Frozen Planet 1969- The Heavy Medicinal Grand Exposition (Pepper Shaker Records)

Frank Attard’s Frozen Planet 1969 is putting out high quality psychedelic guitar workouts on a pretty regular basis these days. This is the 3^rd album in 20 months and clock in at about 47 mins and the 6^th by the band.  It is released on vinyl and CD on November 1st.  “A concept album about a travelling medicine show.  Parts 1 through 6 of the title-track serve as the acts of the show. The band takes twists and turns to help guide you through the story, while Doctor Berner, with the help of some colourful characters, is on a quest to sell bottles of his glowing green elixir (which will apparently cure any pain or deliver anyone from evil!)”

The title track is one long 39min jam that takes many twists and turns on it’s long journey. There are real rocking sections with some Hendrixy guitar followed by very slow sections with a lot of experimenting with delays and effects on the guitar while the drums and bass just keep it going. You just have to go with the flow. It might seem a bit slow in sections but it always builds back up.  The final 6 min track is Encore: A Herbal Miracle.  This one id lead by a great bass line and then some powerful solo guitar with some fast runs, nice delays and good drive.  If you are a fan of instrumental guitar driven rock and roll with lots of solos, then check these guys out. Hope they one day make it to Europe to play some gigs.

https://peppershakerrecords.bandcamp.com/album/the-heavy-medicinal-grand-exposition

Astral Son- Wonderful Beyond (Head Spin/Sulatron Records)

Astral Son is a one man project of Leonardo Soundweaver from Holland.  This is his second album on Sulatron records and his 4^th under the name Astral Son.  The vinyl is released by Headspin, while the CD (with bonus track) on Sulatron. This record has a lot of influence from early Pink Floyd mixed with early Gong and Steve Hillage. The opening of the 2^nd song called Creation is very much a total tribute to Steve Hillage. He really nailed the guitar sound and vibe.  Time and Space is very much like MORE era Pink Floyd. Lovely simple acoustic guitar, haunting and beautiful.  Your Mind is a more uptempo track with some nice bells, spacey synths before the main riff kicks in on this short track. Moving Slowly starts with just voice and guitar (with a very low mixed synth) singing a sort of poem. Very stripped down.  THE UNIVERSE has a very strange effected voice at the beginning and then the main bass line really takes the track in a new direction with a nice layer of psychedelic guitar as well. Cheap Magic is very Barrett inspired as well to start and then it goes into something totally different and turns into one of the best tracks on the record. Nothing New ends this excellent record with a nice trippy song with some unique twists and turns. The Well has some of the most psychedelic stuff on the record with some nice multi-layered guitar work. The Journey starts with a repetitive guitar line that is played over and over until you really hope it will change and then it doesn’t but layers of other instruments come in and go away again and the riff almost disappears in the layers of voice and synths. Interesting track.  Morning Dew is not the famous track but his own creation.  Quiet Love is a soft acoustic track with some nice bells, keyboards and other surprises. Nice lyrics. Very much a throw back to the 60s with a modern production. A nice bonus track.

https://astralson.bandcamp.com/

http://www.astralson.com/

http://www.sulatron.com

http://www.leonardosound.com/

Kungens män- Fuzz på Svenska 2LP (Adansonia AR027)

The Swedish improvising Kraut psych band is back with another record. This comes in a very cool package with red and white vinyl, matching inner sleeves and nice layout of images to match the tracks. The album features 4 long tracks (12-19mins) and a couple of shorter pieces to make a total album of about 72mins long.  It took me a while to get into this record. I did not quite get it at first but then it really has grown on me. You need to crank it out LOUD..  You can hear the full album below. Enjoy…

http://kungensman.bandcamp.com

http://adansoniarecords.de

The Bad Light/ Tuna de Tierra- The Bad Tuna (Phonosphera Records ph12)

The Italian label, Phonosphera has started a series of split LPs featuring Italian but also foreign bands.  I have never heard of either of these bands. The Bad Light is a trio (no bass player) from Santa Cruz, CA. Seems they have been around since at least 2012.  Palo Santo is a short 1min intro track before the groovy track called Goodshit! Nice slow stoner groove with some interesting singing (Guitarist is the lead singer).  The Feels starts with just guitar and then the drums and bass kick in on this slow-paced track with a bluesy feel and you hear the female vocal of Celeste a bit more clearly. Love the gravely lead vocal. I really miss a guitar solo on this track. Love Letter ends the side with another bluesy track with some powerful and emotional vocals. I miss the bass with this band, as the guitar player often is playing like a bass and there are no guitar solos at all.

Tuna de Tierra is a trio from Naples and this is their 3^rd release. Red Sun starts things off slow and spacey.  It slowly builds up into a riff rock track (no lead guitar) and goes through several instrumental sections after the vocals.  Bad Sun wends with a slightly different guitar effect (cool sound) as the vocal comes in (I feel like screaming!) and it is over. Ash is a mid-paced dark and heavier track.

After the vocal (very dry), a guitar solo with a bit of delay and other effects is played as the sound opens up a bit before the downtuned riff kicks back in. The track speeds up towards the end.  El Paso de la Tortuga closes this album with a 4 min track. It starts off with the drums before the bass and drums kick in. I really like the old western feel to the guitar on this totally different track and a great one to end the record.  Two very different bands on this split LP. Check it out.

PLAY LOUD!

https://thebadlight.bandcamp.com/

https://tunadetierra.bandcamp.com/