Brand X- Theory of Nothing (Moonjune Records)

This is an archive concert taken from the master tapes from the bands US Tour Fall 1977.  IT was remastered from the reels by Percy Jones. it is an impressive concert with amazing versions of some of these songs. It will also come out on vinyl in the new year.  The set list includes all the songs from the Livestock album as well as some songs that would appear on the Masques album in 1978.  Band seem to be in a very good mood and the playing is superb. 

CD 1

1. Smacks of Euphoric Hysteria
2. Disco Suicide
3. Access to Data
4. Why Should I Lend You Mine When You've Broken Yours Off Already? 
5. Euthanasia Waltz

CD 2

Malaga Virgen
2. Earth Dance
3. Deadly Nightshade 
4. Nuclear Bum
5. Nightmare Patrol

Very cool that all proceeds go to Percy Jones and estates of John Goodsall and Robin Lumley. 

officialbrandx.bandcamp.com

https://moonjune.com/

Surya Kris Peters- Universo Paralelo (Electric Magic)

I am a big fan of Christian and all his projects. What a great musician and he follows his own musical path and heart.  This album is a bit of a mixture of his solo stuff, more synth driven but with the addition of a lot more tasty guitar licks that I love as another driving energy in the music.  From Distant Shores has some nice keyboard playing but really is lifted up by the guitar solo part. 

Love some of the synth arpeggiated tracks as well like discovery of Abacus. Cool track. Hard to Leave, has at least 3 synth layers to create a beautiful emotional piece (I guess about leaving Brazil). Sleepless Raag starts with a fast arpeggiated synth, then the bass line comes. Some very relaxed acoustic guitar is played here and there as the sequence build and modulates. I did not want this one to end… Back on Track Again is just over 2mins and far too short.  Could have looped the piece and just kept the solo going… Vale das Sombras (Valley of Shadows) has a darker guitar vibe over the repeated synth sequence, which slowly comes a bit more to the front as it grows and then the drums kick in and the focus changes. Dreamy and spacey but also intense. Summer Reign is another 2min piece, very laid back with acoustic and electric guitar. Wall of Sleep starts with a male vocal choir and synth sequence. Reminds me of Tangerine Dream this one. Paraiso Fechado, starts as a synth track but then there is something that almost sounds like a banjo in the middle section. A heavy guitar riff kicks in later.  Nice progressions on this track. Romantic sequence ends the album with a 80s Tangerine Dream vibe.  Another great album. Loved it..

If you like Samsara Blues Experiment, Fuzz Sagrado, then you deserve to check this one out.  Available on CD…..

https://electricmagic.bandcamp.com/album/universo-paralelo

The Silver Moon Issue No. 1- Welcome to the Other Side

 

The Silver Moon is a new printed fanzine, unlike any you are likely to have read. It is a mix of history, philosophy, deep thoughts,, musical themes and connections, witchcraft and more. I found it to be a very facinating and diverse read.  An incredible interview with Anton Levey from 1969 (reprinted with permission), belladonna, performance art, short stories, etc..  Please check it out and I look forward to Vol 2….   Jana Zatvarnická is an artist, editor and founder of The Silver Moon. Her work explores witchcraft, plant knowledge, and embodied forms of memory, often engaging with archival material and ritual practices. I met Jana at Sonic Blast and she gave me a copy of her fanzine, which I am most grateful for as I learned a lot. Very interesting and recommended. 

https://www.printedmatter.org/programs/events/2263 

Contact: Jana.zatvarnicka at gmail.com 

Seb Bishop & May Sidikman- Canta Art Cafe, São Sebastião da Feira, Portugal Oct 11th, 2026

Seb is a local singer songwriter that I have been seeing play locally at markets, etc since he was a young teenager. Wow.. The guy can play and sing. He was joined tonight by another local talent, May, who has an amazing singing voice and also plays guitar.  They have put together a wonderful duo doing original and cover songs (pretty obscure as Neil Young was the only one I knew).  There was about 45 people but most stayed outside and about 20 were inside and enjoying the concert.  They played stuff that was a bit folky, a bit country and western, blues, Americana, style and a bit of rock and roll.  Not sure how many songs they played but I guess about 15-17, usually about 3mins in length. They talked a little inbetween, but mostly just played, made people happy. Wonderful and talented duo. Hope to see them again. Sadly, the videos have some distortion but my recording of the full concert sounds great, so they could sink them up…. 

Rock Coral- Cesár Oliveria Centro da Cultura, Oliveria do Hospital, Portugal Oct 4th

This was a very cool evening.  The band was lead by Dutch keyboard master, Peter Schön and friends. His daughter, Rosalinde, was the head of the choir and also sang solo on a John Miles song, Music is my first Love. Anyway, the place was completely full and were very lucky to get in. The event brought together three local choir groups (about 60 singers- 15 men and 45 women). THey did a medley of rock-pop music starting off with Queen we will rock you and into Another brick in the wall by Pink Floyd.  Billy Jean by Michael Jackson, John Miles, ABBA, and some songs in Portuguese that I did not know. They did a long 10-15mins of introductions, handing out gifts and ended with Bon Jovi.   We left as we were very hungry and sad that we did not come back to see the Peter Schön Quartet, who was on afterwards. It was some of the same musicians that I saw earlier in the year under the name Pink Umbrella.  Great event for the local people. 

BJ- Castaway (Janitor Records JRC-1019)

Brad, the songwriter, singer and guitarist in Pothead has released a solo record. The music on this record is based on the tracks that he performs solo at the yearly Potstock. As far as I know, all the music performed on modular synth with guitar and vocals.  The CD features 10 tracks that are mostly melodic dance tracks with a deep kick, complex layers of Euro rack modular sounds. 

Kid Seventeen opens with a real dance track, which will make Pothead fans wonder what the fuck is going on?? This one tells a story about a 17 year old kid in the modern age. Ring of Fire has a really catchy groove and the guitar slowly grows as the tempo speeds up a bit as it progresses. Great lyrics… Hanging Rock, keeps the disco party going, including the falsetto vocals. This track opens with a nice guitar solo and has more later as well. Far out… Saturn and the Moon is less disco and a more ambient synths but the same kick drive. The vocals are more spoken word. Cannonade this has a pothead like groove and I really dig this one. Really grooves and love the way the words flow with the groove.  Awesome track and totally different from the first more dance tracks. People can dance to this as well for sure. Just a different vibe. The End of Summer, is a happy track with multiple layers of vocals.  Love the synths that start the Soap Opera show. The overall dance vibe of this track is pretty catchy like the ones that started the CD off. A very laid back vocal and nice story. Zeus Zenios brings back a bit of rock to album, with a bit of a snare and kick rather than just kick drum to drive the groove. Nice synths as well. Forked Tongue has a totally different drum groove than anything that proceeds and a nice heavy guitar riff. A pretty cool groove and vocal delivery. The album closes with a more low fi and trippy track, the only really experimental one and also instrumental called Hochspannunsweg 9! Cool stuff Brad. Love this last one. 

There are a lot of lyrics on these tracks and Brad clearly had a lot of fun making this album and his voice sounds fantastic.  Nice to hear some guitar on some of the tracks.  I think most Pothead fans will not appreciate this but it was great that Brad just followed his muse and let us hear some of the modular synth stuff he has been digging himself into for the last 10 years…  Enjoy…

https://pothead.de/musi_BJ_23.html 

Robot God- Curse Of The Driven (Kozmik Artifactz)

This Australian band, lead by Thumlock guitarist, Raff, are on a roll! Album number 6 (plus a split) and their 2nd album this year. I really dig this one. A mixture of classic 70s rock trio and a bit of Alice in Chains on the side!  Some fantastic songs and nice long instrumental sections. The title track starts things off with a monster riff and reminds me of Alice in Chains, especially the vocal style. Nice space out section in the middle. Home Sweet Home starts spacey and then slowly builds into some great riffs and dynamics go up and down in this Pink Floyd inspired instrumental track.  Voyage of the Whalers has a bit of a Nebula vibe at times but the added harmonica, brings back the Wizard by Black Sabbath in a subtle way. Great guitar solos on this track. Lucid reality is a bit heavier and brings a bit of that AIC vibe again. Oceans of Fire is 11 mins and a highlight track for me as you can really take a journey on this one. Starts slow and spacey with a nice guitar line with some delay. Great track with the entire band just in the zone! The album ends with Drifting into Overdrive, another intense stoner riff rocker to close out a great LP. This track reminds me of the Norwegian band WE. I have only heard 3 albums by these guys but this is my fave for sure. Check it out! 

Tracklist:
 
A1 Curse Of The Driven – 6:47
A2 Home Sweet Home – 8:07
A3 Voyage Of The Whalers – 7:02
B1 Lucid Reality – 5:20
B2 Oceans Of Fire – 11:21
B3 Drifting Into Overdrive – 05:37 

https://robotgodband.bandcamp.com/

www.kozmik-shop.com 

Musa- Maqamat Workshop, Quinta de São Jacinto, Portugal Oct 2nd, 2026

This was the 2nd free concert associated with the master class workshop. It focused on Eastern Maqam and Balkan guitar lead by Mosh Zehavi from Israel, a clear master of the Balkan and middle eastern electric guitar.  He was backed up by a drummer Kuba from Berlin, locals Shahar Kaufmann (bass), Noa (flute, clarinet) and another guitar player.  As usual, the concert says starts at 20 but it was nearly 2050 when the show really started. A lot of the same people as last time and about 50 or so, I guess. Sounds was really good and the vibe excellent.  The concert opened with the students from the workshop performing one number with Mosh. A lot of acoustic guitars, one Oud, electric guitar. Nice combination. Kuba played a simple backing rhythm. 

Mosh, announced the titles of most of the songs. It started fairly laid back and each track had guitar and woodwind solos, some quite long which was nice. After a few laid back tracks they kicked the energy level way up and people started to dance. Some of this Balkan stuff was quite wild and crazy and a difficult rhythm to dance to actually. Shahar was laying down the killer groove and smiling like I have never seen him before at any gig. Clearly having a good time. The band was great and the songs interesting with lots of solos. I dug it a lot. Towards the end, an Indian lady came out and they played an Indian inspired piece. The lady sung as well as danced. That was cool..

It was about 100min concert.  Great evening. 

https://www.quintadesaojacinto.com/madhavandmosh