer sent me the new CD, their first in 5 years.  It is also out in vinyl on Clostridium.  Anyway, it features 5 tracks. The opening number is one of my faves on the album, Lucid Skies above Mars and just floats and glides and has wonderful delay guitars. Love the way they are mixed. Magma Rising kicks things into high stoner rock action and is a great track. Under the influence of Gravity, starts noisy and strange and then a sort of groove gets going with a almost funky like guitar. Very different.  Chant of the Lizards is another really lovely laid back one with super nice guitars.  Drive the Kraut, is a 10min long journey with this more Neu like drive to start but then they drift in and out of this til they find their own way..  A great return album. Will be in my top 20 for sure.. Been playing it a lot.. Thanks guys..

http://cosmicfall.de

http://www.clostridiumrecords.de/ 

Sula Bassana/Skyjoggers Split LP (Sulatron st2405)

Sula is one of the major artists in Europe for psychedelic rock music and this live album (All songs recorded live at Dazed & Spaced Festival, Bar 227 Hamburg, in April 2024), features his new 4 piece band, to play music from his solo albums and create new music.  Skyjoggers are a trio from Finland and I had never heard of them before but if you look at their bandcamp page, they have a lot of music out!!!  Anyway, they start off the LP with a very intense high energy psychedelic rock trip out called Step One: Breathe, Step Two: Levitate… This track reminds me a lot of another Tampere band, Void Transmission.. Lightrunner, keeps the intensity high and the vocalist is quite mad at times and uses these crazy delays.. For Outer Space, they bring the energy down and start off a bit bluesy with some nice spacey guitar. A great change from the others but it builds up to an almost doomy end.  Cool..

Side B features two tracks one from Sula´s latest solo album and then a cosmic freakout jam.  A very nice version of We Will Make It, very space at times and solid groove but then builds up to a heavy ending. Come with Me, is a jam and starts off with spoken word and Sula playing a sort of gypsy music like theme on the organ before we head off into heavy space out territory, ala Electric Moon but with more spacey parts and dynamics.. Great stuff..

https://skyjoggers.bandcamp.com

https://sulabassana.bandcamp.com

Human Teorema- Le Premier Soleil De Jan Calet (Sulatron st2404)

This an instrumental band from France. The quartet have been playing since 2012 and have released several Eps, none of which I have heard.  This three track album traces the journey, explorations, and visions of Jan Calet, a professor of ancient civilizations in Rome in the early 90s, as he traverses through the ages and abysses until his renewal and starts off with Onirico starts off very spacey with a nice keyboard theme. The guitar line, drums and bass enter but the music is very spacey with nice synths whoosing about in the background. This track slowly builds up in intensity and leads into Studiis, a 15min track. It starts with some mellotron and this is a long much more proggy, symphonic track. Spedizione is all of side B and takes 23mins of your life to listen to but it is worth it. Starts with some nice synths sequences before the main guitar riff kicks in and off we go………. Enjoy the trip.. What a great record.. Wow… Loved it…

www.sulatron.com 

www.humanteorema.bandcamp.com

www.instagram.com/humanteorema


www.facebook.com/humanteorema


Trigon- Kozmik Kraut Jam (Self Released)

Trigon have been around on the Germany scene for more than 30 years now. It has been a while since they released a new album but they are back. They play jammed out instrumental rock music.  Brothers Rainer and Stefan on guitar and bass and drummer Rudi Metzler recorded this album live in 2023.  Side A is the long 23min Achtung Traumspoiler track which has the signature Trigon sound and progresses thru slower or mid tempo parts to more rocking stuff and Rainer changes his guitar tone with various pedals here and there but often preferring a quite clean tone.  Nice piece of music. 

Side B features 3 shorter tracks and starts with a short drum solo intro on Guten Morgen Aurora. Rainer then noodles away over the bass line as the track starts to develop. Some really nice wah guitar work on this track that really builds up to a rocking and intense end. Hinterm is a short 3 min piece that really rocks and Rainer rips it up on the guitar. Setzt das Sonnensegel has some jamming parts with a wild wammy guitar section. It gets very spacey at the end. Nice album.. Good comeback guys….

https://trigon.bandcamp.com/music

https://www.trigon.in/ 

Astrodome- Seascapes (Copper Feast Records)

Astrodome, are a Porto based band, that have been pretty quiet the last years so this album snuck up on a lot of people. A happy surprise…   The band took a different approach to making this album though. The others were recorded live with some overdubs while this album was a real studio creation with a lot of time and effort put into different parts and sections and more sound manipulations.  The album features 8 tracks from 1mins to 10mins in length.  The short opener sort of sets the stage for the entire album with its dreamy sounds of the sea and simple guitar line before heading into Doldrums End.  This an uptempo track that slowly builds on very intermittent guitar lines and floating synths. Maelström is next and keeps the tempo pretty fast as this song is also very spaced out despite the tempo. Wow…. dreamy, trippy…. then there is the guitar solo, very melodic. Espic Hel Horizon is also very dreamy, post rock, spacey…… Nice build up. Erebus, seems to follow a lot of the same type of musical themes we have heard already on the record, continue this echoey dreamscape. Riptide starts with a high energy rocking start but then drifts back into space again. Lots of long delays give it a very spacey feel with the synths. Cool….

Aqueora is a short mainly synth piece but a bit of guitar at the end.. Sirens, is again very relaxed and spacey.  It is a cool album but seems like a lot of variations on the same dreamy themes over and over again, I could have used a bit more variety in the album. I think people will find it a bit too laid back from what they expected after the Astrodome II. Nice music… Great spaced out sound. 

http://astrodome.bandcamp.com 

Octopus Syng- Insanity is the song we Sing (Self Released

Jaire is back with another set of 11 songs of weird Syd Barrett meets Roky Erikson madness. Boy is this a fun album.  Some songs like his previous albums, nice melodic songs but then there are far out ones like My Weekend, Where is all my Stuff which I really liked a lot.  Factory has that 1967-68 Pink Floyd vibe for sure.  Chamber of Primal Desires has a great bass line and some interesting lyrics and a good drive, Jaire plays a bit more guitar on this one and sings less.  Tripped bit towards the end and then back into the song. Hedvika is getting Married is one of the more rocking (but a bit off kilter) tracks with a psych garagy feel and long guitar section before returning to the vocals. Far out.. Do you have a light??, ends this album, with a stripped down song of just Jaire on guitar and vocals…  Fun album…. 

https://octopussyng.bandcamp.com/music

Infrared Hologram- Exploding Flowers (Astral Magic Music)

This is a new project by Rainer Neeff (The Pancakes etc.) with The Honey Mountain Band. It features the spoken words of Shane Beck (The Last American Poet) and Santtu Laakso (Astral Magic) on other instruments.  

The track starts very spacey and Shane kicks in 20 seconds into the track as his story unfolds. It is a strange track with layers of spaced out synths, guitars, but not real groove and track starts until 5mins in and then it starts to take a new form as the drums, bass and organ kick in for about 5mins and then they space out totally again with just guitar and synths. Shane comes in here and there throughout the track. It is hard to describe but just listen and go with the flow as it follows a similar pattern across the 39 mins. Drums are not used that much but in a few sections until the ending. Overall, a  very nice and interesting piece of music for the mind…. Float away…

At the moment this is a digital only release and out on 31/10/2024..  Check it out if you have the patience… 

http://astralmagic.bandcamp.com 

Black Spy- Songs of Dissonance (Art Safari AS0011)

This is the 2nd album by this interesting Finnish band from Helsinki. The trio play a strange mix of noisy, dissonant rock music with a bit of psych influence at times..   Hollow Ground starts things off with a nasty noisy guitar tone and riff and stays this way except in the vocal sections which are quite melodic!! Rat Race is a more heavy rocker a bit of psych at times. New Dark Age starts off spacey but gets loud and nasty as it gets going. The song Nothing kicks up the tempo a notch. I really like this one. Ocean of Fears is more melodic. Fall, is my fave track and long 16mins freakout of sorts….. Strange, weird and wonderful band… A lot of people will not quite get it though!!

https://postyouthrock.bandcamp.com/

Ozric Tentacles-Stengade, København, DK Sept 27th, 2024

I arrived at the venue about 16 and the nightliner was there and all the gear was in the venue and doors wide open. There was Ed. He saw me and said Hello Scott and has been a long time and we shock hands.  He then went back to his guitar and I said hello to Silas, Pat the drummer, light guy Jasper (Fruit Salad Lights), sound guy and Cory, the new bass player, Saski… It was lovely.  I had a chat with Ed about his guitar effects, if they brought an extra Supernovation II with them on tour incase one went down but they only bring an extra power supply and since they bought the extra power supply they have had no problems!! I watched the sound check. They mostly use it to just adjust the in ear monitoring, playing a bit of Eternal Wheel, Sploosh, Throbbe and that was it it. No complete song.  Sound was great but the drums are too loud. This sound guy they have had for more than 10 years brings a great clarity to the sound but the drums are like 50% of all the sound.. If he brought them down 20%, he could the best soundman I have heard with them but no way..

Concert was sold out. I stayed until about 1815 and went and had some dinner while they had caterered vegan food, which Cory loved but a lot of the band/crew said it was one of the worst meals of the tour. Pity… 

Anyway, Doors opened at 20 and the place filled up and we all hung out in the bar. I saw and spoke to lots of old friends (Mikael Krog and his girlfriend, Magnus and Sonja, Jesper, Peter, Yann, Finn, and Christina, and many others..)   Silas and Saski started a bit after 9 and played a great set. Cory played bass on nearly all their songs and it was great. It is very Ozric like in some ways but with their own more world music twist. She as a beautiful voice and plays lovely guitar and flute as well. It would be more powerful if they had a real drummer.  The programmed drums are good (too loud) and they have great songs. Silas (who looks a lot like a young Steve Hillage), is a great guitar player and keyboard player. They said their album is nearly finished and will for sure be out next year. Tonight was their last gig on this tour. 

Set List: Vespers, Spheres, Allisone, Universal, Moonsong, Dreamer, Milky, Shaow, Shakti

Ozrics were on pretty fast after they finished. I missed 15 seconds of the intro on the recording. The started with Eternal Wheel and then into Erpland. Wow.. Great start.. It was a fantastic show of old and 3 songs from the new album. Lotus unfolding, Green Incantation and Burundi Space Port, which I do not think they played before this tour. Ayervedic was one of my faves and not sure I had ever seen them play it before.  We got the Throbbe, Sunscape, Mooncalf, and ended the show with Sploosh… It was almost 100 min show. 

Set list: Eternal Wheel, Erpland, The Domes of G´Bal, Lotus Unfolding, Sunscape, Burundi Space Port, Ayurvedic, The Throbbe, New song, Jelly Lips, Sploosh 

Sadly, we got no projections tonight and the lights were ok but I wanted the projections… It is a bit hard in this club with the low ceiling but ØSC, we always manage..  Anyway, amazing night. I hung around a bit after and talked with the band, and Magnus and Sonja..  Awesome night…