Papir- Papir (Red Tape)

Papir is a young Danish band who plays all instrumental psychedelic kraut rock. This is their debut LP and it features 4 tracks (2 on each side). Kurl te pow Ralise starts things off with some old school early 70s style electronic beat and then the rest of the band slowly comes in. There are a lot of nice psychedelic textures going on in this track and the guitar player plays some really cool stuff but he works the canvas as he likes, playing here and there as the track drifts into the netherworld. Lykk trep-R hi-lose (I am not at all sure what is up with these strange titles) finishes off side A. This track starts less spaced out with a steady drum rhythm, some keyboard lines, strummed guitar line, as it floats away and the killer bass line kicks in as the guitar sound goes into outer space. This is a very cool song.

            Side B starts with Une frensal n-erit. This one starts with a very spacey beginning and then the guitar riff kicks in but a lot of spacey cool sounds and things continue to bubble up and surface as the drummer keeps the drive of the song moving forward. It becomes pretty heady, psychedelic stuff as the track builds and Nikolas starts using his guitar pedals! Trippy and amazing track, a bit like the Spacious Mind a band these guys have probably never heard of. Rogter sot oe Koft ends the record. The track again starts with a old school drum machine like rhythm and now they have some piano played sparingly, which other sounds layer into the fold and the song develops and the heavy killer guitar riff kicks in. The drum sound is really low fi and special on this track and it gives it a cool sound. Wow.. what a damn cool band. I have heard some of the their new stuff and it is very promising as well. They are supposed to release a new record early in 2011 as they just recorded it recently with Jonas Munk of Causa Sui.

Order at redtapecontact@gmail.com 100 kr / 14 € / 18 $ + postage. It is only pressed in 250 copies and they do use Paypal! 

http://www.myspace.com/papirband http://www.redtape.dk

Yeti Rain- III (Crimsonic Label)

This is the 3^rd Yeti Rain CD. It features Roger Ebner on sax and wind synth, William Kopecky on bass and vocals on one track, and Craig Walkner on acoustic and electronic percussion. Planets starts things off and is a 10½ min track. I have to say Robert Ebner plays some damn cool sax and wind synth and William and Craig just climb the hill with some solid drums and heavy deep, intense bass presses! It gets quite psychedelic at the end and very intenses drumming. Dragonfly Algebra, rings it at over 12 mins and starts quite spaced out and the very cool wind synth comes in after a few minutes. The delay on the saxophone makes it quite psyched out as William lays down these heavy deep bass lines. Craig does not really kick in for a long while but plays various drums and percussion. The kick drum is quite intense in this track and Williams bass gets super spaced out, almost like a deep keyboard at times. If they slowed things down you might get a feel for Bohren and der club of Gore. The Meeting is a bit scary to start and very spaced out track. Fires of Heaven starts with the wind synth and bass slowly pushing in from the bottom as some explosions occur. Some nice delay on the instruments makes this one really spaced out. The Sky Sickened features William on vocals and it is a very strange piece he reads and afterwards the track spaces out each time he speaks. Intense.  It is hard to believe some of the stuff on this track is not keyboards. Very cool. The Sixth Bowl of Wrath ends the CD. The sax is like in a cave on this one, in fact it all sounds like that. A musically challenging CD but damn cool. If the sax was traded for guitar you could get a feel like the Norwegian Tangle Edge at times with this bands music. They tread a similar experimental music path. The artwork is quite special on this CD. Some might find it a bit disturbing or relaxing.

http://www.yetirain.com http://www.crimsonic.com

US Christmas- Run thick in the Night (Neuroot Recordings 074)

US Christmas is back with a new full length CD. It features 13 tracks in 77 mins and rumor has it that it will be released on vinyl by Relapse records. If you are unfamiliar with this band, they play a unique brand of spaced out psychedelic blues and space rock. The CD has wonderful artwork and all the lyrics to the songs. This CD has a lot of variety and quite a few acoustic songs with mostly guitar, vocal and violin. In the Night is a 13 min track that starts things off. It is a slow building psychedelic space rock monster with some very intense vocals at times. They really know how to create this psychedelic sound like old Hawkwind and the Spacious Mind.  Wolf on Anareta sounds like old school Hawkwind and is a heavy mind fuck and some very intensely shouted vocals by Nate. Pounding, penetrating space rock. Fire is Sleeping is a short 3½ min track with a mournful violin and acoustic guitar. Nate sounds amazing when he sings like this compared to his “in your face” shouting style on the intense tracks. Fonta Flora starts with some spacey sounds and a nice slow beginning as this one slowly builds up in this instrumental track. The violin is also prominently featured and then some killer spacey guitar is played as the band take it to another level of intensity. Great song. Ephraim in the Stars is a slow spacey track with stoney vocals. The Leonids is a short 2½ min piece that leads into Suzerain. This is a dark bluesy mysterious track and Nate’s intense singing voice returns. Some will probably find some of the music on this CD depressing but it does not effect me in that way. I think they just write and play very intensely. Maran is a 4 min track that is again starts slowly, melodic, bluesy and spaced at times but gains in intensity with another spacey guitar solo. The Quena is a very spacey instrumental track and is followed by Deep Green. Deep Green starts almost like a raga with a single guitar (ok, quite a few of their songs start like this), before the bass and drums kick in. The spacey slide guitar on this one is very cool as it slowly evolves and features these repeated like vocals that make it very psychedelic. Great track. The Devils Flower in Mother Winter goes back to the acoustic guitar violin vocal style. A beautiful song. Only 2 more tracks left and the band still have some intensity left. Mirror Glass is a short track that leads into The Moon and Flesh and Bone, the last track on this long album. It features a great spacey slide solo. Overall this record is more laid back with fewer uptempo tracks than their other records but the psychedelic spaced out vibe is still amazing. Powerful emotional music for psych heads.

http://www.myspace.com/uschristmas

Pothead- Berlin 2010 (Janitor Records JRC-1015)

Pothead is back with their 2^nd live CD (the last one came out in 2004). This one was also recorded at Huxley’s in Berlin and mixed in the bands own Big Berries Studios in Berlin. It features 20 tracks in 73 mins and only about a third of these tracks were also on the other live CD. One big surprise for me was that there are no songs from their last studio record, Rocket Boy, which I thought was a great album. I feel the sound production is quite a bit better on this one than the last. The CD opens up with Appreciate from the Pot of Gold EP. The track listing to start the CD is quite strange and diverse tracks but then they do really pick up the energy and here after the CD is really solid and the way I like Pothead.. A lot of great tracks are played like I’m a Sinner Too, Rock Child, Black War, and they end the CD, with the amazing Indian Song. I like the new intro as well. I forgot to say they also play a couple of brand new numbers including the killer Telephone Line and Let’s Rock-Rock On! You have to play this one LOUD. There is no other way to play Pothead. What a great band.

http://www.pothead.de

Mr. Peter Hayden- Faster than Speed (Winter Records)

This is the 3^rd official MPH release, the first ones being a 7” and split 10” (they did release a quite rare CD-R as well). The CD has a really cool fold out packaging and features two 30 min tracks, timing in at a little over an hour. The band recorded the basic tracks over a couple of days but then spent around 2 years making it just like they want. The first track, Smoke in Space is 33:33 and a long journey that  reminds me a lot of Circle as it is quite repetitive but the band mix in their own special ideas and keep the track pretty interesting. It starts slow and droney but slowly builds up. Just before the 11min mark it gets quite heavy and intense. There is even a saxophone part mid way through the track this very melodic section but the guitar in the background is quite spacey as well. The groove towards the end is very soulful and you can really get hooked. The 2^nd track, has a different dimension to it starts quite spacey and slow with sax and a real floating in and out vibe but the guitar part is quite repetitive and then the heavy section kicks in and reminds me of another Finnish band, Dark Budda Rising, but MPH are not nearly as heavy in the sound production.

The band have created a damn cool and very ambitious CD for real music travellers.

http://www.mrph.net

Kamikaze Queens- Kamikaze Queens 7” (Heptown Records HTR 992)

This is a fairly new band, this being their 2^nd 7” release. They have released one full length CD as well. The 7” has very cool artwork. The band is from Germany (Berlin) but with an American connection. Tastee 29 starts off side A. It is a mid paced garage rock song with some fun lyrics. The female vocalist has a deep voice that really grows on you. 3 Strikes has a very catchy thread to it and a bit of a country twang as well. Sounds like a kazoo solo in this track. In some ways they remind me of Cherry Overdrive but in a totally different way than you would think. They are one the same label and it makes sense the owners would like both bands. Anyway, I quite liked both tracks. Why don’t they play cool tracks like this on the radio? This is the stuff the kids should be getting into and not that Lady Gaga shit……

http://www.heptownrecords.com http://www.myspace.com/kamikazequeens

Grand Magnus and the II- Amorphopallus (Ghost Drome 027)

Grand Magnus is a new Copenhagen all improvised psychedelic band. This is their 2^nd CD-R release, I believe. The label specializes in limited edition and quite strange releases, this being one of them. The CD is 5 tracks of weirdness about 63 minutes. The first and title track is just a lot of strange radio stuff mixed with other samples to start and lasts 32 minutes. Interesting collage? I’m not sure. Strange..Yes.. I don’t think most people will want to sit through this more than once. Anyway, the three piece band, kicks in for a jam around 9 mins with mainly the bass and drums, while the guitar player tries to find his way and plays some trumpet or sax. The jam is pretty boring until 25 mins or so when it is getting a bit more strange with the guitar player. The drummer and bass player really keep the driving rhythm going but I don’t think what the guitar player is doing is very interesting. Bladene hilste p hinanden is 11 mins and starts very slowly and quietly with just bass and guitar bouncing some things back and forth a bit as the guitar line becomes more melodic and interesting. The bass and guitar are a bit out of touch with each other and you can now hear some hand drums coming in as well. He eventually puts down the guitar and starts to play trumpet and then he disappears completely (had to go take a leak??). Det her er dig is next and around 12 mins with some more intense hand drumming and some guitar feedback to start. The jam is quite strange and then there is some saxophone or clarinet at the last few minutes. The next track with a long Danish title is mostly a drum solo until the end, when the others come back in. Anyway, this is very improvised and experimental. I have CD-R #14 out of 50 (I think). I am not sure they could sell many more. I described it so you have to decide for yourself if you like it.

http://www.ghostdrome.com