psychedelic / chillout

Superdeep is an album released on 16 January, by Austrian psychedelic chillout sound artist Sebastian Frisch, better known under the alias Pangani. With nine tracks – 1) Jungle of Dissolution; 2) Rainbow Nosed Gorillas; 3) Mud Man; 4) Twisted Roots; 5) Tiny Temples; 6) Serious Happiness; 7) Fabric Of Time; 8) It’s Easier Dub and the hour long 9) Continuous Mix – the album is a passionate and cohesive, yet discreet and ordained fable of deeply colorful and sympathetic symphonies, that can be categorized as a fantastic psychedelic electronic music experience. 

​
Despite the fact that – in an overall evaluation –, the album mostly follows the general conventions and commonalities present in the genre, the work is consistently proficient, and competently executed. The melodies are sculpted with a sincere devotion to the anatomy of the music, being imperiously dynamic, though creatively soft and convergent, and the mosaic of allegorical tonalities ascribed to the harmonies increasingly demands a sober sonorous design to perpetuate the continuous perception of its peripheral symphonies. Despite modest limitations, that makes the sound relatively homogeneous sometimes, the density and the graceful reverberations that resonates throughout the horizon of the music’s sensibilities are never excessive or superficial. The artist has carefully conceived and pragmatically delivers sensational compositions of sensitive delight, that definitely has the potential to please the genre’s main audiences. 

While you cannot expect Superdeep to be a masterpiece, at least in the absolute sense – Pangani in only rare and dispersive occasions audaciously breaks boundaries and challenges the genre’s standards, with a moderate degree of expertise, and this maybe his style –, Superdeep never disappoints either. On its best moments, the record achieves excellent results, with exceedingly beautiful harmonies that reveals a relaxed, though expansive, dilated, dilapidated and creative vitality, that fustigates the ostensible charisma that marvelously fluctuates throughout the music. 

With a style that slowly and gradually reveals some curious and evasive peculiarities, Pangani displays a relatively virtuous and colorful musical technique, that has on the majestic pulse of its vivid, intuitive and lucid artistic objectives the design of an exhilarating sonorous redemption. With a wonderful creativity that effectively projects the molecules of its splendorous dimension throughout the unlimited horizons of its fragrant and versatile musical abilities, Pangani easily overcomes the genre’s main deficiencies and limitations, to deliver to his audience a sequence of beautiful, effective and exceedingly sophisticated salutary cosmogonies, that definitely makes Superdeep a tremendously great, consistent and enjoyable work.  



Wagner

black metal / industrial / psychedelic

Yeruselem is a side project of Blut Aus Nord's Vindsval and W.D. Feld. Blut Aus Nord has been around since 1993, starting out as a black metal band, but gradually drifting into more experimental/industrial territory.

While very influential, it is also a fact that their music is not exactly easy listening. Industrial metal is often quite fatiguing to listen to, so imagine what happens if you throw a heap of ambient noise and dissonant riffs on top of that...However, BoN's last release (Cosmosophy) started showing signs of going into a more accessible direction (relatively speaking, of course, it's still not Steel Panther).

Yeruselem shows these guys going further into this direction. The sound immediately reminds me of Godflesh, but the guitars would not be out of place in a goth or deathrock band, and the melodies are at times, well, poppy. Vocal-wise,it also sounds refreshing - at times it made me think of Jesu, Front 242, or even Depeche Mode (go figure). Don't get me wrong, it's still heavy, but a more accessible way.

There are 9 songs on "The Sublime", two of which are instrumental mood-setters. The rest are fairly short songs, barely exceeding 5 minutes at max. Of note are album opener "The Sublime", (brilliant guitar work) , and "Eternal", with twisted drums and catchy vocals. 

What Jesu is to Godflesh, Yeruselem is to Blut aus Nord. And since I'm a big fan of Jesu, this really made my day. 2019 is off to a good start!


Koen

psychedelic / chill-out / downtempo

Bholenath is an album released on December 24, by a psychedelic chill-out artist, better known by the alias of Hypnotizer. An hour-long album, the record has ten tracks: Kiskanu, Aliens Room, Life Oportunity, Planet Tribe, Between Witches, Jungle Market, Changing Energy, Mystical Experience, Cloudy and Distant Connections. With gracious and somewhat tempestuous – though commonly stagnant melodies –, Bholenath is not a marvelous nor epic record, though manages to be quite interesting and responsive, revolving around colorful and symbiotic harmonies that inadvertently expands its sonorous waves over the diluted axis of its own musical allegories. Despite the fact that delivers some abrasive commonalities and clichés, there is a genuine creativity present on this album, that makes the nucleus of its work to be truly representative of the genre; more specifically, its modernist trends, influenced by reggae and world music, which are quite audacious and elegant. 

Bholenath displays moderately some tangentially sophisticated flavors and dynamic liquid grooves, that makes the music interesting. Its cohesive and free-flowing sound is a discreet amalgamation of lucid sonorous densities, passionately combined to create a colorful atmosphere of sensible, placid and sagacious peripheral possibilities. Nevertheless, occasionally, the music resents itself from a moderate and conspicuous level of monotony, although the quality and the dynamism of the sound remains intact. 

A cohesive and sensitive work, that understands the visceral anatomy of its harmonious and energetic layout, Bholenath can be defined as an impressive – even majestic, sometimes – exemplar of psychedelic chill-out music, if we are willing to ignore its more rude, but to a wider extent, insignificant limitations. True to the cosmogony of its own salutary, but inherently mordacious musical diagram, on this album, the sound expands itself through the tissue of its latent fragmented waves of digressive serenity, whose perceptive artistic platform revolves around the immensity of its refreshing abstract tonalities. 

Of course, while this album is not marvelous, it can be considered a decent, lucid and sardonically delusional psychedelic voyage, that takes its own volatile essence by storm, transforming each molecule of its own hallucinatory transient grace into a virtual reality sensitive journey. An interesting work – that fails to avoid entirely the generic elements of the genre –, Bhilenath is a moderately satisfactory psychedelic chill out album, with some impressive and extraordinary arrangements. 


Wagner

psychedelic rock / space rock

Trail Records

In recent years, there has been a kraut/space/acid rock revival, boosted by bands like Caudal, Lumerians and Minami Deutsch. However, as I have tried to explain people a thousand times before, genres never really die. Every day a band pops up, inspired by something from the rich history of music making. Back in the nineties, when everybody was getting excited about grunge and nu-metal, bands like The Spacious Mind were born, honoring a older tradition. That of krautrock, psychedelic rock, acid rock and space rock. This band has been around since then, continuing their sonic journey for decades on heaps of albums and EP's.

'The Drifter'  is a collection of rare cuts, two live takes and previously unreleased tracks. Six songs long, this record is a pleasant addition to their collection, preferably to be placed near their Hawkwind and Pink Floyd classics. The songs are long, with traditional rock 'n roll tunes expanding into elaborate jam sessions. It's as if the members of the band wrote one short song and freely improvise over the foundation. The result is a musical trip, immersive and adventurous. It somehow fits perfectly well with my new-found interest in old Star Trek series.

My favorite track on this album is 'Euphoria, Euphoria', and organic piece of music, loaded with surprises and variation, with spaced-out twin guitars and dreamy keyboards having an orgy over the drums/bass foundation. Something like that. You could actually say pretty much the same about every track on this splendid collection. I mentioned one favorite, but this whole thing is incredibly enjoyable for everyone who loves a good dose of acid rock once in a while. So yep, this comes highly recommended.


​Serge

psychedelic rock / space rock

I don't feel so good, probably flu or something. As a token of their empathy, my neighbors decided to start drilling holes in the wall again. Those fuckers have been doing that on a regular basis over the course of a year now. I have no idea what they're doing. Yet, I'm not the complaining type. I look for solutions. Luckily for me, there are two huge Magnat speakers and a mailbox full of awesome music to overrule the neighbours' noise. After all, it's easier to cope with a headache from loud music than a headache from drilling holes in the wall. So I downloaded this album by Deep Space Destructors, twisted the volume know and flew off into the galaxy.

Formed in 2011, Finnish space rock combo Deep Space Destructors have played gigs allover their country. They also released plenty of albums and EP's so far and it seems that their journey is far from over. Their latest effort, 'Visions From The Void' contains five tracks and comes in an interesting array of colored vinyls, plus  digital. So you have plenty to choose from, and if you're a space rock fan, I see absolutely no reason why you should not purchase this album.

This is one of those albums that feels like an EP, even though the average track length is over eight minutes. Inspired by acts like Hawkwind, Eloy, Camel and so on, these Fins come up with elaborate instrumental passages, along with some splendid vocal krautrock parts. That sound already highlights in opener 'Psyche Remade', a near perfect space rock song. Another absolute highlight is 'Tyhjyyden Mantra'. I just love the saxophone solo here.

Perhaps in today's scene, Deep Space Destructors could be compared with a mix of Monkey3, Caudal, Øresund Space Collective and Ozric Tentacles. Yet, as a song like 'Floating' proves, this music can easily stand its ground on any atmospheric music festival. I can easily imagine this band playing Dunk! festival and taking everyone on an epic journey, especially with that brilliant closer 'From The Void'.

So yeah, space rock from an intensely high quality, that is what you get here. You can even download the album for free, but I'd suggest you give these guys some credit and some digital cash. They deserve it. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to twist the volume knob some more and drill space rock holes through walls and skulls....


​Serge

stoner rock / psychedelic / blues

Well, this dreary day can use a dose of searing hot desert blues. The fuzz-scene is still going strong, so there is plenty of groovy music to choose from. Today, i picked this album by Swiss trio Mystic Sons from the pile of albums to be reviewed. Not without hesitation by the way.

Psychedelic stoner fuzz blues rock is awesome but vocals can quite often destroy everything. That was my main concern when opener 'Intro' first pierced my eardrums. The intro is a neat piece of instrumental stoner rock, Karma To Burn, Monkey 3 and Colour Haze, that kind of stuff. All good and well, but what about the songs with vocals?

Luckily for these guys, that seems to perfectly find here. First appearing in the heavy and intense 'Mephistopheles', Bochat's vocals perfectly fit the warm and jammy nature of the music. Still, the massively groovy 'Californian Desert' and closer 'Black Ritual', which are mostly instrumental, are my absolute favorite here. I simply love these lengthy psychedelic passages. There is also a small element of grunge rock in here, which is quite nice. On the other hand, the sluggish blues track Leather Apron is a pretty creepy tune, perfectly suited for your upcoming Halloween party.

If I have top compare Mystic Sons to other bands, I'll probably throw in some well known acts like the aforementioned Karma To Burn but also Kyuss, Black Sabbath, Sleep, Uncle Acid and Truckfighters. Their music is nothing new but it is executed perfectly and it comes with exactly the right dose of variation and every single anthem is well written. Plus, there are these sweet-ass guitar solos I'm sure every stoner/psychedelic rocker will appreciate. So don't hesitate, download or buy this album, roll yourself a fat one and play this thing loud. You'll love it.


​Serge

psychedelic / electronic / chill-out / downtempo / psytrance

With its deep space virtuous cosmogonies and a voluptuous synchronic ambient layer of masterful sonorous engineering, that works at the skylight precious visibility of its fabulous technical mordacity, Ataraxia, with all of its ten formidable and exponentially delusional tracks – Ataraxia, Psylent Coral, Shamanism Eyesight, Trust The Wait, Starseed, Cosmic Hologram, Badass Wolf, She is a Nurse, Psycho Delicate and Meraki – proves to be a dense, eruptive and monumental album, with a sound condensed at the imponderable vicinities of its own universal axis of arduous tenacity. In a belligerent zone of furious beauty and serene complacency, the harmonious sonorous fragrance of Ahanjack displays the elemental and versatile capabilities of all of its marvelous and intricate levels of artistry.  

Departing from conventional, but surreptitiously deep melodic alignments that break the spiral axis of the conspicuous effigies of sound that drives the linear pulse of the beatings, the album consistently displays a dynamic creative fever that definitely understands the bizarre complexity of its own vivacious concept, and effectively plays by the rules; beautiful harmonies dance in the colorful horizon of a day that never fades away, as red twilights shine bright at the tender displacement of ascendant harmonies, that rise from the dreams of its own imperative intonations. 

As the album evolves, the harmonies become more and more fluid, lucid and organic, though the flexible design of its anatomy exhibits a creatively expressive composure that is the groundwork of the artist’s style. Nevertheless, the psychedelic galaxy that vividly revolves around the charming and elegant harmonies creates surreal cadences of everlasting clouds that filtrates the impulsive beatings of the rhythm, although the general layout of the sound is left untouched, and obeys a coherent melodic elasticity that rarely moves outside its peripheral zone of sensibility.

Ataraxia is definitely a formidable album of psychedelic chill. With disruptive harmonies and a sentimental musical layer that promotes a delightful collision between effective melodies and surreal intonations, the record is definitely a sensational musical achievement. Despite the fact that the artist is somewhat relapse in terms of audacity, the consistency and the inebriant agility abundant in the music showcases a genuine charisma that overflows the ordinary elements of its inherent creative abilities, exposing a dimension of hidden splendor, which is something that the audience can experience with a high degree of satisfaction. 


Wagner 

krautrock / psychedelic rock

In the category "albums to look forward to", this new Hypnodrone Ensemble full-length reached the very top. I have been a fan of this Aidan Baker/Eric Quach project since their first effort 'The Shape Of Space' so when 'Plays Orchestral Favorites' came in, I immediately monopolized the Merchants Of Air inbox. 

The album contains five tracks, with 'Orbital Pertubation' being my personal favorite. This massively immersive track is a thirteen minutes lasting trip through soul, time and space, pretty much the best piece of music ever produced by this nine-piece band.

But let's go over the personnel first because there are some massively interesting names here. Obviously, there are Aidan Baker (Nadja, Caudal) and Eric Quach (Thisquietarmy). Then there are the drummers: David Dunnett, Jérémie Mortier (Alice in the Cities, Nearest Gas Station) and Felipe Salazar (Caudal). They seem perfectly aligned with one another and with the two frontmen, so to speak. Finally there are the  the contributions of Simon Goff (Molecular, Bee And Flower) on violin, Duchamp on baritone guitar, Felix-Florian Tödtloff (ex-Sun Worship) on bass, and Diego Ferri (Alice In The Cities) on synths. 

Although split up in five tracks, the album can easily be enjoyed as a continuous whole. Opener 'Serial Staging' repeats the previous sound of Hynodrone Ensemble, which mostly resembles krautrock. After a while it gently makes place for the amazing 'Orbital Pertubation', a track which brings even Godspeed! You Black Emperor to mind. The violin plays a strong role in that reference, something I can easily appreciate. 'Restabilization' then seems to grab back to the old fashion sounds,driving on a groovy bassline and calmly lingering on.

'Monotransitive' feels heavier than the other tracks. It's not mixed in with the previous track, as most of the album is but it opens part two in a strong and somewhat impending manner. Here,the whole band seems to have borrowed elements from Aidan's Nadja project but also from Dirk Serries' FearFallsBurning. This is perhaps the least easy-digestible track on the album but a seasoned drone/ambient/kraut/psych fan will definitely embrace this dramatic tune. In the end, 'Pulsations in the Hypnosphere' finished the album in style, with some good old fashioned krautrock.

The verdict? I can't think of anything to criticize this album with. It's simply the next incarnation of a cooperative band, further exploring their sound and possibilities.  Perhaps I can say it's too short or that the album title is a bit weird but that won't harm my opinion in any way. 'Plays Orchestral Favorites' is an energetic and immersive masterpiece, if I may use that word. So all I can say is; pre-order the hell out of it before they're all sold out and join me in hoping for a tour soon. This I have to see live...


​Serge

jam rock / psychedelic rock  

Jams Of Inner Perception is an album released on August 12, by German instrumental psychedelic rock group Circle Of The Sun. Forty minutes long, the record has six tracks: Buffalo, Acid Dream, Liquid Sand, Jamming In Paradise, Moongroove and Desert Sun. Despite the generic songs’ titles, the record has a tremendous amount of virtues and qualities, and is completely filled with abrasive, flexible and intelligent archetypes of spontaneous jams and grooves, so beautifully entangled, that you instantly become captivated by this insanely proverbial, vivacious and volatile record, whose soul is distilled in a marvelous palace of liquid flames, standardized by a glorious galaxy of peculiarly aggrandized sonorous rapture. Definitely, there is such an abundant degree of intuitive sensibility on this record, that you rapidly feel yourself encircled by a transcendental crest of serenity, that revolves around itself in an infinite cloud of vehemently sagacious and levitating melodies.  

The sound of Jams Of Inner Perception is quite remarkable. The beauty of its musical philosophy comes out of its profound cosmogony of colorful harmonies naturally, and the placid, but lucid creativity of its concentrated synergy extrapolates the inner vivacity of its horizontal harmonies in a perfectly passionate, but methodical sonorous expansion. While its musical barriers are restrained to a certain degree – and this is easy to attest – the meticulous greatness of its style is simply beyond impressive, plausible or perfunctorily audacious.  

 Although the record is somewhat concise, its musical greatness is markedly engraved on the walls of its omniscient sonorous narrative. Its stylish revenue is – to a certain degree – very simple; therefore, easy to assimilate and to appreciate. But it is also necessary to emphasize the colossal degree of creativity present in the work, that is assembled in a very modest and effusive manner, inserted in such a graciously harmonious outlook, that its lucid veracity contributes to enlarge its formidable degree of artistry.   

This is also one of the first works that I’ve heard where the bass guitar is worked in a very diligent, interesting and relevant fashion. Undoubtedly, this album – made almost entirely of jams and acid jags – is an exhilaratingly unique work of art. Although I cannot rate this album as perfect nor excellent, certainly gets very close to it. Jams Of Inner Perception is definitely a fantastic, singular and refined work, whose gracefully perennial level of originality is absolutely beyond a formal definition.  


Wagner

psychedelic rock / acid rock  

Get In The Van is an album released on August 21, by American psychedelic/ acid rock band Grass. Forty minutes and fifteen seconds long, the record has ten tracks: Lay It On Me Brotha', Shaggy Dog, Get In The Van, Right On, Leadfoot, Where Are You Sam?, Day To Day, Grasstronaut, Big Bad Sam and Back From Space. With cool, fast and direct acid rock harmonies, and somewhat diligent, very elegant grooves, Get In The Van is an unmistakably sensitive and clean record, despite its straightforward simplicity, which comes in all honesty as part of its charm. With eloquent, laudatory, crispy and colorful guitar lines, framed by surreptitiously vivacious melodies, the vocals – that most of the time resembles more of a spoken word work than actually singing – are clean and sober, despite being sporadic, and definitely appear to be gracefully engraved by a sensational conjuncture of qualities, that has on its extraordinary psychedelic appeal a coherent set of merits, upon which a delusional level of originality certainly emerges as the first. 

To a certain degree, you definitely feel yourself to be in a sixties acid party. The general layout of the harmonies is simple, but whimsically delineated, and the creative mordacity of the music is a very torrential aspect of the work. The melodies do change constantly, but the group maintains a solid and cohesive style, that definitely highlight them as an exponentially genuine and groundbreaking exemplar of the genre. Although they can be described as a very simplistic band – at least, in technical measurements –, Grass compensates their lack of structural virtuosity with a voracious, audacious, humorous, amazingly fun and superbly authentic level of creativity, that knows no boundaries, which is definitely a more relevant element. 

 A little reminiscent of Dead Kennedys – not so much on the musical layer, but in the anatomy of its intrinsic artistic attitude – Grass certainly is a modern exemplar of a long lost line of bands, whose irreverent and sardonic levels of gracious exhilaration leaves them at the gates of an inherited youth insurrection movement, that captures their soul with a notorious flavor of The Stooges and The Strokes, which is also preeminent in the group. Definitely, they can’t deny their musical origins, although I must emphasize the fact that they present an abundant degree of originality on this work, that captivates the audience with their signature qualities amazingly highlighting them as a pretty charming, vibrant, irreplaceable and unique band. 

Even if you are not a big fan of acid rock, you will definitely love Get In The Van. This album is thoroughly captivating, from the beginning until the very end. The group has a consistent and solid musicality, that embraces not only the true spirit of the genre, but vehemently justifies the quintessential verve of its very existence. Undoubtedly, this is a fundamental record, that amplifies on the axis of its greatly monumental possibilities the true potential for the development of the genre, in the future.   


Wagner