Speck / Interkosmos – Split

Sulatron

This is a vinyl-only split LP featuring one of Sula Bassana’s projects, Interkosmos (the other being Zone Six), and Viennese krautrockers Speck, who I have to say I had never heard of before. The album features two mammoth slabs of psychedelic rock, with the tracks by each band clocking in at over twenty minutes each.

Big bass riff introduces Speck’s “The Metz Session”, kicked in with a steady drum pattern and a chugging guitar chord sequence from Marcel Cultera. Lisa Winkelmuller’s bass hops around, keeping the track fully rooted as it intertwines perfectly with Patrick Sauerl’s drums as they clatter away through twenty minutes of total wig-out music.

The track has an element of gazing at the a star-filled night over the ocean. Each second, the expanding universe becomes clearer to the eye as the lead guitar begins to point you towards the planets. Its here that the band at points take on the sound of the Jimi Hendrix Experience, with the fuzz and wah guitar sound freefalling over the bass and drums.

Occasional vocals call out, as if directing the band to the next segment where they will take off and reach full flight. This is music to let wash over you like a solar wind; it’s heavy, its even subtle at times, but if you lay back you can let it take you on a journey. They are certainly a band I will be keeping an eye on in the future.

Interkosmos is a band I know well, having reviewed them before. Here, their side-long voyage takes us into the usual other dimensions that make this band so wonderful. The line-up is Sergio Ceballos on guitar, fellow Star Trek fan Bernhard Fasching on drums and Mr Sula Bassana, this time on bass and synths. “Beyond Hibernation” starts off with some very mellow guitar chords and rolling drum patterns, over which the bass dances and synth adds some atmospherics.

Ringing guitar notes hang in the air and make you feel as if you are floating over the sea slowly towards the land. Synth chords add a warm feeling beneath the echoed barrage of guitar notes tumbling down over the top. Fasching’s rhythm is steady, but has some wonderful flourishes that keep you interested in where he is about to go next as the track progresses. The piece moves between harder and louder segments, only for the band to take it right down again in its next phase.

There are slight references to early Pink Floyd,which of course is no bad thing as it gives off a similar vibe in some respects and lets you drift through your own mind’s eye to an inner place. At points, Sula’s bass walks through some wonderful passages as Ceballos’s guitar playful takes its fret board on a stellar experience outside time and space. The track is pure explosion of light in the cosmic factory, with each band member giving it their all to make its twenty-two minute running time just fly by.

The LP is limited to 500 coloured vinyl copies, so these are bound to disappear pretty quickly — so snap up one now and take your mind on the experience of a lifetime and a lifetime of experience.

-Gary Parsons-