Black Elk Medicine Band- Santa Ana 7” (Valley King Records VKR707)

BEMB is a new band from the San Francisco Bay Area lead by Issiah Mitchell (Earthless, Golden Void) on guitar and bass, John McBain (Wellwater Conspiracy) on drum programming and Phil Manley on guitar and synth. The title track features Issiah doing what he does best and playing lead solo guitar over programmed drums. It has a special sound the opening track but a bit of the vibe of Black Elk Speaks from Hawkwind’s Space Bandits (if you stretch your imagination).. Flip the 7” over and you get As the Sun Rose on Dec 29^th, 1890. This track is just a dreamy guitar over a synth drone and surely a nice track to play as the sunrises on anyday… I wonder if they have made a full record? The 7” comes in a really nice sleeve with cool artwork, a single cardboard insert with the cover and a square sticker as well. They are all handnumbered to 500 copies.

http://valleykingrecords.wordpress.com/

Abramis Brama/Black Debbath- Split 7” (Transubstans Records TRANS SV709)

It has been like 5 years since the last Abramis Brama record. Last time I saw the band in Malmo, they were a five piece and now they are back to a four piece again. AB starts off with the title track of their new CD, Enkel Billet (Single Ticket), a mid-paced hard rock track with a silly “Nah, Nah Nah” sing along like part. I like the end when it really picks up oth pace but in heaviness, while the first part is forgettable. I saw Black Debbath play like 15 years ago but not since. This track is a high pace 3min hard rocking song that starts off with a funny vocal before they kick into high gear. They sing in Norwegian so I have no idea what they are singing about. It has a bit of an epic feel in the slow mid section before the final rocking section. This was a rockin’ song. I think only 300 are made of this 7” and the AB track is not exclusive, so I can only recommend this for collectors. 

http://www.transubstans.com

Causa Sui- Live at Freak Valley Festival (El Paraiso Records)

Causa Sui are a four piece instrumental psychedelic rock band who originally laid their roots down in the mold of Colour Haze but gradually over the years have really developed a really unique and person sound and feel to the music. While I have been able to see the band many times here in Denmark, the band rarely plays live anymore. Luckily, the Freak Valley Festival captured this excellent and rare live performance and the band mixed it for our pleasure. The set is heavily focused on the bands last record Euporie, where half the tracks come from. The versions are pretty close to the record with a little improvisation but not much. The song lengths are almost identical to the record. Side A starts off with The Juice and Homage from the new record. Red Valley is one of the bands favourite tracks to play from the Summer Session’s series and Jonas just plays great guitar. Rasmus’s keyboard parts tend to be mixed a bit higher on this live recording which is cool.  Side B starts off with two of the three parts of the track called Manifestations of Summer, where they play the first two parts- Lonesome Traveler and Santa Sangre. On the record Venice by the Sea ends this piece but here they exchange that for Garden of Forking Paths (the only track from the Pwet’R sessions). It starts quite dreamy before the monster riff kicks in there is some cool keyboards from Rasmus to compliment this. The rhythm section of Jakob (drums) and Jess (bass) are just awesome. These guys have been rocking for more than 10 years now. Anyway, the track develops into the most psychedelic stuff on the entire record with the band just out there for a few minutes before coming back to earth. Mireille ends the side and again is from the latest album Euporide Tide.  Side C starts off with the grooving track El Paraiso and a long guitar solo as the track builds up. Rasmus gets a quite nice solo section and Jonas plays beautiful guitar while the track comes down. Euphorie is 11 mins and has some great bass playing and drums in this track that is a bit more jazzy but has great dynamics and also killer. Now to the final side, which starts off with Homage. The guitar riff and sound you could say is a Homage to ColourHaze but the organ changes the vibe a bit and a different kind of melodic thread runs through the track despite the riff being CH inspired. Soledad ends this 90 min concert with a very uplifting track that for sure left the audience in a great mood. A must have release.

  

http://www.causasui.com http://www.elparaisorecords.com

The Spacelords- Synapse (Sulatron Records st1403)

 I have not heard this German band but this is their 4^th release and first on vinyl. Marcus from this band is the current drummer in Electric Moon as well.  The LP features for mainly instrumental tracks of space rock. The trip begins with Synapse, which has a hypnotic bass line, a slow building guitar line and riff and a lot of bubbling space sounds. A point later the organ comes in and towards the end the synths make it feel like a UFO is going to land in the living room. Pretty cool. Sitarguitar is exactly what the title says, a slow spacey sitar guitar piece that really has a great atmosphere. Nice trip.. Flip the record over and the track No.2 starts with an organ, some floating wind and delay guitar as the drummer shows the way forward into space. This track reminds me a bit of My Sleeping Karma with its hypnotic qualities and repeated guitar lines. Pyroclastic Monster has a really beautiful guitar line that runs in the track at the beginning. Very nice dynamics and layers a bit like Folkazoid. A strange vocal sample is thrown in a few times to mix it up and also some intense riffing at the end a bit like Farflung. A very cool space rock record.

http://www.sulatron.com http://www.thespacelords.com

Marblewood- Marblewood (Talesyn Productions TAL003)

Marblewood is a new band featuring the guitar player and bass player from the Swiss blues rock band, Ginger, who are taking a break it would appear from their website. David Zurbuchen (drums), Michael Marti (organ) fill out the band. There are also two other guests on hand drums (Sandro) and vocals on the track, Splendor. This CD features 6 long tracks in 70mins. Kailash starts things off with a pretty heavy rock track that almost reminds me of some of Wino’s solo material and bands. The middle section is an improvised jam with a slow evolving guitar solo and later the organ joins in as it really builds up. The female bass player, Ariane is really good and helps to lead many of the pieces as David really rocks on the drums. Hit the Breaks reminds me of Siena Root with it uptempo and organ driven rhythm and trading guitar and organ solos and cool lyrics about the fate of humanity! Splendor features the talents of Sandro on dilruba and esraj, which gives the track a really unique sound with these strange Indian instruments. Sarah Weibel guests on vocals after the spoken word part by Marc. Marc later plays a very intense wah guitar solo as the track really builds with some intense drumming. Silence is a 10min track and starts very slow and bluesy and a very depressing lyrical theme but some damn fine lead guitar work, so passionate. Postwar Apocalypse continues with the heavy lyrical themes and features a more heavy guitar riff. David plays some synths on this track as well. The last track, is called In the Beginning and this is the first jam the band had when they hit the studio back in August 2013 and it is a 21min long instrumental piece. You have to be patient but you can hear the beginnings of the band on this one long track. Great fucking record….

You can download this cool album for free from the bands web site below.

http://www.marblewood.net

Dirty Grass- It’s all About (Levitation Records LR008)

Dirty Grass was a project that grew out of the Danish band Ghost Rocket. This material was recorded on a single weekend in June 2008. The band was led by Morten Aron (Spids Nøgenhat, On Trial, Aron, Ghost Rocket, and many other projects). He was joined by Hobitten (played in most of the same bands, except Ghost Rocket) on guitar, Claus Rosenblad on drums, vocals and organ from ghost Rocket and Sigurd Djurhuus (Tidsguest) on bass and organ. It is a very short EP with 7 songs in about 23mins. It was pressed in 500 copies on two different colours of vinyl. How to describe it??? Very raw psychedelic garage rock.. Check it out if you are fans of the these cool Danish projects..  https://www.facebook.com/dirtygrass http://www.facebook.com/levitationrecords

Deep Space- Through the Haze (Sulatron Records st1401)

Deep Space is another new band for me. The 3 piece are from Austin, Texas and have previously released and EP called Cosmic Waves. The band has a new cassette out now called Berlin as well. This album starts off with the uptempo and really spacey song called Work. The vocals are mixed in a very psychedelic way while the space sounds float around. It has a bit of a Wooden Shjips like vibe but not the same sort of hypnotic groove, more an acid rock jam style. Vibrations is a 11 min track with a similar vibe to the first track and it is quite stoned and features some great brain tingling guitars to fill in the psychedelic landscape. Inner Light is a fun sort of psychobilly track with organ and a Elvis like vocal at times. Flip the record over and Motorcycle takes us on another trip, starting off with a spoken word piece of a really slow building spacey track. Lady Heroine reminds me a lot of White Manna from California. Overall, this is a really psychedelic album with a really cool feel and vibe and a nice variety of tracks.

http://www.sulatron.com  http://deepspace.bandcamp.com

Chickencage Experience- Kama Sutra Blackbelt (Nasoni Records 147)

The members of the Polytoximaic Philharmonie are back with another Chickencage Experience CD. I really enjoyed the last CD/DVD release. This one is a bit more focused with shorter tracks and more singing and less instrumental parts. Mayday Sister Mayday starts things off in a mid pace with some nice saxophone and great singing by HM Fishli. It starts to rock out with some short bursts of lead guitar and lots of complex movements and the end reminds me of Blood Ceremony with a slightly doomy, heavy guitar riff. Top Secret is a short 2½min song with a synth line that gives it this dreamy feeling. Werküken tells a story up until about 3½ mins when it changes direction but then leads to a fade rather than a jam or something. Shaken not Stirred sounds exactly like it would be perfect in a James Bond film. Done to perfection.. Thousand Miles in nearly 8mins of melodic floating progressive style rock, with nice layers of synths, sax and occasional guitar solos but the song is again very focusing the singing. Still flaky but Free features a bit more instrumental sections and nice interaction between the keyboards, sax and guitar. Spacecop Goodbad is a short funny track. Hope Song has some nice lyrics and beautiful guitar lines. An Ocean full of Gold is a really short one that leads into the CD closer, Whitewash, which is one if not my favourite track on the record. I love the guitar playing on this instrumental. A pretty cool record once again and it would be perfect for a James Bond movie….

http://www.nasoni-records.com

Aalto- Ikaro (Uulu Records UULO009)

Aaolto is a new 6 piece Finnish psychedelic folk rock band. All the info in the digipack CD is in Finnish but the band plays a lot of diverse and interesting musical instruments from all around the world and sings in Finnish. Uulu Records is a cultural collective that is involved in a lot of really cool and different artistic things, including releasing music. The CD features 8 songs in 50 mins. Ikaro starts things off with a repetitive line played on a string instrument and a drone slowly creeps in as the tension slowly builds up. The voice begins to creep in and then the drums and other instruments as sort of American Indian like tribal feeling takes hold. What a super cool track and it fades out the way it faded in. Vapahtaja is next and has a clarinet that takes the lead to start this trip to Morocco or a similar place. The female vocalist sings the lead on this track in another magical trip, which has a really cool middle section with harp and other cool instruments. Now it is time for Heijastumia and to go a bit further east with a bit of sitar and some sort of other string instrument leading the way to start before the male Finnish vocals come in and is traded with the female voice. Wonderful psychedelic music. Kastepisaroita I and II are next and it starts pretty mellow with just hand drums, clarinet and female vocal. The 2^nd part has a sort of funk riff played on a string instrument and then the sitar comes in.Antero, who plays sitar, tambura and other instruments actually writes nearly all the songs. He had gathered together a great group of people to execute his vision. Sateentuoksuisia Unia features acoustic and pedal steel (or slide guitar), digeridoo and floating vocals. I really like the guitars and folk music vibe on this one. Metsätaloushöömei features some throat singing and an uptempo rhythm and also features banjo! Kuum Tytär ends the album. It starts very slowly with bits of almost all the instruments you have heard on the record at times mixed into a very melting, floating, breathing psychedelic flow. I was just melted away completely while listening to this… This is for sure one of favourite record I have heard so far in 2014…

http://uulu.fi/en  http://etnoaalto.blogspot.fi/

The Tower- Hie Abundant Leones (Bad Omen Records OMEN004)

The Tower is a new Swedish four piece playing slow, dark melodic 70s rock. Side A has 6 short songs and starts off with short instrumental track Non Omnis Moriar. Adrenalawine has a very catchy groove and gets things started in a great way. I was hooked right a way with the cool guitar riff. Exile is catchy track and could be the single if there was going to be some radio play from this record. Lucy is a slower bluesy track with a nice wah guitar solo and really builds up at the end to a massive freakout with Tommie really pounding the drums. Lions at the Gate is another really melodic track with some great bass playing by Viktor a nice guitar solo, again, heavy on the wah! Pinetree Mary starts slowly but then really picks up again driven by Viktor’s bass lines. Side B starts with the long track, Moonstoned, which has a very tasteful guitar solo and in general I really like the guitar playing of August. Wounds starts off in a quite psychedelic way before the sound changes and the track develops. The guitar and bass section is really cool on this track with a far out effect on the guitar. The Tower ends this album with again a bit longer track and this is slow and a bit spacey and then really speeds up and then comes back down. There is not much of a solo but what great dynamics and vibe and cool lyrics. How to describe them? Let’s just say they have listened to a lot of 70s record records like Black Widow, November, and probably their country mates in Sweden, Graveyard, Witchcraft, etc...  They have their own vibe though. Eric has a special voice, a bit like Jon Oliva from Savatage at times without the screams, but it fits well with the vibe of the music and the whole band really sound great. Some compared them to the Doors but I don’t hear it, check them out for sure. Great record.

http://www.bad-omen-records.com/ https://www.facebook.com/thetowercult

Second Grave- Antithesis (Pariah Child MLP006)

Second Grave are a four piece US band and this is released on the cool Northern Ireland label, Pariah Child. It is a limited edition 2 song 10”. Each track is a long and goes through many different movements and moods. Mourning Light is an uptempo and melodic NWOBHM style rocker. Krista, the female vocalist has a fantastic voice. The highlight of this track though is the beautiful and long melodic guitar solo section. Flip the record over and the slow building track, Drink the Water is next. IT starts off slow and doomy but slowly builds up and there is a lot of singing of the lyrics 2x and then a Candlemass like section that builds up the fast guitar solo section. The ending is really a big shift as it gets really heavy and doomy with this intense female growling. I really like the intense drumming on this track. A very cool EP if you like female fronted heavy rock bands you should for sure check this one out. They have a bandcamp site as well.

http://www.secondgrave.com http://www.pariahchild.co.uk http://secondgrave.bandcamp.com

Spiralmaze- Back to the Center (Spiralmaze 2014)

Spiralmaze are back with their 2^nd release of mostly instrumental Ozric tentacles inspired music. This is a private release by the band on CD. It features 7 tracks in 40mins (so maybe it comes out on vinyl??). The CD starts off with the excellent Multiuniverse starts things off with a trance techno like synth line and a very fast drum rhythm and a guitar solo right out of the Ed Wynne handbook. Hwang Ho has a really nice bass line by Aris mixed up front and driving the this track. It also features more guitar solos than the previous track and a guest one by Stel Andre.  Remipede has a riff that is very close to an Ozric song but which one (Vita Voom). There is a vocal sample on this track that sounds like a Middle Eastern singer. The synths are very nice on this track as it floats and spaces for a while and then the guitar riff changes and slowly morphs into the solo section as the track builds up, which features a very melodic solo. Myraid Small Creatures has a sort of reggae skank guitar riff to start things off and lots of nice synth layers. This track featues some additional percussion by Vangelis Kalatzis and another vocal sample. This is a lovely track. The Longest Day is next and split into Part 1 and Part 2. It starts very spacey with lots of floating synths and a bit dreamy. They might even have a Novation supernova like Ed as the synth sounds are quite similar. Part 2 picks up the pace and it takes a while before the guitars kick in and the groove is very tight and funky. The delay guitar is really cool that goes along with this track. It really speeds up at the end and Ed Wynne like guitar returns with a really cool wah guitar solo. The title track, Back to the Center ends this cool record. It starts off with some drums with some effects on them, some vocal samples and a tribal like rhythm before the dreamy synths and bass line roll in. It gets quite heavy at the end. While the band is very Ozrics inspired they use some more heavy metal style riffs on some of the songs like Remipede, which is very heavy at the end. Fans of the Ozrics, Quantum Fantay, and Mantric Muse, will probably really dig this album. I think it is better both sound wise and playing that the band’s first record.

http://facebook.com/spiralmazemusic http://www.soundcloud.com/spiralmazemusic

Jakob Skøtt- Amor Fati (El Paraiso Records EPR016LP)

Jakob is best known as the drummer in the instrumental Danish band, Causa Sui. He has also been involved other electronic music projects like September. This is his 2^nd solo record and this one is really totally different from the first one. The opening track Mantis in Lace is driven by a quite garagy drum session over which many layers of synths are layered for quite a psychedelic effect. Synthemesc is much more synthetic with the percussion rhythm being driven by a very special percussive sound (quite cool, actually) but with the bass synth taking the real lead that you follow as another synth layer brings the melody. Like the first track, it has a quite spacey ending. Araucaria Fire ends side A and is the longest track at 8½ mins. This track again starts with Jakob playing some intense drums and then synths gradually become your main focus of attention. This track is really quite trippy as more and more stuff and different kinds of synths get layered in. Wow.. Side 2 features 4 tracks and this first starts off quite a bit like the first track with some great drumming but not as low fi a sound and then Jakob experiments with different layers but lets the bass synth often take the lead. Omega Oscillator starts with a few synths sounds with some long delays before the main synth groove begins. A totally different vibe to the previous track. The melodic line jumps in and out at regular intervals to make your brain neurons react in just the programmed way. The title track, Amor Fati, brings back the more raw drum sound as the first track and a quite driving rhythm with a very psychedelic synth line driving the freaky part while many might hook their ears into the bass synth line. This track gets quite funky at the end like he was having a really fun jam with himself! Earth of No Horizon ends this record with one last 7 min space out. It starts very slow and droning and then the repeated bass synth starts to oscillate. Fans of early German electronica will dig this stuff. Very relaxing in one sense yet challenging in another.. You decide..

http://www.elparaisorecords.com

Fribyttedrømme- Drone, København March 20th, 2014

It had been half a year since I saw this young new Danish band play. I was really surprised that the place was totally packed with people and a lot of women. The shows are free here and the place is a sort of dump. The cheapest beers are 25kr but mostly people come because you can just smoke freely downstairs. It is horrible place to see a show due to this but I suffered through it. The band played a lot of the same stuff as when I saw them open for Carlton Melton but they debuted a new song and announced they would have their first single out soon on the local psych label, Levitation Records (Kasper from the label was there). Check out the video below.

The band has three guitarists (two who do all the lead work and one rhythm guitar player, who on this night seemed a bit out of it and was doing strange stuff), keyboards (he mostly plays the organ sounds), bass, drums and a short bald guy who sings back up vocals and tambourine. I think he took the lead in a few short sections. They have a very retro sound, and started with two uptempo tracks that had the kids in our area dancing. Bits of it sound like the Doors meets Alrune Rød.  Frybyttedrømmen, is a long 15min track that sounds a lot like classic Pink Floyd. Great stuff. The last track of the concert was a sort of long freak out but sadly the main lead guitarist was turned down on the prior and this last number so you could not hardly hear the psychedelic stuff he was doing (We were right in front of him, Tom and I.). They played one hour and that was it.. This is a very promising new band and probably my favourite of the current batch of young Danish bands playing psychedelic rock. Oh yeah.. they sing all in Danish like Elevatorfører and Spids Nøgenhat.

The Temperance Movement and Graveltones- BETA, Copenhagen March 15th, 2014

I was not at all sure I would know anyone at this show tonight but I wanted to go and check out the Temperance Movement. I had read a lot about them in Classic Rock Magazine and bought the double vinyl record. My friend Anders is working at the club so he was there and later Freddy (Fuzz Manta) and Morgan (Shiva’s Nat) showed up but other than them I knew few people. It was nearly sold out this show so a lot of people (120 or so).

          At 22 the Graveltones hit the stage. They are a duo of drums and guitar and from the UK. I think they played 35mins or so and just now have their debut album out. The singer/guitar player has a cool guitar tone and he had a lot of pedals but stuck with this gritty sound and an octave sound he used in like three songs. I really liked the lyrics to his songs and he was really passionate. The drummer was a heavy set guy and really pounded his kit and had great dynamics. They were tight even though I wanted them to be more loose and jamming. I enjoyed the set but still don’t understand and never will why these bands choose not to have a bass player. It can only be better, not worse if they choose the right person and it opens up your options of what you can do so much more. I heard others say they reminded them of the Black Keys (I never heard them) and White Stripes.

Set List: Bang Band, Off Shelf, St. Lucia, Money, CMOTF, No Good, Newby, I want your Love, Boom Boom

All the gear was setup for the Temperance Movement (no moving of amps or changing the drum kit) and the band did not come out for over 30mins. The crowd was more than ready for their 2^nd show here in Copenhagen. They played KB18 last year, apparently. 23:05 they hit the stage. They opened up with Pride and it seemed a bit extended with a longer guitar solo from the short haired guy on the left. Singer has a great voice a bit like Chris Robinson meets Joe Cocker or something. He was a bit hoarse or sick tonight and you could see he struggled a bit. The band has some great bluesy grooves and you can really get pulled in at times but they also use all the predictable sing alongs (“hey, hey.. oh..oh.. etc..) and stick very close to their record. I had read in Classic Rock they like to mix things up and jam but it was not really apparent to me at this show, where if the singer is not doing well, what better chance to give him a break and do some longer jamming and play less songs. They did two songs in the middle of the set where the singer played acoustic guitar. One, the guitar player on the right, he did a really nice longer solo. The singer, he really seem to get into the last couple of songs but otherwise he was pretty boring as a frontman but he sang his heart out. Anyway, it was a fun show but not sure I would go see them again unless I check out some shows on line and find out they are jamming more but I guess they will go in a more not less mainstream sound after this. Let’s hope not..

Set List: Pride, Ain’t no Telling, Midnight Black, Fight with a Smile, Know for Sure, Smoldering, Lovers and Fighters, Chinese Lanterns, Only Friend, Take it Back, Serenity (Battle Lines was on the set list but the singer said he needed to rest his voice so they did not play it).