This is a site where I post reviews of CDs, DVDs, LPs, and concerts. I have been writing music reviews on and off since 1984. I ran a heavy metal fanzine from 1984-1988 called Metal Madness and have been a staff writer for Aural Innovations for many years. I have also contributed to Chrohinga Well (RIP), Bad Acid (RIP), Lowcut (RIP), Roadburn and a number of other zines as well. I recently moved to Portugal so please request the new address and do not send any music to Denmark anymore. Tak..
The Norwegian Trio, Kanaan are back with the new album. Recorded by the bass player Esk in Oslo, the album features 8 songs and a more heavy vibe, real stoner rock stuff at times but still their own unique twist to things… Prelude starts things off with a short beautiful piece of music, reminding me a bit of the new Papir material but then you take off with Return to the Tundrasphere! Has the band ever been this heavy before? I don’t think so. Cool guitar riff, heavy low end bass and powerful drums. Some great melodic parts as well, a mixture of symphonic heavy (with mellotron) and stoner. Super cool and heavy riff rock at the end of this long track. Pink Riff is a short track but super intense and quite psychedelic at times with some spacey sounds mixed in with a very intense bass and drum attack. What a blast!! Feels almost like I am playing with them on this one! Bourdon slows things down with some effected bass and guitars and then get you get the very fuzzed out bass and guitar with some wild solos and intensity.. Mirage is a relaxing spacey piece to end the record..
Side B, starts with Mudboound and a heavy bass line and QOTSA guitar hook, riff and a bit of a Colour Haze vibe. The track sticks with the dirty and fuzzy sound with some occasional guitar outbursts before settling down to a spacey mid section. Great and dynamic track. Crash is actually a slow doom drone track, who would have expected that??? No Star left Unturned sees the band going for some heavy psych rock to end this pretty intense album. Wow.. Awesome stuff..
This Italian group are back with their 4th release. I had only heard the 2nd one before getting this new one. It features 5 tracks plus a bonus track. It comes in a really nice like dvd size digpack. The opening track is a mixture of deep bass drone, church organ and some spacey wind and sounds. After a few minutes there is a spoken word section with some delay. Hard to understand. As the track continues it gets more and more spaced out with different sounds flying around here and there. 10mins.. Next track starts with some spaced out sounds with long delays and then a more sequences synthesizer kicks in while the spoken words start to appear. This track has a bit more energy but is still very spaced out and intense. The Window is next and has a dark mysterious feel to it like it could be in a horror film scene. The music is quite like a more spacey and less layered Tangerine Dream. Diegetic Distortion is more noisy and experimental in nature.
Nothing will be Better is buzzing about to start with some distant sounds of machines and other noises that and eventually a highly effected voice appears and bells and you start to get worried. The bonus track, Heat was improvised in March 2020 and again features some sequences synth but with a programmed drum as well and some samples. It has a mid pace and nice build and is the least spaced out song and quite repetitive in nature. I really liked this stuff. Think of a more dark Tangerine Dream meets Dario Argento in a dark alley….
I have been listening to these really cool tracks as Dave has added them slowly to bandcamp and really enjoyed them a lot. These tracks are recorded live with a loop station guitar, effect pedals, 2 loop stations, 2 guitar amps, a syncable drum computer, a very old organ from GDR (Weltmeister TO 200/5), a very old synthesizer (Roland SH 5) and a modern one (Roland SE-02).
The Roadburn haze was debuted back in April and what an awesome track this is.. A very dark and cool guitar line and quite hypnotic. Killer track. Rolling is all synth based. Die Karawane has a slow spacey start and some nice building guitar with some beautiful melodies.. Wastelandgarden is a very dark, brooding synth track with a bit of delay guitar. Dopeshuttle is very slow and droney to start. Bass sort of reverberates and some guitar effects fly around a bit here and there and a nice breeze and some SH-5 bubbles burst here and there.. and then the motorik drums kick in and off you go for an intense trip…. Stargate is another long but slow track but this one stays in drone mode with some trippy guitars and stuff all the way through. One Way is the last track and my least favourite but it has a beautiful melody and is perhaps just a bit too happy.. Great release.
Roadburn Haze 14:59, 2. Rolling In Outer Space 5:04, 3. Die Karawane der Unsterblichen 13:41, 4. Wastelandgarden 6:41, 5. Dopeshuttle 17:45, 6. Stargate 14:05, 7. One Way 6:03
About a year ago I was approached by Roadburn records and asked if I was interested in contacting On Trial and also mixing this concert they played in 2007… I have been friends with the band for many years and was very familiar with their sound so I accepted the challenge and spent a month mixing all the tracks and then with the bands help and looking at the Live at Gutter Island record, we chose the tracks that would be the most different material as that live album was also from this tour. Anyway, I am very happy with the way it turned out. Great artwork, sound and performance by the band.. Check out Blood River below! If you like On Trial, you will dig it!!
So ST37 got a bit angry and let it out on these isolation recordings. The limited edition tape features 3 songs (jams) on each side. The opening track reminded me a bit of the craziness of the Butthole surfers while the 2nd track starts off like if Hawkwind were even more stoned in 1971 and recorded in a low fi manner. Crazy psychedelic soundscapes and wild jamming. Even sounds like a bit of flute in there! Later on there is a guy raving like a maniac about something!! The last track on side A, the Monster is Real continues the psychedelic mind fuck…
Side B starts off with Observing Dust which features long guitar soloing parts and psychd out sounds. The 2nd track is another sort of mind fuck and thankfully the last track is more relaxed and almost bluesy as your brain will need a rest by this point… Phew.. Quite a powerful release. Enjoy..
It has been quite a few years since Agusa put out a new studio album. They have been focusing on live albums the past years, having an equal number to their studio albums. Anyway, the band is really totally different now though, with only the guitar player, Mikael, from the original band. Tim (Drums) and Theresa (Flute) have been in the line up for some years though. Bass player, Simon and keyboard player, Jens, are the new fresh blood. These two long tracks were recorded in sections (according to Tim) and put together to make these long tracks. IT is the bands most progressive and least folky album yet and quite impressive playing and dynamics. I love the freshness of the sound. Awesome record….
The rumour of this record has been around for quite a while and it is great that it has finally come out. In Sept 2019, the bands played two shows in Lisboa. One night both bands played one set and the next night, they all jammed together.. The band was: Pedro Pestana: Guitar, fx, Joao Pais Filipe: Drums/Percussion and Komet Lulu – Bass and effects. Pablo Carneval - Drums, Sula Bassana – Guitar, fx
So what about the music?? Three tracks are presented, 6, 14 and 20mins. The music is quite a bit more Electric Moon than Talea music. Like Electric Moon with heavier drumming and more spaced out guitars… I would have liked if the drums were mixed higher and you could get more of the Talea groove feel but that is my preference.. Cool stuff.. A nice new musical collaboration!
