Carlton Melton, White Manna, and Fribyttedrømme- Stengade 30, København Oct 3rd, 2013

This was a really fun night and a bit emotional for the Rich and Andy from Carlton Melton. It was the first time they had played back in Denmark since they were here with Zen Guerilla more than 10 years ago. they were good friends with Ralph Rjeily and had stayed in contact with Ralph via music and bands for all these years and Ralph as also the tour manager on the first Freeks tour, on which Andy played drums. Anyway, I arrived at the venue about 19:30 and the bands had just arrived from a long drive from Berlin. I hung out equally with Rich and Andy as well as the White Manna guys who were all super cool folks from Humboldt California (US Weed capital!).

          The opening band are a new young 7 piece Danish psychedelic rock band (yes.. yet another one!) called Fribyttedrømme, which means something like Pirate Dreams in Danish. I have to say I was really blown away by these guys. This is a band that really channelled a cool 70’s vibe with a mixture of like Pink Floyd (Obscured by Clouds era) and Alrune Rød (great Danish band from the 70s, who sadly don’t exist anymore). All the vocals are in Danish and well sung. They have three guitars but they were all playing different stuff and two of the guitar players did all the lead guitar work, with the singer having a really fuzzed out guitar sound at times. They played for about 45mins and were really excellent. I did not find a set list. I don’t think they have released anything yet. The guys in both bands checked out the whole show and really liked this band as well.

Set List: Fribyttedrømmen, Kosmonatuen, Ørken, De Konstruerede, Fem er det Magiske Nummer  

          It took 45mins before Carlton Melton hit the stage as they had all arrived too late to sound check and had to set up new drums and all the stuff now. I went outside for a while and chatted with my friends Sven, Tom, Anders and martin. It was a really disappointing turn out tonight with only about 40 people. Where was everyone? All these new Danish bands like Troldmand, Road to Suicide, Spörkratet, Spids Nøgenhat, etc.. who play psychedelic rock, none of these guys come out to see bands that they probably listen to and dig. A bit strange. Anyway, that is the way it is.

          Carlton Melton opened with a slow dual guitar space out as they always seem to do. I was supposed to jam with them this night but in the end, Rich (plays guitar, synths, samples) made the decision they were not prepared, so I was just a spectator. Next time we will do it for sure we agreed. Anyway, the opening piece was like 15mins and ended with Rich just letting loose with some killer guitar solos. Andy then switched from guitar to drums and things became much heavier. I think they play more or less the same songs every night from what the White Manna guys said but the way they play them is really different. Tonight you could tell that it was emotional for them at the end Andy yelled out “Ralph Rjeily” and a lot of people knew Ralph so they got a nice response back. Rich said he was thinking a lot about Ralph when he was playing. Cool concert of about 50mins. I am guessing they never play that long.

          White Manna used a lot of the CM gear so it was 30mins or so and they were ready to fly but it was nearly 1 in the morning now. Anyway, this band really blew me away with their high energy space rock with the hypnotic flavour or Wooden Shjips (it is mostly the cool hypnotic way the bass player plays and not the guitar and keyboard at all). They played mostly new material and only one song from the 1^st record. The opening track felt a lot like a long jam and I filled this track and Dunes. There is a great interaction within the band and after 2½ weeks on the road with a gig nearly every day they are flying high. They change the set every night to keep things fresh, which is the way it should be. The version of the Mick Farren song, I’m Coming Home (it is also on the new record) was really cool. A fantastic concert but too short at like 55mins. A very late night. Enjoy the videos.

Set List: Esu ra, Dunes, X-ray, Illusion of Illusion, Sweet Jesus, I’m Comin’ Home, Evil

Psicomagia- Psicomagia (El Paraiso records EPR014)

Psicomagia is a new group featuring Brian Ellis (not on guitar or synths by on saxophone) with a group of like-minded mates from San Diego. I think some of these folks also play in the improvsed Brian Ellis group. The spoken words are all in Spanish as are all the song titles. The music is mostly instrumental very intense. Fans of the Mars Volta will probably dig this even though there is no guitar! El Memorioso start things off with a really cool intro before the amazing bass playing and intense drumming kicks in and then saxophone takes the lead. The song has a very cool vibe and the duelling battle with the keyboards (sometimes sounds like a flute) and sax is very cool. El Congreso Pt1 is next and split over the end of side A and beginning of side B and this features the spoken word poetry in Spanish of Bernardo Nuñez. It starts slowly but then gets super intense as you go on the same trip as the first track with the synths really taking the lead with some repeated patterns return with the sax lines. Phew.. Flip the record over and the poetry returns but the intensity of the keyboard is really cool as it sound nearly like a guitar at times and really is balanced to the right while the poetry is to the left. Brian is taking a break for a bit but rest are not! I have to say this is some of the absolutely most intense effected organ and synth playing I have ever heard, this Tyler Daughn is fucking unreal. He gives the music a total head fuck! The last track Simplón is a bit more composed and less of a full on freakout but no less intense. This one hell of a record to sit through and you need to hear some pretty mellow stuff afterwards but I am fully ready for the next trip!  Awesome.

http://www.elparaisorecords.com

Here and Now- Live in London (4ZeroRecords FZ012)

This is a really cool live archive recording with all tracks except one recorded at Dingwalls, London in 2007 and featuring the line up with Joie (ex- Ozrics, Dream Machine, Eat Static) and two original members Keith (Bass) and Steffe (guitars). They are joined by Steve Cassidy on drums (he replaced Merv from Eat Static, who was also in and out of the band around this era) and Gwyo on Synths. A very good line up. The CD opens with very cool synths and slowly builds up into a cool jam. It is great to hear some of the songs from the spacey UFOasis album as well as some new tracks but mostly focused on the 90s and recent material. Great sound production and playing by all. Steffe is giving plenty of room to play cool solos in each song and there are plenty of synth solos as well by Joie and maybe Gwyo. Crazy Lives is a really funky track with a heavier guitar riff. Telly Song has a slow spacey intro and goes into a reggae like piece but not like you are used to but the way space rock bands do it. Some cool solos and keys. Moonrise is an instrumental like jam with really nice bass playing to complement Steffe’s lead work, while the synths provide a spaced out background. Steve is very solid on the drums as well. Underground Dub is like the title suggests a sort of dub track with some wild synth sounds shooting into the soundscape from time to time and a more straightforward dub rhythm and keyboard as well at times. Rattle the Cage keeps the pace slow and spacey and would have been a good time for a more upbeat track but Steffe lays down one of his coolest guitar solos here. Dig the positive lyrics in this track. Only way is a short melodic track. The CD ends with a song called Near and How and this is more GONG like in nature with some wild synths returning and a more uptempo and hard guitar riff and they get totally psyched out like on no other track. Very cool way to end the CD..

http://www.4zerorecords.co.uk 

Monkey3- Birth of Venus 7” (Napalm records)

Monkey3 are back with a new album, the 5^th sun and this is one of the tracks from that record. The keyboards have played a larger and larger part in the sound of this band over the last couple of records and this continues here. The track starts heavy and dramatic but then goes into a more floating direction again with the keyboard dominating and almost no guitar for quite a long period before kicking back in as the keyboard which is made to sound like female voice is what grabs your attention as the track builds up again. The B-side is a cover of the Black Sabbath song called Zero the Hero from the Born Again record. It features Niklas Sjöberg on vocals from the Swedish band Graviators! Musically the band stick with the main guitar riff but db adds in a lot of cool synth effects that make this quite psychedelic. Niklas’s voice is not really in the same league as Gillan though but he really gives it his all. Fucking awesome stuff and worth the cost of the 7” alone…

http://www.napalmrecord.com

White Manna- Dune Worship (Holy Mountain)

The Humboldt County, California space rock band, White Manna is back with a new trip to the deep side of the universe. I really liked the last record but man, this one is a much heavier sonic trip. I spoke to the band about the record at their recent amazing gig and they were much happier with this record and it was recorded in a special way. It started off as a series of jams with some sonic noise guys after tripping and recording. The end results was that they did not really like what these guys had done but that a lot of really psyched out grooves and things were played and they used these to build the record with a series of overdubs. The record has a very special sound and the hypnotic nature will remind people of Wooden Shjips but these guys offer more to my ears. The band is fully expanded into a 5 piece as well from three on the first record. The CD/LP begins with a 6min track called Transformation. It is a melodic mid paced grooving track with some spacey synths floating through the soundscape as the laid back spaced out vocal glides along and the lead guitar slowly finds its place in this really space sound production. X Ray slows things down with a more hypnotic feeling and dreamy tranced out vocal. Wooden shjips fans will like this one. Sadly, they fade this one out as it really starts to pick up pace. I would love to have heard where that one ended??  Illusion of Illusion starts slow and spacey and this trip lasts for 10 minutes with some super cool guitar work and it ends with a slow drone synth outro to give you a soft landing. Wow.. Ascension comes back with some monster space riffs and sounds in this slow instrumental piece that lasts about 4mins. Next up is I’m Comin Home (a Deviants song by Mick Farren from their first record). Something tells me that Mick would have approved of this space version of his classic. Solar Returns is the last 10min trip on the record and really spaced out. I have to say this will end up being one of my favourite records this year. Amazing stuff.

http://www.holymountain.com

Monster Magnet- Mindless ones 12” (Napalm Records)

Monster Magnet is back with their first new material in 3 years and Dave has gone back to his roots! No more producers and recording in LA but down to the home studio of Phil (who plays bass and guitar) and two tracks of psychedelic rock like they made in the mid 90s. Dave is no longer scared or told no from some fucking producer to not put so much delay on the vocals,etc.. and back to doing just what he wants to do. Anyway, Mindless One is an uptemp rocker that could easily have been on Dopes to Infinity!  Not quite psychedelic enough for Superjudge though! Gavin does a great job of filling in the Ed Mundell like guitar licks as well as throwing in some of his own unique style. From the video I can see that Phil is doing quite a bit of the lead guitar as well. Quite a psychedelic track but still that mainstream MM feel with the repeated chorus,etc.. The Duke of Supernatural is more laid back with a keyboard that floats with groove. The drums are really killer on this track. IT is all familiar, yet cool and new and fresh. That is Dave’s magic, who I have to say, sounds as good as ever on vocals. A very cool 12”, I just wish that at least one of these tracks had been exclusive to make it worth shelling out the cash for this one. Only 300 made in purple and 300 in gold. The band will be in Copenhagen on Jan 14th, 2014 with Church of Misery as support. I will be there! 

http://www.monstermagnet.net http://www.napalmrecords.com

Horizont- Writing on the Wall 7” (Rise Above Records)

The Swedish 70s rockers Horizont soon have a new LP out and this is a taster as well as including an unreleased track on the B-side. The 7” is made in many different colors and in about 1000 copies, if I recall correctly. Writing on the Wall is an uptempo track that reminds me a bit of UFO. Axel, his voice is so intense and really draws your full attention when he is singing. The dual guitars of Kristofer and Magnus provide very nice melodic lines for the main track. Real Slide Chain is a short unreleased track and it starts off with some nice dual guitar lines before the main theme of the song and vocals kicks in. Axel sings in a more laid back way on most of this track. The track goes by quite fast and is over before you know it.  An ok 7” but it did not really blow me away. I look forward to the new full length record where the band has more time to expressed themselves. These guys are coming to Copenhagen in Oct 19th at Stengade 30. I am not sure if Tom from Church of Misery, is still playing guitar with them or not.. 

http://www.riseaboverecords.com

Carlton Melton- Always Even (Agitated Records AGIT024)

This came out a few months after Four Eyes and it was recorded in the same place with the same band line up (Andy, Rich, Clint plus Brian and John). Side 3 features three tracks that are in the same vein. After a slow space in with Slow Wakte, Keeping On has a more dominant synthesizer than a lot of Carlton Melton tracks and this one really takes off at the end with intertwined guitar solos. Spiderwebs is a very a dreamy drone piece to end the side. Flip the record over and you have the very intense Sarsen, which is quite hawkwind inspired and a killer track. The Splurge brings things back down to earth but the guitar riff is a bit sinister in nature and not at all like the beautiful themes from the previous side. Yet another tripped out LP by this great San Francisco guys.

http://www.carltonmeltonmusic.com

Carlton Melton- Four Eyes (Blackest Rainbow BR252)

Carlton Melton are back with two new records within a couple of months and once again with John McBain (Ex- Monster Magnet, Wellwater Conspiracy) playing and mixing. The opening track called Personal Space is a long space out with three guitars (Ricj, Andy and John) with Clint on the bass and Brian on drums. This might be the track they opened the recent concert with here in Copenhagen. Slow and spacey with some synths bubbling up now and then but mostly layers of guitar dominate the sound. After a while one of the three lets loose with a guitar solo and then another as well and the dynamic gets much heavier in this mostly drone style track. Road Swagger and the first song on side B have just Andy, Rich and John, no bass. This one is a heavier guitar riff that the song builds and spaces out on. Quite intense and noisy. Glass Home starts spacey like Pink Floyd with some cool synths as well as beautiful floating guitar lines. Mist ends this record. A heavier more fuzzed out, revereb drenched guitar dominates and gives this one a sound that really freaks out your ears with the frequencies. Trippy stuff. What these guys do is pretty cool. Music for real stoners and trippers.

http://www.carltonmeltonmusic.com http://www.blackestrainbow.com

White Hills and Papir- Loppen, Christiania Sept 18th, 2013

It was about a year ago that White Hills played here at Loppen. Due to a miscommunication I did not play with them last year at Loppen but did the next evening in Malmo. This year we got it right and it was the opposite. I rode up on my bike at 16:20 or so just as the band was unloading their gear into the lift up to the club. We had our friendly greetings and it was so nice to see them again. Super cool people.  We loaded all our gear in and I set up the hard disc recorder to make a multitrack recording like we did last year from the Loppen show. They had a very cool Dutch guy named EJ doing the driving and sound for them that was really into Synthesizers and was one of the guys who started the first Dutch internet forum on synthesizers like 20 years ago!  Soundcheck went well and we had some dinner.  Ego and Dave did a video interview for the club which you will be able to see on the club web site sometime soon. Http://www.loppen.dk 

While the interview was going on the drummer Nick, EJ and I took a walk around Christiania and told them a bit about the place. It was a beautiful evening and I took this picture as the sun had gone down.

          The guys in Papir showed up around 20:30 and were in a good mood and excited to play. They were going to debut a brand new song they just finished recording and three songs from their latest record. After the walk, we all just hung out in the backstage and talked about all sorts of stuff and they had amazing stories about their tour with the Cult and all the cool people they met and hung out with including Steve Jones, Gary Numan, Zakk Wylde, Lenny Kravitz, and others.. Ian sounded like a really cool guy and he was really into psychedelic rock, which is cool.

Papir

          Papir started right at 22 and I had to run up and turn on my recorder and was surprised that there was really good crowd for a Wednesday night. Unfortunately, about 1/3 of the people left after Papir. I still think it is strange that these young kids come out to see them, as this is all instrumental jam music with a lot of cool solos. Dave (WH) said he could hear the EMO influence in their use of melodies, etc…  Anyway, they really played a intense and great set and the sound was good but the guitar was too low (also for White Hills) on the audience recording.

          It did not take that long for us to set up again and we were ready to fly. I love playing with this band. We started off playing the entire new record and I had made notes about things to play on the different numbers but some of this went a bit crazy as I had trouble hearing myself in the monitor and the new module called the Wobblebug I was trying out was just insane and very unpredictable. Anyway, I tried my best and think I added some cool layers of sound to make it a more trippy experience. After the new record (without the intro and two space pieces), we played Condition of Nothing and my request, Robot Stomp. This was a very short version though and I had hoped we would really extend it out but they had not played it at all this year. First time in 2013! Next were three intense tracks and that was it.. All over in about 75 minutes. People were really into it and the video projections looked really cool.  What a great time.. I can’t wait til we do it again.. Thanks to Dave, Ego, Nick and EJ for a great evening..

Set List: Forever in Space, In your Room. Internal Monologue, So you are-so you’ll Be, Rare upon the Earth, MIST, Condition of Nothing, Robot Stomp, H-p1, Dead, Oceans

Taipuva Luotisuora- 8 (Nordic Notes/Kaakao Records Kaakao-027)

The Turku, Finland based band, TP, are back with their 5^th record, which they call 8. This is perhaps related to the album having 8 tracks. Ville, the guitar player has been letting me have a sneak preview of some of this material over the last half year so I was really looking forward to hear the entire record they had made. This is the first of their releases to also be released on vinyl! Voluantum Machina starts things off with a take on the Led Zeppelin Immigrant Song guitar riff but with some cool space sounds and a matching keyboard riff which makes it sounds really cool. There are a lot of layers of things happening in this soundscape as the mid paced track really blasts you out into space. I love the lead guitar on this track as well. There has not been a lot of that on some of the bands tracks in the past, much more based on the riffs. All the beautiful melodic parts are mixed into a more heavy track plus the killer lead synthesizers by Esko! Fucking amazing start number. Kajanni starts off with what I would almost say is a signature sound for this band. It then takes a turn for a bit heavier guitar riff into the killer organ section into the lead guitar with spaced out sound section before coming back to the main melody again. Wow.. Adversarius starts off with probably the most heavy metal like guitar riff the band has ever had on one of their records. The synthesizers are really amazing and far out on this track. Volucris Orbita starts with some cool spacey synths and develops into one of the fastest track on the record and has a very deep bass that shakes the floor when it kicks in (I have a subwoofer!). I love the melody on this one. Eventa starts side B and is composed by the drummer, Taneli. This track has a lot of complicated changes and also features some acoustic guitars. Quite different. Infinium has a strange murky beginning with some cool backward parts and a repetitive keyboard line that drives the track at the beginning before the musical picture becomes clear. This is a very multi-layered track where the first solo is by the keys before the heavier guitars kick in. Later a familiar TL theme of the way the guitar and organ work together returns before the short guitar solo section and then they return to the main theme. Muovia tehdään öljkstä (no idea what this means) brings the more heavy guitar to the forefront again and a more spacey organ is accompanying it and then some really tripped out synths in the middle of the track where it gets really psychedelic. Super cool song. Evomere ends this amazing record and is a very beautiful track with violin by Tero Pajunen. This is for sure one of my favourite records for 2013. If you like adventurous instrumental music you have to hear this record. Amazing..

http://www.luotisuora.net/  http://kaakao.fi

White Hills- So you are, so you’ll be (Thrill Jockey)

The amazing space rock band, White Hills are back with a new studio album. I will just say that I really love the trip the band has prepared for you. Each side is split into a suite of songs called Phase One and Phase Two. the individual pieces have names but don’t worry about them now. Side A starts with a strange electronic manipulated word sequence that is also repeated at the end of the side before opening with a hard hitting space rock song, that had a totally killer tranced out section. This is followed by a very cool long synth space out before another heavy dose of space-kraut-psychedelic rock with a killer long guitar solo by Dave. Flip the record over and a lot of totally spaced out sounds start and the rock track is slowly faded in and space sounds slowly faded down. here we go boys and girls! The rocket is going to take off and it does.. Dave plays an awesome guitar solo on this track. When this intense track draws to a close, a more spaced out ambient track starts to grow with just some spaced out guitars and synths to start but then another heavy space attack begins to grow. The next phase is really spaced out with a cool drone that grows and grows and hypnotizes you until the band comes back in and spaces until the end.. Amazing record.

          I also got the special addition which came with an extra 12” with three tracks in a plain sleeve with a black and white A3 printed paper that you can wrap around the sleeve. They call it Timeless Tracks for Aural Pleasures featuring the classic sing-a-longs: False Revolution toward a slick Mirror, Chariot Zombie and Under Water. The first side is one long track with just mind blowing guitar stuff and loads of synths sounds bubbling up here and there and spread over the soundscape. The sound production is different suggesting it was recorded somewhere else. The sound is still very heavy space distortion. Flip the record over and you have a really special freaky synth drone piece with some really cool drumming. The last track is dreamy, repetitive, and spaced out. Also some pretty cool stuff.

http://www.thrilljockey.com http://www.whitehillsmusic.com

The Movements – The Death of John Hall (Crusher Records CR022)

The Swedish rock band, The Movements are back with two new songs. The title track reminds me a bit of US Americana style stuff, which is something of a new sound for this band and far away from their super cool record, For Sardines space is no problem! A lovely song with some cool lyrics as well mixing Swedish winter, death and god…  Flip the 7” over for Everybody needs Somebody! This is a more psychedelic track with a heavier guitar and more spacey feel in general. This track is really cool. I love the way the vocals are mixed and all the sounds whirl together and still allow a melodic track to come out the other end. Awesome.

http://www.crusherrecords.com

Miss Lava- Red Supergiant (Small Stone Records SS-141)

Miss Lava is a melodic indie stoner rock band from Portugal. The band lay down some pretty bad ass melodic stoner riffing (there are very few guitar solos) in these 43 mins and 11 tracks.  This is the bands 2^nd full length record but the first in 4 years. Desert Mind opens the CD and reminds a bit of Dozer but then moves in a different direction and is a great song with a lot of different dynamics and intensity. Lay Down is a really umtempo hard riffing track while Feel my Grace is more catchy, and less hard hitting, while Ride has a melodic theme but then a pretty heavy monster riff during the hard section and a short wah guitar solo, one of the rare ones on the record. Crawl comes up with another heavy riff and this one reminds me of Livin’ the Lore by WE (a bit). Hole to China slows things down with a more moody track, think Mars Red Sky. Catch the Fire a really rapid track that slows briefly in the middle where I would have liked it if they kicked in with a killer guitar solo but they just decide to riff the time away until the main chorus returns. Murder of Crows has a more complex structure and dynamic than nearly any other track on the record and they strangely reduce the volume of the vocals to quite low before a cool spacey section where they could have really done something cool but they don’t and return to the main riff and they go into a Nirvana like section towards the end. Yesterday’s Gone has a slower more stoney feel to it as it glides a bit to start before the heavy low end riff takes over. The title track ends the record and is a more melodic, slow and laid back track. The band has three promo videos out there for the tracks Ride, Feel my Grace and Yesterday’s Gone. Check them out as a great introduction to this record so you can make up your mind if this is what you want to add to your collection and crank up!

http://www.smallstone.com http://misslava.bandcamp.com/

Bright Curse- S/T (Bilocation Records 15)

Bright Curse is the new band formed from the ashes of the cool French band, Soul Manifest. I highly recommend you check out their record if you have not heard it. Anyway, this is a new band and a new sound but lead by the guitar player and vocalist Romain from Soul Manifest. The opening track is a long instrumental song called Sonic Wave and is a pretty slow song in stoner doom vein with a nice guitar section in the middle. The Hermit is a really short track with strange lyrics. Unknown Mistress has a heavy groove and tells a really cool story in the lyrics. It is mainly driven by the heavy bass by Sammy Deveille (he has recently been replaced by JB). IT has a long slow section towards the end, where I felt more could be going on besides a few guitar sounds before the vocal returns and the track picks up but no guitar solo or jam or freakout.. Flip it over for What’s beyond the Sun. This is a more moody track with some long delays on some of the vocal sections that give it a more spacey, psychedelic track. The end section really kicks in with a heavy doom riff section before just sort of dying out. The LP ends with a more melodic slow starting track called Mind traveller. When the main guitar riff kicks in there is also a spacey effect that joins it at times. Half way through the pace really picks up with a short guitar solo and a spoken word section before it comes to an end. I have to say the record was not at all what I expected.. It grows on you, this one..

http://www.kozmik-artifactz.com