Antarma and Sam Garrett- Cara Creek Eco Lodge, Fias da Beira, Portugal May 14th, 2023

This is not normally something I would attend but these guys had booked a few days in my studio on Monday and Tuesday so since they were playing 30mins away on Sunday, I thought I would check it out.  Cara Creek is an amazing place in a hidden valley of forest about 20mins from Oliveira do Hospital.  I was a bit late as I had a hard time to find the place but I caught at least half of Antarma´s set and all of Sam´s main set and part of the Bob Marley medley and jam and chant at the end with both of them..

Antarma is from the UK and his concert was in 2 parts where he played acoustic guitar and sings and the 2nd part was him on djembe and singing and chanting and with a lot of audience participation. He is really into the Indian spiritualism and that is what most of the songs were about, peace, love, emotional well being, and different gods like Shiva, Krishna, etc..  He was a very good performer and played some really complex guitar parts.  

Sam Garrett lives in the southern part of Portugal and mixes Rastafarian and Eastern spiritualism into his songs. The guitar parts are much more simple than Antarma and a lot of reggae inspiration as far as lyrics and music goes. He has a fantastic voice.  This set was a bit too religious for me but he had some great songs and what a voice.  This was more relaxed after the intense singing and dancing that ended the Antarma show.   They both performed at the end for a while. 

There was a crowd of close to 100 people, I guess and 70% women!!! A huge mix of hippies, kids, older English or European people, etc…  It was a lovely day as well with the sun shinning right down into the stage at sunset.  

Kanaan and Psycholona. Stengade, Copenhagen, Denmark May 17th, 2023

I had just arrived in town and got reminded when I ran into Per Engholm, that Kanaan was in town just down the street from where I am staying. I contacted the band and they invited me to join them so after I had eaten, I headed down to the club and it was great to see the guys.  They have achieved so much in the last few years since we first met and jammed together in Oslo. Wow.. 

It was great to talk and hang out with them for some hours and of course see them play. There was about 25-30 people when Psycholona hit the stage at 21.  I was talking with Todd and Deb from New Hampshire, who had come over to Europe to catch Somali yacht Club, who were to be on this tour but could not make it due to the war.  Anyway, Psycholona, laid down a cool classic stoner rock groove.  What can I say, the guys are really good at what they do. They are not reinventing the wheel or creating anything really new but solid songs and playing. They are tight. No jamming going on here.  Cool people and good show.

Set List: Blast Off, 1975, Rainbird, Down in the Valley, Meet your Devil, Star, Resin, Purple River, Blow, Warped

Kanaan, I had not seen since 2019 and they have really evolved for sure and are such amazing players. Each one of them. Their set was almost entirely new material so I was not familiar with it at all. They opened with a very intense version of Amazon. Then Downpour from the new album. A quite advanced proggy track. 

Pink Suite saw the band all three playing KORG MS-20s…. Esk had the KORG SQ1 sequencer as well connected to his. A very cool little interlude before the really heave Fuzz track.  After Orbit, I joined them for part one of Solaris from the new album.  This was spaced out for about 10mins and then they did part 2 and that was the end of the show. Wow.. awesome sound and powerful and diverse set.  Lovely people as well. Do not miss this tour.. 

Set List: Amazon, Downpour, Pink Suite, Black Time, Orbit, Solaris 1 and 2

Kanaan- foto by Stefan Ekberg

Naturale- Meditation over Mørket (Pariah Child/Svensk Psych Aften/Vinyltrolden/Virkelighedsfjern)

This release was a collaboration between 4 different labels. The project is headed by Kriller Anderson, multi-instrumentalist from Copenhagen, who has or does play in a lot of bands including Gaia, Måneskjøld, and many others. This album was recorded primarily in an old house in the Swedish countryside. All instruments except the bass (by Morten Bastkjær).  There are 3 tracks on the side A and 2 on the side B with different moods. The record starts off spokey but a nice acoustic floating number (Mørket (The Dark) starts things off.  Lyskmaskiner (Light Machine) you can hear some sounds recorded around the house but is mostly a slow growing keyboard based track. Later a drum machine comes in after a section of trippy stuff as the transition to Slukket.  Side B starts with organ and chanting song that is pretty much what it is… Ilden, has a nice keyboard drone and slowly picked guitar creating a very laid back mood to chill to... It later evolves into the most interesting and psychedelic track on the album. Really cool stuff.. Interesting album and cool to see Kriller just follow his own path….  Try to walk the road he has and see where it takes you…..

https://kriller.bandcamp.com/album/meditation-over-m-rket 

Liquid Orbit- Spontaneous Floating Rock Creations (Nasoni Records NASONI231CD)

This is the 2nd Liquid Orbit album from the Bremen area based Germany band and quite an adventurous one!  The CD is taken from jam sessions the band had over the last few years and they took the best parts and put together 6 long tracks. All was recorded live including the vocals, which were spontaneous word creations.  It was mixed by the now legendary Willi Dammier (most will know him from his work with Colour Haze). The opening track has a nice uptempo beat and open spacey sound. So Slow, slows things down and is more mysterious. Love the exploring keyboards at the start and slow build. Walk that Highway starts with some mysterious dark theme and has some cool guitar and keyboard parts and fewer vocals. The Machine inside you reminds me of an old German classic but I can not place it but I love the organ especially on this one.. Passionate singing and great groove. All that Bitterness is a slow burner with a lot of mood and nice Rhodes like piano.. YOU…the Seeker ends this record with a track with a really nice groove and vibe. The vocals are a bit too dominant on much of the album for my tastes but there are a lot of awesome jamming tracks with cool guitar and keyboard parts and a very solid rhythm section. Don´t get me wrong, Sylvia is a fantastic singer!!  A very cool German band…

http://liquidorbit.bandcamp.com 

http://nasoni-records.com

Tetrao Urogallus- Gulo Gulo (Sulatron Records st 2303)

This is a fairly new and cool instrumental band from Hamburg Germany that is for sure inspired by the Budos Band. The core of the band is: Dennis Rux (Guitar, production) and David Nesselhauf (Bass). They are joined by Mark Norton (Sax), Jan Schepmann (Trumpet), Chris Haertel (Philicorda, Moog) and Corneel Canters (Drums). 

This is their 2nd album. Side A features shorter tracks with a Black Sabbath inspired riff on Lupus. Side B is mostly one long track called Vetus Imperium and the most musically diverse with repeated heavy guitar riff sections punctuated with synth solos, horn sections, spacey sounds as it goes thru several movements. If you like the Budos Band then this one is for you for sure.. 

https://tetraourogallus.bandcamp.com/album/tetrao-urogallus

www.facebook.com/gallusmajor
www.instagram.com/tetraourogallus_official

http://sulatron.com 

Astral Magic- Am I Dreaming (Self Released Astral Magic Music ASTRALA025)

Am I Dreaming? was put out on the 10” lathe-cut with three others tracks from three other future (back then…) albums. One track (the CD bonus) was on Flicknife comp, one was on the Irish 7” lathe-cut.  Some of the tracks are from earlier releases but in new versions. The LP came out in some special colour editions (purple, gold, orange, clear, etc) and then 200 on black vinyl.  It is  very nice release with a cool poster and the special coloured ones came with the CD with a bonus track.   Lots of cool people from the psychedelic rock underground appear on the record including Jay Tausing, Dr Koch, Gregory Curvey, Fred Laird, Jaire Pätäri, etc.. There are 8 tracks total.  It is another really cool release but I have to admit, it is becoming hard to hear something new in Astral Magic.  A lot of it sounds like tracks I have heard before. Of course a lot of these are from these other releases I mentioned above and this was a way to get these tracks out on a larger scale.  Still high quality psychedelic rock. Was released on Friday May 5th.. As well as another new CD called Cosmic Energy Flow and 7”..  

http://astralmagic.bandcamp.com