space rock / psychedelic rock

I kicked off today's writing session with a paragraph about the human race, mother earth and dangerous things from outer space. Well, I'd like to stay in outer space for a bit longer, partially because here on earth things are getting weirder by the day.

However, I also want to float around the galaxy to hear some immersive music, dedicated to and inspired by our incomprehensible universe. Space rock is still one of the most captivating musical styles this planet has ever seen and the Øresund Space Collective is perhaps one of the most interesting acts within that genre.


Øresund Space Collective is a loose Danish and Swedish collective, specialized in long, improvised jam sessions. On this album that is no different, except perhaps for the fact that Gary from Yawning Man decided to join in on the fun. They spend a couple of days jamming, having fun and making love to their instruments and eventually came out with 'Chatoyant Breath', an album containing some elaborate space rock tracks that is too nice to ignore.

Although I have to say, opener 'Peaceful Patterns' seems to start somewhat hesitant. For some reason it feels like the first few minutes of this track are warming up practices. However, not to worry, halfway through the song the band has lifted off with great flair, resulting is fantastic guitar solos, immersive bass lines, trippy keyboards and a constantly forward pushing set of drums. The band seems to be floating alongside the spaceships of Ozric Tentacles and Pink Floyd.

They continue the blissful journey throughout the other tunes, highlighting frequently. In fact, I really have no favorite on this album. As far as I'm concerned, this is simply one massive jam session, one that I will definitely be playing a lot in the foreseeable future. Actually, I ended my previous review with a Dunk! festival reference. Well, I'd like to do that here too. I doubt that there will be better space rock to be found than this one, honestly.


​Serge

psychedelic rock / stoner rock

Holy Oak is an album released on May 25 by Italian psychedelic/ blues rock group Mr Bison. Forty six minutes long, the record has nine tracks: Roots, Sacred Deal, Heavy Rain, Earth Breath, Holy Oak, The Bark, The Wave, Red Sun and Beyond the Edge. With an impressive and firm, but exceedingly concentrated and aggressive energy, Holy Oak has on the axis of its persistently free, but strident melodies the grace of its salutary motivations and ambitions, with all the traditional rhythmic features that the genre has, in abundance, to please – but concomitantly counterbalance – the pervasive elements of its own ferocity. 

With generally calmer, but heavily punctuated and savage melodies – exceedingly beautiful on the surface of its sonorous shape – the pristine style of Mr Bison is strong, objective and direct; rapidly feels and circulates over the hardline of its acid creative ventures, with pungent guitar lines that define the sensibility of its graceful, latent and rude style. Nonetheless, despite an apparent simplicity, there is an expansive, but serene brutality overtly diffuse under the stringent and tense intonations of its sentimental cadences of vigorous and harmonious density. 

A very compact album, where effusive and dilacerating guitar lines coldly calculate the nuances where the soul of the rhythm reads the elements of a horizon of colorful and crystalline creativity – although its anatomy seems a little fragile, sometimes – despite the fact that Holy Oak does not bring new components to the table, there is an audacious feeling of genuine introspection present in the music, that slowly revolves around its own subtle beauty, over and over.  

There is an effervescent and cohesive grandiosity that comes along with the sound, but it is way more subtle than what it seems; completely submerged on the magic of its creative waves, the listener can feel its craving honesty flowing through the veins of its precious and raw originality. Mr Bison certainly aggregates new elements to the art of psychedelic music with this work, departing from the quintessential nature of their own rough premises. Definitely, Holy Oak is an album that enthusiasts of the genre will ardently love and appreciate. 


Wagner

krautrock / psychedelic rock / garage rock

It's hot in Belgium. Everybody is covered in sweat and the sun burns people's skin. Under a clear sky, with only a few clouds to be found, the city is suffering from the smog coming out of the exhaust pipe of the countless of diesel cars on the highway. People carry on their daily tasks, weary and out of breath. I see them walking in the streets, dragging themselves along the pavement, barely able to see what happens on their smartphones. In here, the center of my living room, a mild breeze is blowing. There is ice-tea, or other refreshments. There is also the music by German psych rockers Vibravoid, transforming my speakers into time machines. Summer is coming.

The music transforms my living room into a sixties or early seventies festival meadow. Instead of bright daylight, it is now dark, late at night but still warm. On the stage and on a few screens surrounding the area there are plasma projections. There is feedback, fuzz and noise coming out of the speakers, followed by immersive rock music. People are dancing, drinking, smiling. I bet some of them are stoned out of their mind, but hey, it's the sixties. Everything is allowed in here. Look, there is even a couple getting in on...

Fantasy can be a fun thing but fact is, I can perfectly envision all these happenings while I listen to Vibravoid. On 'Vibrations From The Cosmic Void', the band once again wildly elaborates on old school psychedelic rock, kraut- and garage rock. Opening with the gritty rock tune 'Vibrations From The Cosmic Void Part II', this album takes you along everything that was fantastic about those decades. Personally, I prefer the long tracks, like the massively immersive 'Melodies Of The Stars'. These feel like enormous jam sessions, floating three feet above the ground.

Of course, Vibravoid has been featured here before, not that long ago. I remember me complaining about the band's mission to "revive a dead genre", something I simply don't believe in. However, I won't complain this time. Reviving or not, dead genre or not, this album is a brilliant piece of work, destined to overtake big stages a psychedelic festivals. There's plenty of those nowadays so I really hope I soon get the chance to see these plasma projections and hear this mind altering music.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to travel through time and space on the tones of 'The Intergalactical Playground'...


​Serge

drone / experimental / progressive

The ancient Romans had a simple but effective torture technique called 'The Endeavour'. They used it to see if a person was guilty of certain crimes. They boiled water and threw a pebble into the liquid. Then, while the water was still boiling, you had to reach in and grab the pebble, which obviously was extremely tiny for such a big bowl of hot water. Your hand would burn severely. Once out, they would take good care of your hand, wrapping it in bandages. After a few days, they then came to check on the wounds. If it didn't heal well, you were guilty. If it did heal well, they would simply repeat the procedure. There, that's a thing you know now.

'The Endeavour' is also the new album by Belgian atmospherimentalist Barst. Yeah, I just made that word up. I think it describes Barst's music very well. Once one of Belgium's many drone-ambient acts, Barst has made an impressive evolution in the past several years. His previous album, 'The Western Lands', had been very well received by press and fans. In fact, the album appeared in many end-year lists. On that album the ambient and drone music got company from a wide array of genres, including psychedelic rock, electronic dance music, EBM and whatnot. Topping something like that would surely be...

(bada-boom)

...an Endeavour.

So I guess the big question here is: has Barst been able to at least repeat that masterfully arranged album? Before we an answer, here is a list of people who cooperation on 'The Endeavour': Niels Brown (Vonnis), Gregory Simons (Vonnis, Arise Fair Sun), Messy Mathi, Mathlovsky (Mathlovsky), Tokyo Oyo, William Lacalmontie (OVTRENOIR) and Mike Armine (Rosetta). And since we're making lists, here is a list of acts that come to mind when I listen to 'The Endeavour': previous Barst, Lords Of Acid, The Cure, Atari Teenage Riot, Author & Punisher, Amenra, Wiegedood, Tangerine Dream, Godflesh, Autechre, Worriedaboutsatan, Nine Inch Nails.

Yes, my dear reader, Barst has managed to create something I can only describe as "flabbergasting". In 42 minutes, he treats the listener to a massive array of soundscapes, electronics, beats, sequences, guitars and whatnot. Barst is like a sponge that sucks up all possible sounds and live experiences and transform that into a surprisingly coherent entity. So yeah, I think he managed to top 'The Western Lands'. That album was already incredible but this one...this is simply astonishing. By now you'll probably already know that this comes highly recommended. This one is going to end up in many end-years lists, no doubt about that.


​Serge

krautrock / psychedelic 

psychedelic rock / krautrock / neo folk

doom / blues

techno

electronic / darkwave

shoegaze

death metal

ambient / downtempo / post rock

death metal / power metal

americana / alternative rock / indie

bandcamp

stoner metal

krautrock

 Musical millipede Aidan Baker and his Caudal trio return with album number three. According to Aidan, this is their most "poppy" album to date. When I read that, I had no idea how a poppy Caudal album would sound. What did they do? Invite an autotune brunette? Have Dr Dré make the beats? Have DJ Khaled scream his name over all the songs? 
So today I finally decided to dig into this (and several other) albums. Coincidentally, before this one I was listening to Red Snapper. I didn't realize how close Caudal and Red Snapper actually are. The transition between the two bands was seamless, apart from the fact that there's no sax in Caudal.

On 'Fight Cry Fight', Caudal delivers nine songs. The longest ('The Blue Meds') is eight minutes long while the others barely reach the maximum commercial airplay length. Perhaps that is the poppy part of this album, short tunes. Everything else is pure Caudal, which obviously is exciting. Their blend of krautrock, post rock and drone rock sounds rather lighthearted and joyful, in sheer contrast to the cover art. In fact, a track like 'Divisible' even reminds me of Alice In The Cities, another smile evoking post rock act.

'Flourish' takes on a more jazzy approach and adds a sense of space rock to the whole thing. It also seems to be one of the most complex tracks on this album, and again, Red Snapper comes to mind. 'Low Red' is an incredibly friendly tune, something that sounds like The Cure jamming on a beach in late summer. 'Sunwashed' does something similar, be it a bit faster. I guess this is the sound of Joy Division trying their hand on krautrock, something like that. Oh well, poppy or not, this is simply another highly enjoyable Caudal album, one every fan of krautrock should possess.


​Serge

thrash metal

stoner metal / sludge

psychedelic rock / stoner / blues

drone / ambient

death metal / symphonic metal

alternative rock

ambient

drone / noise / ambient

dark ambient

techno

symphonic metal / death metal

electronic / experimental / breakcore

Petrol 80

Serge

doom / post metal

metal / hardcore

psychedelic rock / doom

psychedelic / doom

shoegaze / dream pop

shoegaze

post punk / new wave

alternative rock / shoegaze

neofolk

experimental / ambient / noise

Unexplained Sounds

ambient / noise / experimental

bandcamp

dark ambient / drone

bandcamp

ambient / electronic

death metal

black metal

Serge

psychedelic kraut doom

Ok, ok, one more doom metal album before I engage in other activities, like preparing dinner for example. Yet, this isn't just another doom metal album. In fact, none of today's reviewed albums were. One was so vintage Black Sabbath would be jealous about it, the other was laced with classical instruments and Gregorian chants and this one is one long and heavy LSD trip. Then again, you might expect something like that with a title like 'Drug Magick'. So, grab your mushrooms, your weed, your LSD and your whatnot and join me on a psychedelic kraut doom hallucination with Polish occultists Doomster Reich.

Opener 'Gimme Skelter' pretty much immediately comes up with this awesome blend of heavy doom metal and groovy krautrock. It also already showcases these psychedelic jam solos. So I guess it's no wonder that a band like Jefferson Airplane comes to mind when I listen to these tunes. They are with good company too because gradually acts like Hawkwind, Black Sabbath, Captain Beefheart, Ash Ra Tempel, Cathedral and Jimi Hendrix also seem to join the jam. At one point I was even thinking about Ozric Tentacles and that doesn't often happen when I'm listening to a doom metal record.

Now, I must admit that I had one minor doubt at first. For me, many albums win or fail because of the vocals. Here, at first these seemed to be a little let-down. Yet, gradually I got used to them as they started adding that awesome occult element to the whole thing, a bit like Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats do. Halfway through 'Rites of Drug Magick' I'm beginning to realize that this album might become one of my recent favorites. My favorite track here is the jazz 'Meet The Dead' for some reason. 

So yep, another doom metal album and another quite unique one. One that certainly comes highly recommended if you ask me. I mean, it is doom, it is psychedelic and it is kraut as hell. So what are you waiting for? Get your hands on this acid trip...


​Serge

post rock

doom / sludge / psychedelic

metalcore

folk / alternative rock

facebook

post rock / shoegaze

Spotify

alternative rock

progressive rock

dark ambient

experimental / avant garde / classical

bandcamp

stoner rock / alternative / metal

funeral doom

funeral doom / ambient

bandcamp