Rise Above Purson’s first album has been long awaited in some quarters. After the sell out limited release of their first single “Rocking Horse” and support slots for both Electric Wizard and Comus there’s been something of a buzz about this band and this LP doesn’t disappoint. “Wake up Sleepy Head” is a beautiful acoustic opener with lush-sounding Mellotron and owes much to the lineage of ’70s psychedelic […]
Gary Parsons
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Sulatron “How puzzling all these changes are! I’m never sure what I’m going to be, from one minute to another.” ― Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland “A very irregular head” is how the late, great Syd Barrett once described himself, and from the sounds blasting from my stereo Dave Schmidt AKA Sula Bassana could lay claim to the same quote. Dark Days is the fourth Bassana album, […]
Galileo It seems that prog rock is alive and well in Europe again, which is a fantastic thing. And two of the countries that were most feverish about the original bands in the ’70s here prove their worth with these two releases from Galileo Records. Zenit (from Switzerland) begin their album with with “Awaken” – not a cover of the Yes song, but an opus of their own. […]
Sulatron I am already a fan of the wonderful Electric Moon after hearing both their 2010 début album Lunatics and last year’s monumental live double LP Cellar Space Live Overdose, so I was eager to give this new album a spin. For starters, the cover is a wonderful psychedelic creation that gives a nod to some of best artwork from the late ’60s and early ’70s. What we […]
Bureau B Karl Bartos: legendary percussionist of the classic era Kraftwerk, and all round good egg. The man whose biography gave us a glimpse into the closed world of the Man Machines who were more secretive than an occult order. While Kraftwerk (with their one remaining original member) are making an exhibition of themselves at various locations around the world and in effect becoming their own tribute act, […]
Disco Gecko This is Banco de Gaia’s first new studio recording for seven years and the thing that has impressed me initially about it is the beautiful cover design. The painting of the ancient Greek temple on the front of the sleeve gives you some indication to the music contained within. Automatically it makes me aware that Banco is on the move again geographically. From the ancient Mayans […]
Bureau B Conrad Schnitzler’s late ’70s and early ’80s period is difficult to pigeonhole within his larger body of work. By this point he had moved on from the early expansive drone pieces that featured on his first three releases and begun to amalgamate rhythmic patterns along side more condensed song structures. His Peter Baumann-produced 1978 album Con touched upon pop signatures but also allowed typical Schnitzler areas […]
London 7 December 2012 It’s cold outside… but nice and cosy warm in The Forum, where the throng of Numanoids, all wonderfully resplendent in black, have gathered to hear the music from the master. While the intro music plays the anticipation and tension mounts. Crys of “NuuuuuuMaaaaan!” ring out around the venue. Then suddenly the lights go out and a massive roar goes up from the crowd as […]
Cleopatra Cover version albums are always an odd thing. People will either complain if tracks don’t sound close enough to the original songs or sound too different from the original versions, so bands who do them are always in a no-win situation. The best things to do is to try and ‘own’ the tracks themselves and make them yours – after all, some bands covers have outstripped and […]
VCO VCO is a label that specialises in limited cassette-only releases. They have released tapes by Zombi, Majeure, Steve Moore and Jonas Reindhart, with most of these editions running between the 50 to 100 copies mark. This edition of music recorded in 1996 by Schickert has had a hundred copies made.* The album opens with “Morning,” tablas and percussion building a steady rhythm under an eastern-sounding guitar fugue […]
7th In a time when most CD albums stretch beyond the 60 minute mark, to receive an album with only two tracks that lasts a mere 32 minutes seems rather odd. But what we have to remember here is that this is not any ordinary 32 minutes, it is 32 minutes of Magma, which is the equivalent to 70 by a lot of other artists. From its opening […]
The Lexington, London 24 October 2012 The weirdest thing, it would seem, about tonight’s opening act The Oscillation, is that they didn’t go the whole hog and add an extra “e” to that pronoun. Because this is a band who take their psychedelia seriously. Possibly a little too seriously, but if you’re a psych band then you can’t really be blamed for that. They start straight into , […]
Baba Yaga’s Hut @ Corsica Studios, London 22 October 2012 After a slight hitch of the ‘computer says no’ variety, I finally stumble into the fog-filled haze of Corsica Studios as the band are strapping on their guitars ready to play. Tonight we are going to be treated to a five-piece Acid Mothers Temple – also tonight they will play one of the tightest and best sets I’ve […]
Versatile OK, where do I begin? Well, for starters you are getting a different Zombie Zombie than was showcased on 2007’s A Land For Renegades and 2010’s …[post=zombie-zombie-play-john-carpenter text=”Plays John Carpenter”]. This time the set up seems more like a (dare I say it) concept album and although the band bring all their arsenal of sounds from their previous albums, this has a touch more progressive rock going […]
The Garage, London 5 October 2012 At the end of the day most venues are the same, there’s a bar the stage a mixing desk and a few nice lights (if you’re lucky). I had not been to The Garage in a long time but remember seeing some great gigs there. As I entered the layout was the same as it had always been, however, System 7 and […]
Ritual Productions This is the re-release of Bong’s self titled album. Originally released as vinyl only and in a limited edition, Ritual Productions have decided to put out the recording for the first time on CD, allowing the tracks the extra space that the vinyl would not allow. So you not only get extended versions of the original two tracks but also a bonus track called “Asleep” as […]
Bureau B Günter Schickert’s solo albums and the recordings he made with his band GAM for years have felt like a lost part of the classic seventies Krautrock era. It’s surely not because they sit in an uneasy space between Ash Ra Tempel and modern composers such as Steve Reich, as various other artists such as Kraftwerk were known to step over the line between rock and the […]
Monty Maggot The second compilation of artists from the Monty Maggot label is another eclectic mix of music. Put together again by Lee Potts it’s wonderful that the [post=allies-and-clansmen text=”first release”] was such a hit that it warranted a part two (and maybe a part three is in the pipeline). The love and time and energy put into these releases and the quality of the overall product means […]