Astral Magic and Paul Roland- Light of the World (ASTRAL066)

This is the 2nd collaboration album between UK based Paul Roland (Acoustic guitar, vocals, keys) and Santtu (all other instruments) in Finland. It also features Jonathan Segel (guitar, violin, mandolin) and Anton Sailo on broken Kannel (?).  THe album features 12 tracks, two of which hae been released before in different versions (Mind Melt Machine and The Illustrated Man. 

Every Night I Journey to the Starts starts things off.  The vocal is very relaxed with a steady drum beat and dreamy synth layers and a bit of slide and acoustic guitar. Nice opener. I am not Here continues in a similar vein. I really dig 23rd Century track. Nice violin playing by Jonathan. Catchy vocal line and nice bass line. Interlude is next and goes into Light of the World. This features acoustic guitar and is a mellow spacey track, very melodic light singings. Nice wah guitar solo and an upbeat ending. When I get to Heaven is a long mostly instrumental track.  I woake as from a Dream has a great mysterious vibe to it but is really short, under 2mins. Mind Melt Machine, you probably already heard on the 10” or digital but this is a slightly different shorter version.  Davidsons Eyes has a bit of a Syd Barrett -Pink Floyd like vibe. The Illustrated Man, has also been published before. The album ends with Dark Angel of Mine.  My wife really loves this album.. so check it out.. Say Mrs Space…

http://astralmagic.bandcamp.com 

http://paul-roland.bandcamp.com 

Anandam Collective- RIJU, Coja, PT July 10th, 2026

This was a very special event and I am glad that I was part of it.  It started about 1830 with the collective being introduced and on stage and Sali on the floor addressing the audience. IT was a bit of a conversation about Indian music and how it works and affects you and then it was all about getting the audience into singing, breathing and dancing to be part of a collective environment. 

There was a 10min break for some fruit and then the Anandam Collective played for about 90mins. The first raga was a mellow slow growing evening raga featuring primarily Pt Abhishelk on sitar. He was amazing and played with so much feeling.  His wife (on the other sitar), she also has chops and was able to really shine in the 2nd more uptempo piece that built to a great crescendo. Each of these pieces were about 25 or so minutes long. The 3rd raga was a more mid tempo one with a bit more singing.  They were over time now as it as 2115 but did one more short raga they had been working on the past days. It was about rain.. Lovely… Incredible sitar playing.. Wow... they were all great..

After the show, a traditional southern Indian vegan dinner was provided. It was pretty much the same food as the last event Sali had put on. Red rice, lentals, chickpeas, cous cous and some fresh vegetables mixed in.   People were happy…. It was a great event with great musicians and well attended with about 50 people..  Cost was 20€ for the entire event with food… 

Anadam is: Ibram Kashi (IT) tabla, Nada Yogi (Voice) Sali Siva, Pt Abhishelk- Sitar, Dr Murchana Adhkary- Sitar

http://sitarjugalbandi.com 

Uria Tsur- Canta, São Sebastião da Feira Portugal July 3rd, 2026

My daughter, wife and I went down to have some food and be outside and meet some interesting people before the show.  Nice bottle of Vinho Verde, vegan food by Savory Bakes. Very good fresh ingredients but just nothing that tasted totally amazing or had any wow factor. The filo pastry filled with and sauces was much better the week before. The lemon poppy seed cake was a winner though… 

As usual, the concert says 20 but did not really start until 21. Uria started slow by talking for 10mins. It was like 35C inside Canta so it was nearly unbearable so I went back outside. He said this was the first concert like this in 10 years, that he has mostly been travelling the world and doing singing circles, groups, etc…  It was a mixture of his own original songs and covers and Reggae. He played in a reggae band in Israel a long time ago.  IT was 70% women I would say. A lovely audience, who got to hear lots of stories, some music and lots of singing was encouraged. I think it was a pretty amazing and emotional experience for everyone there. He is very engaging. I just wanted to hear him play his songs. Check out his bandcamp site… 

https://resueno.bandcamp.com/album/breathe 

Dennis Young- Nova (Primitive Substance)

Dennis is a self taught musician and great promoter of music on his you tube channel and elsewhere. This is a completion CD he put together from him collaborating with different artists that he has interviewed for his show.  There are 10 artists from 5 different countries (USA; Canada, Germany, Portugal and UK). Mark Jenkins (UK), Scott McGregor Moore (Canada), Bernhard Wöstheinrich (Germany), AeTopus (US), Stephen Buckley (UK), Alexander Paul Dowerk (Germany), Tim Morse (US), Josh Pollack (US), Henry Warwick (Canada) and Dr Space (Portugal).   It is mostly pretty cool synthesizer based tracks, some with drum machines. 

Pulsar by Bernhard reminds me a bit of of Devo some how. AeTopus is a very strange track, simple and trippy.. Stephen has a kick drum driven track that really gains pace as it evolves but slows and spaced out at the end. Alexander has a more mellow vibe and is more lead synth driven. Tim his track has some nice spacey layers in this short track. Josh has a very strange beginning and pretty spaced out piece.. Henry created one of my fave tracks. Something really special….  Dr Space (me), has the last track and it is a very special one. Pretty trippy stuff I have to say. I had a lot of fun with that one. Check out Dennis´s other music on bandcamp…. Links below…

https://dennisyoungmusic.bandcamp.com/album/nova 

http://dennisyoungmusic.net 

http://primativesubstance.bandcamp.com