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..
This was a very cool event but sadly very poorly attended. Lovely Quinta of legendary DJ and producer Larry Lush was the scene. I arrived early and it was very empty, just the volunteers and Larry, pretty much, no one else. I helped out a bit on the stage.
Before the music they had the premiere screening of the film, the festival is named after by Yo Smet and Leive. It was about 30 mins long and a documentary about the fires in the Serra da Estrela region. There were two main people interviewed voicing their opinions about who fire affects their lives, the Portuguese people, what they think the problems are and the solutions. It was an interesting documentary.
The first artist was a young guy from New Jersey named Dan. He was very nice and had a harem of young girls hanging around him, He plays under the name Bootleg Moses. Loved his first song, 3 Eye Blink, I think it was called. He played all originals except one. Some great stuff and a nice voice.
Next up was Rosalinde and Peter, a Dutch, daughter-father duo, who played all new original material written this year has never been performed before. Wow, both are just exceptional. Peter has truely mastered the piano-keyboard and is so expressive.Rosa, just sings so nice, perfect, easy on the ears. Very nice and diverse set of songs. I filmed the one called Wind.
Andy Shades, from I Spy, played a sort of solo set. All his own original songs, including one he wrote 40 years ago. He was joined by Peter for the entire set except the opening song.Andy was tired having just come back from the UK and was not happy with the stage sound or performance, which was a pity. The small crowd enjoyed it a lot though…They were showing the film again and so I said bye to folks and went home. There were a lot of DJs going til 230 in the morning including: Xixa, DC. L:M:O, Emmy Curl, Red Panda, Quietman and Racubah.
Sept 13th
Dr Space, me, was first on with a solo set at 13. IT was already really hot out and I set up on the stage but it was brutal so we moved the gig down to the bar. There was about 10 people about. I played for an hr and it was pretty fun and good practice for me. Linde, wants me to come play my ambient space set for the horses!!! We will see. There were a few more acts to play in the afternoon but they were showing the film again, which I had seen and it was like 36C, so I headed home..
The Audience
A lovely spot and just so sad no one came out for the film and music. It was a great line up folks all playing for free to raise money for the voluntary firefighters. Sadly, I am guessing no money was raise and in fact they lost money, Larry and Linde.. They have built up a super cool place for a small festival. Congrats to them.. Lets home more events go on here, even though it is a bit out in the middle of nowhere.
Maquamat Music Workshops have started at the Quinta de São Jacinto, Portugal, about 25mins from where I live. It is a huge farm complex with a fully functioning agricultural farm with grapes, olives, veggies, and lots of fruit trees. The owner, he has now rebuilt many of the buildings into a small event center, music studio, rooms for the guest musicians, etc.. What a fantastic place, although still a work in progress..
Durning this week, there were like 10 students and this night they got to perform with their teachers and an audience. I guess they were nervous. Moshie, he did an introduction and then it started with master cello player, Mayu Shviro. The focus of this workshop was Modal Music & Comprehensive Rhythm: Inside the music traditions of the Middle East. Her opening piece was just incredible. It had different movements and flows, very emotional. Wow. I loved it. In one section, it sounded like bagpipes! I wish I had filmed it. The entire event was filmed and multitrack recorded, so we might get to see. It next up was master of the tof miriam, an ancient frame drum, Zohar Fresco. He sang and played primarily a hand drum. It was a cool and intense piece. After that they did one together and then they were joined by the students. Some of the best ones got solos (violin, flute, oud, and a multi-stringed instrument from Crete, played upright but but bowed like a violin. Not sure what it is called. Anyway, they did 3 or 4 pieces and each was quite different. It was awesome.. Wow... Incredible musicians.
How lucky are we to get to see these master players out here in the middle of nowhere Portugal and for free!!! Thanks Moshie.. Awesome..
Tau Ensemble is a German- Israeli world music group feature five members. The band plays mostly short compositions of original instrumental music.The combination of the Oud and violin are the main melodic elements with desert and middle eastern inspired themes.The band was recently recording in my studio and I grabbed them for a few minutes to ask them a few questions.
Where are you based and how long have you been playing together?
Or- Four years.. Three of us are from Mitzpe Ramon in Israel,the other two are originally from Germany. They are now living as nomads in a van.
Jonas- It started up 4 years ago.
Or- We started off in the south of Israel and were all living together there for 3 years. Mirjam and Jonas then went back to Europe. Since then we are meeting every summer for a tour. We mainly meet in Europe.
It was the one year anniversary of your first release, the First Rain on May 29th. How do you feel about the record one year after and how was it received in the media and by the world in general.
Jonas- It was a long process. it was recorded in 2022. First of all, the way we played in 2022 and the way we play now has evolved a lot. When we listened to it on the release date, we were like, ok it is done but we do not feel like it represents us, because we evolved so much in the meantime. Many things like lost files, war delayed this album and it became a pain in the back part of the body.
Mirjam- Yes.. we had a good response.We actually did not promote this album that much for the reasons that Jonas explained.We are really excited to record a new album.
Please tell me about the lovely artwork cover..
Mirjam- The first album cover was painted by the beautiful girlfriend of our bassist. Maja. She is using pigments from the desert to paint. She is going out to the desert where we all lived and collecting up pigments from different kinds of rocks and sand. The motive is referring to our name. Tau, in German, means morning dew. The idea behind it is a bit like what we want to bring with our music. Something refreshing, something that comes from the silence. The drop on the cover, represents us creating something moving, something alive out of the stillness.
Jonas- Even in the desert where there is no water, there is dew!
Nadav- An ancient way of painting.
You are recording a new album right now.How do you feel the new material is different or a progression from your first album?
Jonas- It is a different world completely. The first album is much more earthy and grounded, gentle, meditative, friendly and now the new material is all opposite of it that. First of all we have new instruments like didgeridoo since we have a new bass player. Also electric guitar. I think the music is more wild and daring, more exploring. For me it is nice to have people to share these realms together.
Almog- We have more wilder parts and gave ourselves more space to explore and expand our genre. To discover new sounds for ourselves.
You are working with the well known music producer, Shahar Kaufmann. How did you meet or know him?
Almog- Like all the rivers go to the sea, all the recommendations go to Shahar!!
Miriam- If we look at what albums we listen to and like a lot, and the sound that we search for, who recorded it, Shahar, next album, oh Shahar..
Or- We have a weekly meeting on line and we asked each of us to choose 1 or 2 albums which we liked the sound and just exploring and 4 out of the 5 of us got the same, the albums were recorded by Shahar!
How has your studio experience been here in Portugal? How is it different to recording at home in Israel?
Everyone- Very peaceful!
Or- No sirens and bombs..
Nadav- The idea came up when we were in Croatia and just practicing in this beautiful house out in the nature, this view, this setting, where to record and we start to think about doing it as a retreat. We thought about doing it in a neutral country, where none of us have any projects, etc.. We were talking to Shahar and he was thinking about this space (my studio).
Mirjam- I think we are good at getting annoyed with each other and it is great to have a space where we can just run away and have some peace for a moment. The band is a relationship of five people.
What inspires you to make music?
Almog- It is individual. Music has been part of my life since I was a kid. I am kind of married to the music. I do not see myself not in a relationship with music. I really like to play in this band as it makes me create, gives me a space where I can express myself. I am inspired by the music that each one of us is bringing to the group like from Turkey, different traditions that we all come from.
Jonas- It was always in my life somehow. There was always a guitar in the house and friends of my Mom´s were musicians. It naturally happened. Music is a kind of space where you flow. It is a little bit like a spiritual factor. To make it nice and good you have to totally not care and it can also be really bad but it is a process of logic and practice and understanding what you do but when you actually play you have to trust that it is going to happen. I like this and to kind of bring them together with music.
Nadav- An inspiration, for me but it also connects us, is trying to explore traditions but create something that we didn´t hear before. There are parts of our music that sounds like something traditional but we are tying to do music that is a mix of a rhythm from here and instruments from there and create a new song, to bring something together.
Mirjam- I feel music, for people like us who deal with music all the time, it is like a mirror of life, everything. When you play you see how you deal with life. If you manage to stay in the moment. If you manage to enjoy what there is and share it with the world. There are a lot of lessons to be learned and I choose to learn them thru music. Also, to use music as a connection between people. We like instrumental music so people can take the music how they want. I am also trying with music to bring the change that I want to see in the world. I know it is a big expectation but we are at least trying. What is the change that we want to see, all five of us, what is the shared thing we can all put our energy into that we could wish future generations to live in this world. That inspires me.
Or- I came from a family where everyone is playing an instrument, not necessarily musicians. When we play, we can communicate, it is like a clean channel, my thoughts, political views, are forgotten, it is just pure. All the stuff that and mess that is happening around, this is one of the only places I can find this pure communication, is in music.
Last time I was in Hungary was 1998!! A long time ago… I hardly remember anything about it except it was very nice. Bence from Psychedelic Source Records, is my host and I stayed in their small two bedroom house outside of Budapest.
Festival has a great line up of international and local talents. 3 bands from Italy (da Captain Trips, Gioba and Supernaughty), two from Poland (Spaceslug, Weedpecker), The Spacelords (DE), Yuri Gagarin (SE), one from Romania (Roadkillsoda), Bulgaria (Obsidian Sea) and 5 from Hungary.
Travel was ok today with the drive, train (15mins late), plane (10mins late). Landed 15mins early and all went smooth. Was very warm outside, at least 22C when I got outside of the airport. Bence picked me up 10mins later.
30min drive to Páty (Pag-e) where he lives in his grandmothers old house that they have rebuilt into a more modern house. Houses are a kind of run down a lot like in Portugal but a different style, more brick and not granite. Lots of trees in and around Budapest. Slept ok but am tired.
Sept 3rd
We were up at 730 and out of the house at 9 to go pick up the gear, backline, drums, etc. for the festival. It was in 3 different places. They have a small rehearsal studio in one of the small out buildings. She lives in the old family house out in the forest. He lives in the same town area that he grew up and his kids will go to the same school that he did.
Nice weather, but warming up. Soon lunch time… and then we take the gear to the concert venue. What an amazing place this is. A large land with very old trees, huge oak is like 400 yrs old. Huge house, small lake. Wow. impressive. We unloaded all the gear into a old horse stable and tried to secure the door, as there was no lock. There was a wedding going on so we could not do more for the festival set up until tomorrow morning but we have to be there at 7!!
We came back after stopping at the store to get some sausages to grill and some veggies to eat. Hung out and played with the kids, had a BBQ, some beers and a few of Bence´s friends were there, who were going to help. I think there are 17 volunteers to help with the stage setup, etc.. I crashed out about 930, I was really tired.
Sept 4th
Bence got me up at 615 and I had a quick shower and we were out the door. Had to make a couple of small stops, breakfast stuff, pick up another volunteer, etc… The huge lorry with the stage, lighting rig and PA speakers was already being loaded into smaller vans to take down the main festival side down by the small lake in the forest. I did no heavy lifting and just helped with small stuff here and there and chilled out. It is a totally amazing place for a festival. Unreal..
Slowly we moved the merch tables into place, set up the merch for the festival shirts, stickers and our own stuff. The PA and backline was all ready for the stage inside the bit room in the house. a bit hard sound but not bad once the people were inside. It was LOUD in there though. The Spacelords guys arrived early so I spent a lot of time talking with them, Just super nice guys. Really enjoyed our time…
There was no food for the bands or volunteers until 16. I was very hungry and weak as I only had two sandwich rolls and two apples the entire day. Finally they had the pizza ready about 1615 so I could eat. I had set up my gear on the stage so when I finished the pizza I ran down to the soundcheck. It all went well. Had some time to talk with the Yuri Gagarin guys. So great to meet them again. Lovely people.
PSR Jam, we were the first band on the main stage at 17 and would play two 40min sets with a break to change musicians halfway thru. Different bass, drummer and guitar. so more of the PSR collective could play. Each set had two guitar, bass, drums and myself. I had issues with not getting the right delay on the mellotron, so I hardly used it the first set. It was heavy and fun but I was still getting used to the guys and stage sound, etc.. This set had jews harp! Only about 20 people were there to see us. Maybe 30 for the 2nd set, which was a bit disappointing but maybe people were not off work yet. This was really fun. The next band Roadkillsoda, were supposed to be on the mainstage next but they moved them inside and this gave more time for the Spacelords to set up.
I managed to catch a little bit of Endre, a young three piece lead by a female vocalist/guitarist. It was very simple doom sound. Soft voice.. No guitar solos, so I did not find them that interesting. They did do a small hint of NIB by Sabbath. They had a small following and sold a cassette.
Endre
Set List: Buciloop, Bucinmaci, Pingpong, Temeto>NIB, Sulikezdès, Korn
I only saw a bit of Band in the Pit (HU) on the small stage in the house as I had been busy with the two jams and now I am going to play with Yuri Gagarin! These guys were quite heavy, intense but very monotonous, a lot of the same riff over and over, quite hypnotic and you could get lost it in. Hard to describe actually…. The bass player in the band is also in PSR.
The Spacelords were next and now there was maybe 100 people?? I had not seen the guys since we played together in Germany back in 2018?? Super friendly and a great 5 song set. One new song was played. Love the way the guitar and bass work together in this band and the drummer just holds it all down. The audience really liked it and the sound was great although the snare was a bit dry and loud for my taste. They played about 50mins.. Awesome. Great band..
Set List: Brand-new song, still untitled, Spaceship Breakdown (from Liquid Sun album, 2016), Uranus Omnibus Sanctus (Uranus Omnibus Sanctus album), Endorphine High (Nectar Of The Gods album, 2023), Plasma Thruster (Water Planet album 2017)
Yuri Gagarin, first gig in over 2 years!! Exciting. They have a new rhythm guitar player but because the drummer injured his foot he played synth and the new guy played drums! He plays drums in another band, so we was good. Band was in a great mood and had drank the right amount and were ready to fly. It was all new songs except one from the first album, Sonic Invasion. It was so LOUD on the stage. Christians guitar was screaming loud and synths…. A very spaced out dense wall of space rock unlike this world has ever heard. We had a great time and people loved it. I had so much fun…. Love these guys…
Set List: Gäng, Nu, Gammel Nu, Sonic Invasion, P. Maiden
I did not get to see any of Spaceslug (PL), Roadkillsoda (RO) or Madmess (PT). Acid Sitter cancelled. So busy with the gigs.
I had played 3 gigs this day and was very tired as we arrived at the festival at 7 this morning so I went back to the hotel and missed my friends in Madmess but heard they were really great and people loved them.
Day 2 (Sept 5th)
Hotel was about 3min drive from the castle site. I had a room with the guys from Bulgaria, Obsidian Sea. Super friendly and nice guys. Nothing to eat at this place only a coffee machine and tea, so that is what we had. I ate a granola bar. We then went to the local store and I got a muffin, croissant, juice, nuts, and we went back to the hotel and made some sandwiches and ate and chatted. Bence came and picked me up about 11. PSR Jam start the day at 1330. We play like yesterday 2 sets with different people. Bence only will play the first set.
Not many people watching PSR Jam
Had a nice long chat with two of the guys who used to play in Weedpecker and are filling in for this gig. Super cool guys and they love their weed!! IT rained a little but not much. Set up and soundcheck for PSR went well and I felt more in the zone today and the sets were only one guitar player today so I did more solos stuff and found some new patches and sounds which was fun. Again, we played for like 15 people the first set and maybe 25 for the 2nd. It was different not have the 2 guitars but I think we had a lot of interesting jams. I really liked the guitar player David on the 2nd set. He plays on some of the PSR releases but also Diviner Blues Session, . Not many people around and It took people a long time to start to show up today. I think the first set was about 38mins and 2nd about the same. Very fun and great musicians to play with!!
Supernaughty (IT) were the first band in the house and a cool quartet playing pretty straight up California style stoner rock with a melodic vocal and phrasing. People were grooving and they sounded great but not that original! ´
Set List: Poseidon, Black Witch Mountain, Hell Boar, Weird Science, Amsterdamed, Inoculation, The Way I wish to Die, Apocalypso, Queen of Babylon
Mr Bison (IT), were a band I have been wanting to see for some years and they were very good live. Really nice interaction between the two guitar players and the bass player who sings the lead vocals was excellent. Powerful singer with a great voice… I think they played 7-8 songs. I did not like the album from 2025 all that much and not heard the new one yet but love some of their other records. It was a very good concert. Talked with the guys and super nice people..
Obsidian Sea (BG), were a classic 70s- doom rock trio with really good songs, solos, lead and backing vocals and I really liked them. It is hard to fit into this genre where it has all been done already and pull it off enough to keep me interested but I really liked them. I saw about 2/3 of their set and filmed one song. Very nice band.. Very good songs..
Giobia took a long time to set up so the entire schedule was off now and there was more overlap on the house stage. Anyway, I had not seen them since 2019 at Sonic Blast and wow.. This was the first gig with their new drummer- They were fucking great.. Almost all instrumental with vocals only on two songs plus the encore of Silver Machine. I filmed the one track where he played the sitar. I just loved this set. Really space rock stuff with great riffs, grooves, transitions. They really like that Neu groove the drums and bass. Especially the bass player (he also wore a Neu short!) was playing this hypnotic bass riff line a lot. Awesome. A highlight of the day!
Set List: 1976, Fractal Haze, Moonstone, Vers Le Terrer, Karmabomb, Lentarente, This World, Sun Spectre, Silver Machine
Da Captain Trips (IT), a band I have enjoyed for some years. IT was really nice to chat with the guys but sadly, I did not see their whole set. They were playing already when Giobia ended. Not a lot of people there when I arrived, maybe 15... This is the only band that I would call Prog really. Some really interesting music and great guitar and keyboards. I wish I had seen more.
Dalbrovo Granje (Croatia) were recommended by my friend Lone. They were a five piece band, two guitar, bass drums, and trumpet. The music was all instrumental and I am not sure how to describe it. The trumpet player was brand new (Valdamar) and really good so it sort of sets the sound in a way. Mostly it was pretty relaxed music but sometimes it grew in intensity. Not really jazz.. They were interesting..
Set List: Intro, Sejica, Zadnji dan ne Mora, Ponocni Precec, Koka Kolo, Restiranje uma Gevezom, Propuh, Zen Kauboj, (not sure if they played Mehan but it was on the list like an encore.
Alas! (HU) were next in the small room. They were a heavy spaced out trio. The drummer also did the vocals and at first, strange dark incomprehensible stuff but later he really sang. They had this sort of intensity about them. They had some cool guitar parts but then super intense at times.
Weedpecker (PL) were next on the main stage and now the audience had grown a bit. They started a little late so only played like 35mins.. IT was like 6 songs but the first was a long 10 min space jam, that was just awesome. For me it all sort of went down hill after that. They try a bit too hard to sound like 2015-1017 Elder now with songs like Ash. Still a solid good band but a bit too mainstream melodic sound now and not as powerful.. People liked them a lot.
Azutmaga (HU) super heavy stoner duo. I was so tired at this point, I did not film them at all as there was almost no light in the house.. People were into though…
The Qualitons (HU), it was a five piece band and they played an improvised set in 3 pieces, about 45mins. Started very slow and spacey and then really started to take off. This is when I started to film. That video is the of the last part of the first jam. The 2nd and last were even better. One of the highlights of the festival. Great band. They just released a new album on this day also an mostly improvised set recorded last year.
Speck (AU), I have heard their albums but never seen them. They played two long 20mins jams and that was it…. They play a sort of heavy space rock. I think they started as a trio but they now have a synth guy, who also used a modular synth and moog grandmother! Sadly, you could not really hear him at all in the PA, where I was standing or outside. I filmed the most of the first jam. Cool stuff.
Just an awesome festival. I met so many nice and cool people. Had really nice chats with Speck, Gioba, Yuri gagarin, Spacelords, Weedpecker, and Obsidian Sea. Met a guy Danny from the US but lives in Mexico. Sounds like he travels to Europe a few times a year to see bands and festivals. Also another American who flew in from Tennessee just for this festival. The sound was very good for both stages. Thanks to the sound guys (both named Atilla!) Artistically it was awesome and very well done by the organiser (Kutya) and the team of volunteers. Incredible experience for all who attended. It will go down as a legendary festival as it will not happen again. This was a one time event, a sort of goodbye from the music business for Kutya. Maybe someone else will try to organise another Jam in the Castle, but as there was only about 120 people (including all the volunteers and bands, I doubt anyone will take the risk. A lot of money was lost. For those that were here, we will never forget it. What an amazing place and festival.
