Pentragram, Horizont and Pursons- The Garage, London, UK 12/9/11

Hard to believe that the US doom rock band, Pentagram, who have really come blasting back on the scene in the last few years have never played in London! I was coming over for the Hawkwind gig and was so lucky that Pentagram was playing the day before. Pentagram just played in Copenhagen last Sunday to rave reviews and some significant set list changes from when we saw them earlier this year, which is nice. The show I saw them play at Roadburn was not very good and kind of let down. The band just did not have a groove or the feeling that day. Anyway, I have never seen a concert at the Garage and did not know what to expect.

          Sue and I arrived 18:45 and got in the cue, which was still quite small. There were a few people selling tickets and it was now sold out. Anyway, we were in quickly and found the best place in this club, right behind the soundboard, which is slightly elevated and there was one table and one chair, which Sue got. It was a great location for recording and filming.

          A big surprise was when the new Rise above band, Pursons started playing at 19:20 for a 25 min set. The place had less than 100 people it in but it was quite filled by the time they finished. They are a new melodic dark rock band from the UK, a bit like Blood Ceremony but with shorter songs and the female singer is not quite as distinct. They have keyboard player who also plays some rhythm guitar but the focal point of the band is the female singer who also plays the SG guitar. The first few songs the keyboard sounded like a flute and a later an organ. None of their songs had any guitar solos until the very last song, which was the coolest one they played. See the video below. They were actually pretty good. My friend Nils from Copenhagen had arrived 10 mins into their set. I also met Martin from Litmus and Tom from Church of Misery. Nice to see some friends.

          It was like 10mins and Horizont from Sweden, who this was, suppose to be a release party for were up and had the place really rocking! They also played a very short set like 7 songs in 35-40 mins. I actually liked both the new songs quite a lot. One was a uptempo one and the other one was a longer blues track with a really nice guitar solo. I filmed this one. It was great that the played the Unseen from the debut record as well. Singer has a very intense voice but damn, they are a good band. A bit like UFO meets Wishbone Ash! They got a pretty good reception and said this was their 2^nd gig in England. NO word on when the new LP would be out on Rise Above.

          The place was filled with people from the UK underground scene. I saw the bass player from Electric Wizard, two of the guys from Orange Goblin, Martin from Litmus, Cathedral guys, and other people that looked familiar as well. The guys from Pentagram were also hanging out near the merch desk during Horizont, including Bobby.

          Anyway, Pentagram hit the stage at 20:50 and rocked the place. The sound was much louder and really good and a very solid set of music was played as well and different songs from what we saw last year. The crowd favorites were clearly songs like Relentless, Wartime, Dying World, Signs of the Wolf and All your Sins. They also played three songs from the new record, one I don’t like at all (Into the Ground) and one I really like, I’m the Man. The place had a lot of energy and the crowd was totally into it. Bobby was also very cool with those crazy eyes and he sang well. He was very happy with the crowd. The final encore was the only time where they had some improve and jamming with a great version of When the Screams Come. They played about 75 mins in total and it was really good. I don’t think anyone came away disappointed. Great night and I highly recommend seeing a show at the Garage. Easy to get to and a top venue (500 people).

Papir- Stundum (El Paraiso Records EPR007)

Papir are a pretty new Danish band. They have been playing around Copenhagen for the last couple of years and released their debut record on the Red Tape label last year. Some members of this group have also played with Øresund Space Collective in the last year as well. Anyway, the band is a very tight three piece instrumental band and this was recorded basically live with few overdubs earlier this year in a small summer house in Denmark by Jonas from Causa Sui. He also mixed and produced the record. Sunday #1 starts the album off. Saturday starts with a bit of a reggae skank before heading off into some serious wah guitar in the next section and then a heavier riff starts to build as this one really takes off over the 14mins. There is some amazing guitar soloing by Nicklas on this track. They so nicely flow from the riffs and spacey movements to the great and creative guitar sections. Great track. Monday is the entire side B of the vinyl and is 19 mins. It starts with a cool drum and bass groove and then Nicklas slowly comes in and the track really reaches a massive peak around 5½ mins with powerful bass by Christian and drums by Christoffer and ripping guitar and then it slows down and floats away for awhile with the percolator coffee machine in the spacey part. The bass effects and stuff are also really cool and then it slowly builds and Nicklas plays this beautiful guitar starting around 13mins that slowly he just blows your mind when the track really takes off again around 16½ mins. Great track. Sunday #2 is side 3 and is 18 mins long. It starts off slowly with some melodic guitar and bass, which is mixed higher than the guitar and is what really pushes the track forward and at 1:45 it shifts gears. I love the bass and drum section around 8 mins and the way Nicklas plays around the others. There are super cool bass lines in this part. The spacey section is really excellent (made by Christian, I believe). Nicklas does not really dominate much in this track leaving lots of room for the others. He comes back intensely with the wah guitar solo in the last section of another great track, Tuesday #1 this features Jonas on keyboards and some extra hand drums as this track slowly builds up with some amazing guitar keyboard parts as it stays groovy, melodic and spacey. There is a lot of great dynamics and more spacey elements in this track and it is quite different from the rest of the record. One of my favorites. Tuesday #2 ends the CD and is the shortest track at 4:40. The entire track is a spaced out drone of bass and guitar and no drums and is a very peaceful way to end the record. A very impressive release and a must have if you like adventurous instrumental music. Fans of Causa Sui, My brother the Wind, Gösta Berlings Saga, etc.. will likely enjoy this. 

http://www.elparaisorecords.com http://www.myspace.com/papirband

Ätman- Acron- 108 Luciferian Neutronic Eyes 7” (Doomentia Records DOOM041)

This 7” has amazing packing and features really long songs for a 7”, with both sides like 9-10mins each. I did not know it was possible to do such long songs on a 7”. Sadly, I have not idea which side is which as the labels are exactly the same on both sides and it does make a difference as one of the side is fucking really cool and the other good but not mind blowing like the other side. Why can’t labels clearly label the record and also say that is plays on 33rpm. Anyway, the side I have no know starts slow and spacey and then the Doomy sound starts and they have a quite cool psychedelic guitar throughout the end of this track. It ends with a spoken word sample about Roswell New mexico. This side starts spacey with some eastern sitar stuff that has some effects on it and then the riff slowly enters in. This track really builds on a repetitive guitar riff but then gets totally psyched out big time but still stays heavy. Wow.. powerful stuff. A very promising new band.

http://www.doomentia.com

Axis Mundi- Paths of Prakriti (Merlins Nose Records MN1004)

Axis Mundi is a group lead by Jon Reier Sylte and are from Trondhein, Norway. Jon wrote all the songs and plays most of the instruments as well but he has some help from a few friends. There are 12 tracks in 45mins of music inspired by the Grateful Dead, Dylan, Pearls before Swine, Octopus Syng and other 60s bands. It is primarily acoustic guitar driven but also includes flute and piano and many other instruments as well. Kingdome Come even had a bit of country twinge to it. Devil’s Eye is the closest to psychedelic stuff they perform on this record. Oh Surrender features some sitar and is a very nice track. There are many excellent and diverse tracks on this beautifully crafted work for a relaxing afternoon or Sunday morning to start the day. Happy music…

http://www.merlins-nose.com

Elder- Dead Roots Stirring (Meteorcity Records )

Elder are back with their 2^nd double record in 3 years. Again they have quite cool artwork and very long songs with a lot of cool passages. This album had been getting really good reviews but I needed to make my own opinion up by spinning it several times, the last time loud! This kind of music needs to be loud. Side A starts with Gemini which has a heavy down tuned riff to start then a great lead guitar part and then it changes totally and goes more melodic and the guitar gets a bit more psyched out with a some cool delays. The title track is next and is a slow evolving monster of a track with some nice melodic stuff that reminds me of Colour Haze. Then they go into the slower heavy riff section and the vocals begin. Fantastic melodic guitar in the next section. Great track. Side III is next and is again one long track called Knot. It starts as a very melodic mid paced track It slows down and some cool wah guitar accompanies this down tempo part, which heads into a more repetitive riffing part that did not hold my interest that much until the end when he plays some really cool guitar but damn he waited a long time! Drumming is great and intense as well and steady heavy bass as well. III is a bit Colour haze inspired instrumental to start and is primarily acoustic and has a very cool vibe with some hand drums and wind to add to the ambience and has some great melodic guitar soloing in this track. The track called the End finishes off the record it has a quite heavy groove. While people have described this as a psychedelic rock record, I would not at all say it was. It is a very good solid 2^nd record and has some impressive musical passages that I enjoyed a lot but it is not psychedelic. Cool record.

http://www.meteorcity.com

Fruits de mer/Regal Crabomophone 2012 Annual double 7” (Regal Crabomophone)

This is due out in December and features 7 tracks in 28 mins spread over two 7”s records. It is quite a good deal at 8£ and will be pressed in only 400 copies. Langor starts things off with Destruction from a 1960’s teen explotations sound track!  The Bordellos do a really far our and psychedelic version of I’m a Man. Beau performs a folk rock like track from a 60s record called Creation. Jay Tausing’s version of Thick as a Brick (excerpt) is my favourite track on this. What a cool version of a classic track.  A new Finnish group I have never heard of called Permanent Clear Light plays a piano driven and laid back track. The Vibravoid track, All stars are Asleep is amazing psychedelic stuff and reminds me of the Spacious Mind. Red Elektra perform Volcano. You can hear an excerpt at the link below. Cool stuff and all exclusive tracks..

http://www.fruitsdemerrecords.com

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=YxHcAogQwLA

GNOD- Chaudelande Volume 1 (Tamed Records TMD-001)

This is the latest GNOD release on right now only on vinyl. IT was recorded in France when the band had some days off when they were on their failed European tour. Anyway, this is very spaced out and psychedelic as you would expect. Side A starts off with Tron and it has a pretty heavy distorted guitar riff and spaced out sounds swirling around in the background before the vocal with a lot of delay kicks in. A very cool catchy hypnotic distorted track. Visions of Load is next it reminds me a lot to start of the opening track by the Spacious Mind on Garden of a well Fed Hed but the organ is not as tripped out. This one has a really nice floating feeling to it as you just glide along. Side B is one long mind fuck called The Vertical Dead. It starts off really cool with some samples and a Pink Floyd vibe and then slowly descends into madness with some intense slide guitar and heavy riffs and spoken word vocals often with some cool effects as it builds in a sort of BONG like way. A cool and totally spaced out track with a very repetitive line running through it and very low fit rashly drums as the vocal really spaces you out to the max as the intensity just builds. A very spaced out and extremely cool record.

http://www.tamedrecords.com http://ingnodwetrust.tumblr.com/

Johnfish Sparkle- Flow (Transubstans 089)

Johnfish Sparkle is a three piece Italian band. This is their 2^nd release on the Swedish Transubstans label. 10 tracks in 53mins and it rocks! The songs all have a lot of lyrics so they spend a lot of the songs singing and not so much on the instrumental parts and jamming or guitar solos. Hard Times Goin’ On starts things off with a solid hard rock riffing song. Al plays the guitar and has a pretty distinctive vocal and it is mixed nicely into the music and not too loud. Benzai-Ten is next is a bit more bluesy. Downhill Blues is the longest track at 8½ mins long and starts with a cool fade in guitar as the track slowly builds up but turns into one of the best tracks where the band really stretches out. Spiral Confusion has a pretty cool riff and he uses a spacey effect on his voice in parts as well. The Circle has a flangy guitar and is a great song. The Traveller starts off with a wah guitar solo and then into the vocal section. I like the beginning and the end best on this song. Gaudi’s Run is next and this is a short 2 min instrumental acoustic guitar track. Not Alone is a solid hard rock song with a really nice guitar break. A Phoenix Flight is one of the bands more complex numbers with some great playing. The album closes with Crazy Lady another more blues one. If you are fans of 70s hard rock and some of the Swedish band like Magnolia, Lotus, etc.. you will probably dig this one. Solid.

http://www.transubstans.com  http://www.myspace.com/johnfishsparkle

Keep off the Grass Compilation (Fruits de Mers Records)

This is a damn cool psychedelic rock compilation with a lot of cool bands doing classic and obscure songs. IT is limited to 500 copies on vinyl only with no CD or downloads, just Coloured vinyl with fantastic artwork and gatefold sleeve. There are 19 tracks with bands from all across Europe and the USA, some bands I know like Bevis Frond, Octopus Syng, Earthling Society, Sendelica, and Sky Picnic but the rest of the acts are new to me. All tracks are exclusive as well. What are my favorites?? The Seventh Ring of Saturn do a very cool version of a song I had never heard before. Sendelica’s version of the Amboy Dukes classic is also great. Jay Tausig really impresses me and here is a great version of the Nazz song open my Eyes. The past Tense lay down a cool version of Shattered with some great psych guitar. Dead Sea Apes do a really psychedelic version of a Skip Spence track. The Daedalus Spirit Orchestra performs a unique take on White Rabbit by Jefferson Airplane. Most bands just do it really similar to the original, but not here. Cool…  I love the Bevis Frond take on the Sky Saxon Blues band song, Creepin’ Around. The closer, Earthling Society performing the Chocolate Watch band, is also really good..

King Penguin- Thoughts And Words (The Byrds

The Seventh Ring Of Saturn- Ten Thousand Words In A Cardboard Box (The Aquarian Age)

Stay- Back Of Your Mind - live (The Nazz)

Permanent Clear Light- Cymbaline (Pink Floyd)

Sendelica- Journey To The Center Of The Mind (The Amboy Dukes)

Jay Tausig- Open My Eyes (The Nazz)

Zombies of the Stratosphere- Sunshine River (Gemini)

The Past Tense- Shattered (The Good Feelin's)

The Bevis Frond- Creepin' Around (The Sky Saxon Blues Band)

Hills Have Riffs- Down By The River (The Godz)

Dead Sea Apes, featuring Gabriel Minnikin- Land Of The Sun (Skip Spence)

Cranium Pie's Baking Research Station- Welcome To The Citadel (Marc Brierley)

Sky Picnic- Revolution(Tomorrow)

Octopus Syng- Midsummer Night's Scene (John's Children)

The Daedalus Spirit Orchestra- White Rabbit (Jefferson Airplane)

The Luck of Eden Hall- Something In The Air (Thunderclap Newman)

Langor - Rain (The Beatles)

Earthling Society- Dark Side Of The Mushroom (The Chocolate Watch Band)

Extra- Utterly Simple (Traffic)

http://www.fruitsdemerrecords.com http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=5xQn2USnDZc

The Locked Ward- Voyages into the Inner Psych (Nasoni Records)

This  is a damn cool new UK band and it features John McBain from Monster Magnet, Wellwater Conspiracy on tracks 2 and 3. The band is highly inspired by Danish bands Spids Nøgenhat, Baby Woodrose, Dragontears, On Trial, Pandemonica…. This you will recognize for sure. The band for sure had a cool vision for how they wanted this record to send as it has a great psychedelic sound. The LP starts off with a short strange piece with tripped out voices and backwards guitars that leads into Moving at the pace of Valium. The track is actually quite fast with some really psyched out guitars and the singer will remind you a lot of Lorenzo Woodrose. Lots of cool space sounds flying around in the psychedelic soundscape. Breaker of lives and Souls also takes off a fast pace with several layers of psych leads to start and then it spaces out and sounds a lot like Dragontears. All is see Brightly is the Darkness is a pretty depressing mostly acoustic psych track but it does have some intense wah guitar at the end. Voices in my Mind closes side A and is a very cool song, also reminds me a bit of old Bevis Frond. Love the spacey flangy guitar and lead break section in this one. Flip the record over and you have two songs that are similar to the style of the A side but then the last two tracks, wow. These are totally tripped out mind blowers!! The Suite starts with Words can only Echoe and this goes into the title track. Very psychedelic and tripped out and they may just have escaped from the Locked Ward, so be careful how you listen to this record.. A really impressive record for a brand new band and possibly dangerous if you are close to losing your mind already!

          As far as I can find the band has no myspace or soundcloud or other music site. Below is a link to them on Facebook at least.

http://www.nasoni-records.com https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Locked-WARD/143691759023735

Monster Magent- Dopes 10” (Studio 13 Records)

This is the new Monster Magnet 10” with re-recordings of three tracks from the Dopes to Infinity record. For now, you can only buy it on the tour (they pressed 1000 copies). It was also the most expensive 10” I ever bought at 150kr (20€, $30). I think that is just too much but they are on tour and trying to make some cash. It is in some mail order places for a bit less if you look around (Kozmik Artifactz). Like the other 10” they sold two years ago that is sold out now, these tracks were recorded at Phil, the guitar players, home studio and they are more low fi and psychedelic than the original versions. All Friends and Kingdom Come starts things off and this is not slowed down compared to the original but the vocal is more psychedelic. The bass line is really cool and they have some nice guitar psych out as well. King of Mars is really different with acoustic guitar, long delays on the voice and cool space sounds. Dave’s singing sounds awesome. This is a very cool psych version and the best song on this EP. Flip the record over and a new version of Dopes to Infinity! This is a slower stoned acoustic blues version to start but then some electric guitars kick in. This one is pretty close to the original but everything is slowed down and more spacey sounding, even the Ed Mundell guitar solo is followed pretty closely but slower and more low fi sound. Cool stuff. If they would only make a full record of new stuff with this vibe and not so clean and produced. We can hope.

http://www.zodiaclung.com

Radio Moscow- The great escape of Leslie Magnafuzz (Alive Records)

 I really liked Brain Cycles a lot and thought it was even better than the debut record, which had blown me away so I never expected Radio Moscow to take their blues rock, another step further into psychedelic rock. This is a totally killer record but it has a very low fi sound production, maybe a bit too much so, but the guitar and the vibe shines through loud and clear and those damn catchy push pull rhythms the band use keep the tracks high with energy and there is no shortage of cool guitar solos with lots of effects, panned mixing, etc.. I won’t describe every track but just say if you like psychedelic blues rock, you must hear this record! Buy it now.. Fucking amazing… If you are in the USA don’t miss the double bill of Graveyard and Radio Moscow in 2012. Should be great.

http://www.alive-totalenergy.com/x/?page_id=161  http://radiomoscow.net

Tia Carrera- Cosmic Priestess (Small Stone Records)

 I only first got this now, even though it has been out on CD for half a year or more. This is the vinyl release and they had to shorten the long Saturn Missile Battery track down from nearly 34mins to 26 to get it on the B side of the record as well as leave off the A wolf’s in wolfs clothing track complete. The gatefold artwork on this limited edition 180gm color vinyl record is really nice. This finds the band in great form, just free form jamming in the studio direct to one inch analog tape in Austin Texas! If you don’t know this Texas band, they are a trio and play instrumental stoner blues rock with lots of guitar solos. The opening number Slave Cylinder is a high energy track with some excellent wah guitar soloing going down. Sand, Stone and Pearl is a more cool floating track and features a guest Ezra Reynolds on Fender Rhodes (which the did not spell correctly in the album sleeve!). This is my favourite track on the record. Flip it over now. Saturn fades in and about 5mins in they almost go into a section of Third stone from the Sun but not quite. The band just keeps jamming along with a quite high energy and he goes into a section where the guitar riff is quite repetitive and then out into another solo section.

http://www.myspace.com/tiacarrera http://www.smallstone.com

Vidunder- Asmodeus 7” (Crusher Records CR015)

Vidunder is a new Swedish hard rock trio and this is their debut release. The title track starts things off and this has a quite catchy guitar riff and you will recognize quite quickly that you can’t understand what he is singing (unless you are Scandinavian, perhaps) as he sings in Swedish. I like the added percussion and drums on this track at the beginning and in a few other parts. Overall, this is not a very strong song, just some strumming guitar, no guitar solo or interesting musical break really. Flip the record over and you have Witches’ Shuffle. This has a heavier bass line and is a real Status Quo like shuffle, as the title suggests but the guitar is more tuned down. This track he sings in English but he is not that easy to understand and does not sing that well. Both the songs are written by the singer and guitarist, Martin Prim. Sadly, I was not that impressed with this band as it is a bit too simple and not that interesting. Hope they have a nice evolution with their next releases. 

http://www.crusherrecords.com http://www.myspace.com/vidunderband

Wo-Fat- The Gathering Sky (Nasoni Records Nasoni 112)

This is the debut record by Wo-Fat from Texas. It was originally only released on a CD back in 2006. The songs were much shorter back then but the band still had this amazing heavy bluesy psychedelic groove and analog production sound. The artwork is really nice on this double vinyl gatefold and there is also a vinyl only bonus track called The Call of Zuvembie. Anyway, the record starts off wit The Wolf, which is a fast paced track with a very fuzzed out down tuned heavy rock groove. Kent Stump plays some killer psychedelic guitar solos on every track, no matter how long or short, he knows the importance of this and damn, he is good… The Manchurian Syndrome is next and has quite political lyrics to go with the heavy stoner blues riff. Company Man speeds things up but has a very cool short spaced out section and great solo. The title track ends Side A and slows things down a lot with some nice slide guitar. Side B only has 3 tracks including the vinyl only track. Day of Judgement starts things off and features some really cool guitar breaks with a nice use of effects. From Beyond starts slow, heavy, spacey, almost scary, as the title suggests and then the monster riff slowly develops. Stoner Doom! It speeds up at the end. The Zubembie track is a very spaced out instrumental jam. Damn cool stuff. Holy War starts slide C in a slow bluesy way as it slowly grooves along as just vocals and raw guitar. I like this. Something totally different and it fades out and El Brujo takes over with it’s heavy fuzzed out guitar. The solo part in this track is really cool with a long delay and side to side tracking. Great stuff. Rising River is also a brilliant track with some awesome guitar as the bass and drums just keep the groove going. Flip to the last side D and it starts off with Dreams of Milk and Honey. This is another stoner blues rock track with a really cool spacey flangy guitar solo that fades out. They’re coming for your Barbara is one of the faster tracks on the record and starts off with some ripping guitar right out of the gate! The record ends with Runnin’ the Voodoo Down and this has some really cool extra percussion and psyched out guitar and is instrumental. This is a record that you really need to crank loud to get the full effect of the huge fuzzed out guitar sound. Great stuff…

http://www.wofat.net http://www.nasoni-records.com