Bismut- Schwepunkt (Lay Bare Recordings LBR021)

Bismut is a pretty new Dutch band featuring Peter, Hulbert and Nick.  The album is 4 pretty long pieces (between 8-14mins in length) of pretty jammed out and improvised stoner rock.  It was all recorded live in the studio with no edits in April 2018. Side A starts off with a pretty slow, stoney track but mostly it a long lead guitar jam with the other guys following along for nearly the first half of the song and then they kick into a riff and groove and off we go.  The guitar goes off into sound effect mode briefly towards the end of the track while the drums and bass keep it moving forward. Stórborg is next and a more heavy riff oriented track with a sort of menacing song that keeps you a bit on the edge, as I felt the track might just really explode but it didn’t. Side B starts with Gewapende Magte. This track is a monster with some really cool and fast guitar work but also hypnotic.  I was drawn in. The riffing is intense and heavy at the end. Very metallic and aggressive. Glad no one is screaming at me!! Czar continues the intensity for another 9min powerful track. The riffing is really intense and the drums and bass just keep it simple. Give this album several goes if you don't get it right away. I was really drawn in after a few listens and dug this a lot. 

http://laybarerecordings.com

http://bismut.band

Jodi- Pop Espontàneo CD/LP (Outsider Music OSRCD069)

I wrote a full review of this super cool album detailing all the songs but it was lost and sadly, I don’t have time at the moment to do it again. Lets just say that this is a very cool band from two German brothers who lived and made music in Paraguay in the late 60s and early 70s. These are all totally unreleased tracks from 1969-1975. The band released a full length album in 1971 and this was rereleased by Guerssen already.  The songs are very short but really well crafted and a lot of diversity. These are really good songs with a lot of fuzz guitar, good melodies, and sometimes some very strange sonic surprises. I was really pretty blown away..  The CD features 16 tracks and you get a download code for three additional songs.  Still sounds good today.. Check out the videos for a few tracks below..

http://guerssen.com

Methexis- Topos CD (Self Released)

This is the 3^rd album by Greek  Multi-instrumentalist, Nikitas Kissonas, who composed, arranged, produced and played all the guitars, basses, and keyboards. There are some guests adding flute, trumpet and Theodore on the drums. Sadly, I lost my very detailed review of this album as I took you through each minute and I have no time to do it again, after a 3^rd listen. Lets just say this is a long journey with many changes occurring and the track taking some very different and unexpected twists and turns along the way. A very emotional ride and some of this would be great film music. It starts off quite heavy in the first track but these heavy guitars disappear and don’t reappear much until the 2^nd track. Some exceptional guitar at times. You still get the feel that it was pieces together and not played by a real band but these are great tracks if you take the time to let yourself go on the ride with Nikitas. These tracks would be very difficult to perform live or it would require months of preparation.

http://methexis.bandcamp.com

Agusa- In Concert (Pancromatic Records PLP2033)

Agusa are back with another live album, the 2^nd released in 2 months! I have not heard the double live in Rome one but this one was recorded in Greece in December 2016 and released on the Norwegian label, Pancromatic. It features 3 long tracks.  It starts off with Lande Längesen/ Sorgenfri and quite mellow with some beautiful flute playing. It is great to hear Uti vär Hage, from the first album played live again. A lot of good energy and a couple of great guitar solos in this track. The whole band is really on fire and sounding good. The recording has this sort of compressed, not super dynamic sound but all instruments are clear and the mix is decent. The B side is long track Gåanglåt fråan Vintergatan. It starts slowly with the drums and organ, after a short spoken introduction. Long organ solo and also a drum solo is included on this track as well. The band really shines. It is pressed in 500 copies on clear vinyl and 250 on a gold/purple vinyl.

http://agusa.bandcamp.com

Man and Robot Society- Robosapien (Sound Effect Records SER053)

This is a project by Jeff Hopp. He wrote, recorded and performed all the tracks.  The album features 7 spacey songs, with programmed drums/percussion (if there is any) and lots of spacey synths and samples. The opening track, Auto Pilot is a slow gliding song with minimal drums and a really nice synth line. There are some samples here and there and occasionally some strange sounds here and there. Dark Star is a longer track but also quite slow with some nice layers of synths over the slow bass drone. There is some really spacey stuff with some nice panning effects. Later a more organ like synth takes the lead as some of the themes are repeated over and over again. Unteathered EVA is like a one min track. Robosapien is a slightly faster pace and the percussion slowly get faster as the track grows with two main synth lines, a new age like one and a more freaky one. Every now and then a trippy sound will fly through the soundscape. Side 2 starts with a track Acid Reign with some really nice synth layers and is a bit more focused. A few new songs appear. Absolute Zero is a darker track, could be in a sci fi movie as you travel down a path unknown and not idea what might jump out…  Probe Alpha One is a strange one and also you feel like you are inside a robot of sorts…   This music is pretty cool but also for a pretty limited audience of space heads… Check it out..

http://soundeffect-records.gr

http://manandrobotsociety.com

https://manandrobotsociety.bandcamp.com/releases