SPOTLIGHT 439

21/02/2014 16:27

Ready to get out of hibernation? Let the sounds of psychedelia, prog rock, stoner, power pop, fuzzy garage, rock'n'roll, funk, Afrobeat, jazzpunk and post-punk awake you from your slumber!

PSYCHEDELIC/PROGRESSIVE

RADAR EYES - COMMUNITY (7"/REQUIEM POUR UN)

After an incredible first album for Chicago's holy label HoZac, Requiem Pour Un Twister is super glad to welcome one of their favorite artists: Radar Eyes. As always, the band is confusing the issue with their sleeve tributing The Cure's 'Killing An Arab' while melting together, Creation-esque noise psychedelism, new/cold/goth wave haunted guitar riffs and as always crafty catchy melodies. Free and creative as we like it RIYL: The Fresh & Onlys, Primal Scream, The Sound, The Cure.

Listen tp 'Community' HERE.

AGUSA - HOGTID (BLACK) (LP/KOMMUN2)

Limited 400 back vinyl. Agusa is a new Swedish band with obvious leanings toward such diverse acts as Kebnekajse (Sweden), Amon Duul II (Germany) and Colosseum (UK), but at the same time presenting something unique. Authentic 70's progressive tunes that lived through four decades can be heard on this amazing album! Featuring members of Sveriges Kommuner & Landsting, Kama Loka and Hoofoot.

ARABS IN ASPIC - STRANGE FRAME OF MIND (LP/BLACK WIDOW)

Led by guitarist-vocalist Jostein Smeby, and rhythm guitarist and Theremin player Tommy Ingebrigsten, Norwegian band ARABS IN ASPIC II emerged in 1997. They were ready fotr bigger thingsa fter adding Hammond organ player "Mysterious" Magnar, drummer Eskil Nyhus and his brother, bass player Terje Nyhus. They later re-named themselves ARABS IN ASPIC II due to the replacement of Terje. Their wide range of influences make for a very rewarding listen, including influences from stoner-rock, '60s psychedelic rock, and '70s heavy weights s.a. BLACK SABBATH and Wetton-era KING CRIMSON (hence their name). Fans of any of those bands won't regret listening to these guys.

Listen to' Strange Frame of Mind' HERE.

ASTRAL SON - GURUMAYA (BLACK) (LP/HEADSPIN)

Limited 300 copies black vinyl. Debut vinyl only album by ASTRAL SON, the psychedelic side-project of Leonardo, musician and painting artist from Groningen, Holland. Get ready for some psychedelic tunes! With the Electric space guitar as his main instrument and the psychedelic 70's era as his main and infinite source of inspiration Leonardo went on a little journey....Coming from an electronic music background, spending many years twisting buttons on synthesizers, just to hear the sounds, he found a new instrument....The electric space guitar. What you get here is psychedelic song based space rock larded with krautrock and electronic sounds. One man band 'Astral Son' plays electric and bass guitar, electro acoustic guitar, synthesizers, organs, voice and percussion.....and draws his influences from Gong, Ashra Tempel, Pink Floyd, Hawkwind, Brainticket,and not to forget.. the Beatles.....

Listen to 'Gurumaya' HERE.

MAR VISTA - VISIONS OF SODAL YE (LP/STRAWBERRY RAIN)

Here's an album most of you've never even heard of until today. It was pressed on the French do it yourself label Kiosque D'Orphee, and is about as obscure as it gets. Described as RARE COSMIC PROG like Ashra Temple!!!

ORGONE BOX - CENTAUR (LP/SUGARBUSH)

A fine album filled with amazingly well crafted guitar pop, drawing from a musical tradition started by The Beatles' 'Sgt. Pepper' and kept alive by such luminaries as XTC, COTTON MATHER or THE WONDERMINTS.

Listen to 'Centaur' HERE.

SALEM'S POT - LURAR UT DIG PA PRARIEN (LP/EASY RIDER)

LIMITED EDITION 100 COPIES CLEAR SPOT EXCLUSIVE COLOUR VINYL. Sweden's trio of blood drunkards Salem's Pot return this April to consecrate their union with the LA based label EasyRider Records with a follow up to last year's 'Watch Me Kill You'. Following in the footsteps of astral concept albums of the 1970s, over three tracks of sprawling heavy psychedelia '...Lurar Ut Dig Pa Prarien' offers the listener little chance of escape. Summoning the writhing sounds of demon fuzz and distant death knells the opening swell of 'Creep Purple', a 14 minute purge of lo-fi garage metal riffs and lysergic comedown finds Salem's Pot setting out their stall from which to peddle the darkest of doom. Loose, low slung and inspired by the legends of Sabbath and the extended jams of Hawkwind 'Dr Death' and the pounding 'Nothing Hell' complete the unholy trinity of tracks replete with lyrics that propel the listener into worlds unknown. Atmospheric realms populated with weed and witches in a reality as miserable and malevolent as it mind-bending and majestic.

Check out the official video for 'Nothing Hill' HERE.

SEGNO DEL COMANDO, IL - IL VOLTO VERDE (LP/BLACK WIDOW)

Genoa's mysterious outfit IL SEGNO DEL COMANDO is back after a 12-year hiatus, with a new line-up and a new album. 'Il Volto Verde' features various collaborators from bands s.a. Goblin, Balletto Di Bronzo, Delirium, Death SS, and The Danse Society. The music combines progressive rock, jazz, soundtrack-like elements , and dark exsperimentalism. This masterpiece's cover features an impressive and shocking painting from artist Danilo Capua.

Listen to ' Il Volto Verde' HERE.

SENDELICA - (BLACK) THE FABLED VOYAGES OF THE SENDELICANS (LP/VINCEBUS ERUPTUM)

Limited edition 150 copies black vinyl. Retrospective vinyl collecting old songs from the band's history for the first time on vinyl!

Listen to 'The Fabled Voyages of the Sendelicans' HERE.

SPACE DEBRIS - PHONOMORPHOSIS (2LP) (LP/BREITKLANG)

'Phonomorphosis' is the title of the first studio album of Space Debris since the legendary 'Elephant Moon' from 2008 and was recorded in Mannheim, Germany by Jan Dewald. The sound is richer than usual. Drummer Christian Jäger once again plays a Ludwig drumset from the 70s, but this time with larger drum sizes, which immediately brings more weight to the sound. The record contains four 20 minute tracks, very different, highly varied krautrock-monster-long tracks in the genres of psychedelic rock, hard rock and fusion. The first song 'Colossus Stranded' floats with a long organ intro melancholy in the psychedelic guest vocals from Magic Petra, (the cover paintings, once again corresponding with the music, are also by her), then mutate into a dreamy- contrasting hardrocker, the opposite end turns to a classic purple battle between organ and guitar. The title song 'Phonomorphosis' is a very versatile musical trip using all registers of the krautrock craft, even drifting towards dub themes and psychedelic funk at the end. The third long track 'Cat Flow Deluxe' sounds first like Zappaesque blues, followed by coolness a la The Doors and the end brings almost oriental but dirty rock. The song 'Journey Back To The Moon' is very reminiscent of their first albums with heavy, distorted, wailing organ, as if it was recorded in 1970. It's the only song which was already recorded (at the end of 2012 in a different recording session). Ca. 78 minutes.

Listen to 'Colossus Stranded' HERE.

TROLLEY - THINGS THAT SHINE AND GLOW (LP/SUGARBUSH)

From deepest Milwaukee this band revisit the Paisley underground of the 1980s on this their third full length album. Brilliant songs, with chiming Rickenbacker guitars and tight harmonies make this album a modern day psych/power-pop classic. The brilliant crystal clear feel of the title track is worth the cost of admis-sion alone but luckily the whole album is a thing of rare beauty. With only 300 copies made and only 225 commercially available make sure you grab this gem of an LP.

Listen to 'Things that Shine and Glow' HERE.

FILTHY HABITS ENSEMBLE - PLAYS STRAVINSKY 'L'HISTOIRE DU SOL (CD/OCTOBERXART)

An amazing band from Barcelona including October Equus members Vasco Trilla and Alfonso Munoz, performing live the Stravinsky's masterpiece. 8 page booklet, jewel case.

Listen to 'Plays Stravinsky' HERE.

INSTANT FLIGHT - AROUND THE GATES OF MORNING (CD/ROCK'N'RAVE)

INSTANT FLIGHT is one of todays greatest pop/rock/psychedelic bands in the U.K. Its not surprising they've also been picked by Legendary Arthur Brown as his backing band from time to time, whom is featured on 2 tracks on Instant Flight's first album 'Colours And Lights', recorded by Gary Ramon (Sun Dial). The band is influenced by the Doors, Pink Floyd and Jefferson Airplane. However, there is absolutely no copycat re-hashing of old songs. This band strongly stands alone in a fabulous and wondrous sound of their own, that is timeless, catchy and powerful! 'Around The Gates Of Morning' is the latest release by Instant Flight. The song-writing is of the highest quality, with impressive and majestic lyrics and excellent music arrangement. It has been difficult to sort the songs on 'Around The Gates Of Morning' because every track on the CD is equally... GREAT!!!!

Listen to 'The Colours of My Life' HERE.

KALUTALIKSUAK - DEATH OF THE ALPINIST (CD/R.A.I.G.)

'Death Of The Alpinist' by KALUTALIKSUAK is a new conceptual music album based on a story from 'The Aged Tales'. The band - Alexander Chuvakov (guitars, flutes, voices, percussions), Vladimir Konovkin (keyboards, synthesizers), Alexei Ohontsev (bass), and Sergei Titovetz (drums, percussions) - combines the elements of both composed and improvised music blending influences from prog-rock, psychedelia, jazz and avant-garde.

Listen to 'Death of the Alpinist' HERE.

KEEFMEN - REFLECTION OF MIND (CD/GREY PAST)

The CDR-version of the second Keefmen LP entitled 'Reflection Of Mind'. A real step forward compared to their first album as now the soul and snarly emotion of the Drenthse countryside collide in a fantastic way with classic garage and steamin' Nederbeat influences and intelligent melodies and above that a sound that will explode from your speakers! The band outdid themselves in producing a pile of originals that will rank high with classic performances of alltime underground garage bands yet this record also has a contemporary vibe that goes way beyond anything you could consider as a genre. The Keefmen have created a sound of their own and it's a blast from the past and the future alltogether!

GARAGE PUNK/ROCK & ROLL

PAIN DIMENSION - BRAINWASH (7"/CROQUE MACADAM)

Debut single from Paris suburbs slackers Pain Dimension. Except some pure lo-fi and nasty fuzzy garage rock'n roll. Limited to 250 copies.

Listen to 'Brainwash' HERE.

AFRO/BEAT/DESERT BLUES

AMBASSADEURS DU MOTEL DE BAMAKO, LES - GET UP JAMES/MAKE IT FUNKY (7"/ROCAFORT)

Formed in 1969 with musicians from Mali, Guinea, Ivory Coast and Senegal, Les Ambassadeurs Du Motel De Bamako were Mali's most cosmopolitan orchestra of the '70s. Les Ambassadeurs excelled at playing funk. Direct, deep and raw, their renditions showcased a pure, rootsy sound that takes in nightlife fun, improvised dancing, but also a tough economic reality. These numbers express a true touch of genius, as well as an ease at taking over the musical idiom invented by James Brown, Dyke And The Blazers, The Meters, Marvin Holmes, Rex Garvin and a handful of other Afro-American musicians. Mighty as an earthquake and cutting as a razor, these two tracks by Les Ambassadeurs are the living proof of funk power.

Listen to 'Get Up James' HERE.

SURVIVAL (NIGERIA) - SIMMER DOWN (LP/STRAWBERRY RAIN)

While bands like Ofege and BLO have slowly become household names for collectors, there are still many Nigerian bands and albums that have remained unknown in most circles. SURVIVAL's lone effort 'Simmer Down' is one of those albums. Primarily an Afro Rock album, it contains psychedelic, soul, Afrobeat, funky and progressive moments, all done in a raw nature with unpolished mixes and an underlying consistency that doesn't lose the listener. The songs are filled with fuzz guitar, flute and organ solos. Recorded by a group of talented High School students at the legendary ARC studio owned by ex-Cream drummer Ginger Baker, this album seems to have remained under the radar until now. Comes with notes by the band, photos and history, including a story detailing a battle against Ofege at the infamous 'Space Funk' competition. A true gem from Nigeria, rare as hell as the original vinyl! This limited edition LP-reissue includes an insert with pix and info.

METAL/STONER/HARDROCK

DYNAMITE - LOCK N LOAD (BLACK) (LP/DENOMINATION)

If you ever wondered how the follow up album to 'Highway To Hell' should sound like, look no further ! If Bon Scott would be alive, AC/DC would have delivered this album. It oozes with fat Angus Young'ish riffs and a Bon Scott-like voice. This is high energy classic rock, comparable with AC/DC, KROKUS and ROSE TATTOO, and easily outrocking new bands like AIRBORNE and BONAFIDE. This is the band that got chased by the police force in Sweden after an imaginary bank robbery some folks thought was real!

Watch the official video for 'Lock 'N Load' HERE.

GREEN & WOOD - DEVIL'S PLAN (LP/SELFRELEASE)

Remember the doom metal band from Los Angeles Green & Wood? They released a debut in 2009 by Cyclopean Records and a second full-lenght self-released 'Devil's Plan' in 2011. Unfortunately, after a tour in mid-2012, the group disbanded and the albums have been forgotten. 'Devil's Plan' is a special material that equally competed with the best doom metal album in 2011 'Capricorn' by Orchid. Made Available again. Judging by the album covers I think they have sticked with the same artist and it's good for them! The art is amazing and it totally gives the idea of what you should expect form album. Lyrics always twist around themes of occultism, or pagan/satanic/folk stuff. 'Devil's Plan' sounds much more doom oriented, heavier and darker than its predecessor. Flowers vocals have a clearer Ozzy orientation and that is particularly noticeable on the slower songs. Green & Wood seems to be another one of those bands that Black Sabbath would be proud of. Now that the grandfathers are reunited (11-11-11) you can only dream to catch these guys on a tour with Orchid and Ice Dragon. Having shared the stage with masterminds such as Pentagram, Graveyard, Red Fang, Shrinebuilder, Earthless, Valiant Thorr and others, Green & Wood would not sit still for long. Winter of 2011, deep within the mountains of doom, Green & Wood honed their craft with wizardry and wonder. Naturally something was stirring up. That something was 'Devil's Plan'. Recorded solely in the living room of Ethan and Magda's house in Highland Park, California on a host of rotten old tape on a rotten old 8 track, 'Devil's Plan' started as a single and magically morphed into a full-length release in no time. Soon after, Green & Wood teamed up with Saviours to bring 'Devil's Plan' live to the uninitiated masses of the European continent for a well-received debut tour of the new album.

Watch the video for 'Blind Seer' HERE.

ELECTRONIC MUSIC

NINA BELIEF - SHIVERS (LP/NO EMB BLANC)

Nina Belief is Tushna from Miami. Nina Belief is playing vintage and custom built synths. She does not use midi or computers nor playback from CD. Live on stage she plays and programmes everything live. Tracks: 01 Little Disasters 02 Color Of White 03 Desire 04 Their Path 05 Dissonance 06 Nightswimming 07 Kora Cries 08 Room 13 09 Passenger Only Me 10 Severence.

Listen to 'Shivers' HERE.

ROCK/POP/WAVE

ORCHESTRE TOUT PUISSANT MARCEL DUCHAMP - ROTOROTOR (LP/MOI J'CONNAIS)

Orchestre Tout Puissant Marcel Duchamp presents 'ROTOROTOR', the thrilling third album produced by John Parish (P.J Harvey, Eels, Giant Sand, Dominique A.). 'ROTOROTOR' (a nod to Duchamp's famous rotoreliefs and to the latter's taste for palindromes) is a manifesto for free and adventurous music, organised in versatile pop songs; playful and fervent, incandescent, funny and impetuous, assuming without ostentation a sort of fragmented futurist traditionalism, combining festivity and war, wedding dances and battle-cries. Around Vincent Bertholet's obstinate double bass riffs, Maël Saletes' striking and stumbling guitar lines keep up a hypnotic dialogue. The melodic counterpoint of Aïda Diop's marimba, here voluble and danceable, there more pointillistic, and Mathias Forge's trombone, groove impeccably along on the drumming of Wilf Plum (who we know from the legendary Dog Faced Hermans, a notable influence on OTPMD) whose playing lays down a groove of soul shivers and rhythm 'n' blues syncopation. Not to mention the majestic singing of Liz Moscarola (violinist, and with Bertholet the only remaining original band member) who casts spells and enchants the world as if it were nothing. It's a voice with an infinitely varied register of expression: machine-gun talk-over, onomatopoeia pushed to the limits of language, melodies unfurled with a sweet movement or broken jingles. Liz Moscarola is as amusing as she is moving and her absolute naturalness borders on white magic.

Listen to 'Rotorotor' HERE.

KOFE - BALANCE (+CD) (LP/OTHER VOICES)

An official release of an album recorded nearly 30 years ago by the legendary Leningrad new wave band. In many ways, Kofe was well ahead of its time, and is sadly less known to the wider public now, although in the mid-1980s it was one of the pioneering new wave bands on the Russian rock scene. The name Kofe (which simply means coffee) hinted at the favorite drink of the Leningrad in-crowd, as well as being a subtle act of semiotic distancing from the cheap-and-strong wine tradition of the previous "hippie" generation of Russian rockers. In January 1986 band recorded their second (and sadly the last) album, 'Balans'. One of the songs from this album, 'Zero', quickly became a notable hit in the city and beyond: a video to the song was shown on the Leningrad TV programmes Pop Antenna and Spinning Disks, both broadcast nationally. However, certain ideological differences started to emerge among Kofe members and the band broke up in late 1986.

Listen to 'Balance' HERE.

EXPERIMENTAL/SOUND ART

SON OF CHAINSAW - LICENSE TO SPILL (+CD) (LP/CLOGSONTRONICS)

Limited edition of 550 hand numbered LP's plus the CD. You get the 180-gram vinyl version for analogue sound and the CD (no CDr) for the digital experience. Both the LP and CD comes with full colour cover, and an inner sleeve with lyrics and an 8-page full colour booklet with S.O.C. artwork. The music here is derived from an Atari based midi setup, two Yamaha TX16W samplers, a drum machine and tonemodules. Shaped around samples of authentic recordings, excerpts from cinema, TV, radio and "scratchsessions" on Heino, Spike Jones and Carl Stalling records, their musical style is best described as "hydraulic jazzpunk" or "scrapheap".

SOFT RIOT - FICTION PREDICTION (CD/OTHER VOICES)

Soft Riot is a London based act consisting of one JJD (Jack Duckworth); a former Vancouverite who has clocked over fifteen years of musical output in various bands and projects. With origins from the mid-nineties in the vibrant art-punk/hardcore dominating the West Coast American/Canadian underground at the time (the first EP, "No Longer Stranger", is the name of a track by 90s hardcore legends Universal Order of Armageddon), JJD followed a trajectory through to the revival of synthbased post-punk music just over a decade or so ago, which spawned a number of highly successful Canadian artists out of that scene. "FICTION PREDICTION" is a collection of songs selected for a first official LP release, these tracks being a confident advancement in the unique and engaging "Soft Riot" sound developed on prior releases. Drawing inspiration from synthesizer-based film soundtracks of yesteryear, drones, early EBM, minimal synth, a dose of psychedelic synthpop and a heavy dose of throbbing appregiated rhythms, Soft Riot is a science-fiction heavy soundscape that narrates the listener through todays fractured, excessive landscape with hints of black humour Soft Riot, coming from a more punk rock pedigree, often places more focus than the norm on his lyrical content, bringing in detailed pictures and sometimes even linear narrative storylines to subjects such as modern living, technology, surveillance, environment, overpopulation, enlightenment, life elsewhere, forewarning about catastrophic events, vain people in gyms, and not having enough time. The influences come less from other musical artists but more so from written fiction and film -a future predicted by fiction. Where in past musical ventures the path would be aggression, stomp and noise; Soft Riot takes those energies and experiments more with anxiety of tension and unease. A number of these tracks were released in the spring/summer of 2012 on the limited edition cassette "Hyperbolic Masses", which was self-released is now completely out of print.

Watch the official video for 'Cinema Eyes' HERE.

INDUSTRIAL/DARK AMBIENT

RAISON D'ETRE - MISE EN ABYME (CD/TRANSGREDIENT)

The first all new studio album from RAISON D'ETRE in at least a thousand years! 'Mise En Abyme' (Placed In The Abyss) is a journey to the most hidden and darkest parts of the psyche, the underworld of the mind. Conceptually the album contains ingredients from 'The Divine Comedy' by Dante and other similar themed stories/myths dedicated to the katabasis theme. Comes in a 6-panel digipak with photos by Roberto Conte. Playing time is 56:50 minutes.

Watch the official album teaser HERE.

SHOWS

De sp aties (Grey Past)

February 21 - Mezz, Breda (NL)

March 15 - Pacific Parc, Amsterdam (NL) 

De Keefmen (Grey Past)

March 14 - Vera, Groningen (NL)

Vidunder (Crusher)

March 7 - Willemeen, Arnhem (NL)

March 8 - Elektra, Sliedrecht (NL)

March 9 - TBA, Helmond (NL)

Eläkeläiset (Nordic Notes)

April 8 - Patronaat, Haarlem (NL)

Roadburn Festival

April 10 - 13 - 013, Tilburg (NL): Sula Bassana (Sulatron), Papir & Electric Moon (Sulatron), Circle (Full Contact), Cult Of Dom Keller (Cardinal Fuzz)

Crabstock - Fruits de Mer Records' Festival of Psychedelia

April 26 - The Castle Cafe Cellar Bar, Cardigan (UK): SendelicaEarthling SocietyCrystal JacquelineJames McKeownJack Ellister

 

Blog

Previous editions:

13/03/2024 09:08 SPOTLIGHT 10

06/03/2024 10:32 SPOTLIGHT 9

27/02/2024 07:31 SPOTLIGHT 8

19/02/2024 16:36 SPOTLIGHT 7

13/02/2024 08:19 SPOTLIGHT 6

06/02/2024 09:02 SPOTLIGHT 5

29/01/2024 17:52 SPOTLIGHT 4

22/01/2024 19:20 SPOTLIGHT 3

16/01/2024 08:42 SPOTLIGHT 2

09/01/2024 07:33 SPOTLIGHT 1

19/12/2023 08:48 SPOTLIGHT 50

11/12/2023 19:25 SPOTLIGHT 49

05/12/2023 08:38 SPOTLIGHT 48

28/11/2023 08:07 SPOTLIGHT 47

20/11/2023 17:59 SPOTLIGHT 46

14/11/2023 08:08 SPOTLIGHT 45

07/11/2023 08:13 SPOTLIGHT 44

31/10/2023 08:17 SPOTLIGHT 43

24/10/2023 08:10 SPOTLIGHT 42

17/10/2023 08:51 SPOTLIGHT 41


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