(Insert witticism about dipping your toe in, the vastness of the ocean, water water everywhere,etc …) ___________________ …but you got to start somewhere…
Beau (England), Black Tempest (England), The Bordellos (England), Cat Frequency (England), The Cream People (England), Dead Pylons (England), Earthling Society (England), Elevation (USA), Frobisher Neck (England), The Golden Cake Company (Wales), The Grand Astoria (Russia), Julie’s Haircut (Italy), Mademoiselle Marquee (Scotland), James McKeown (England), Mechanik (Spain), Moonweevil (England), Oceanfire (England), Organic Is Orgasmic (Russia), Craig Padilla (USA), Palace of Swords (Scotland), Purple Rock Trip (USA), Sendelica (Wales), Jay Tausig (USA), Temple Music (England), The Amazing Sounds Of D.B. Turi (England), Vert:x (England), Vespero (Russia), The Vox Humana (Wales), Zenith: Unto The Stars (England)
Strange Fish, from Fruits de Mer Records, is a 4 volume set of ’extended prog rock tracks, acid-james, side-long ambient pieces, electric/acoustic guitar + electronics tracks,’ plus a bonus CD for the completists who clean their plate. And there is much to digest here. Surely many of the names, whether you’re a regular diner at Fruits de Mer, will be familiar while others will be the strangest of the fish. By casting a net this big, there are bound to be particulars and peccadilloes for everyone. That’s a given. It’s also a given that if you swim in similar waters as these fish do, you’re bound to be open to some new sounds, or at the very least a few new coordinates on the chart. Spanning the globe with running times from full-sides (Sendelica’s adventuresome, bubbling trip-fest Strange Fish) to day-trips, there is literally something for everyone.
Craig Padilla kicks off Strange Fish One with Full Moon World, setting the tone, but not the destination, with his electro space stretches. To run through every cut would not only be tedious, but a disservice to Strange Fish’s expanse. Exploration is no small part of the mission here, and though you’ll find plenty of heavily electronic mind twists and turns like Padilla, the ocean is vast and the species plenty. Sendelica tackle the title cut, flowing out over a full side, mapping and doing reconn through waters both limpid and dense with sound-colors darting and pinging like, well, strange fish. Right off the bat, Strange Fish One makes clear the scope of what’s to come pairing Sendelica’s more spacey prog leanings with Padilla’s electronics. Throughout all the volumes the diversity and range of ear candy all work in tangent to make a statement, a very broad one. Moonweevils short burst of idiosyncratic pulses may have an electro-base in common with Padilla, but it’s as different from that as it is from the more Kosmiche sounds of Black Tempest‘s Energy of Stars or the gentle and enigmatic Palace of Swords.
Fruits de Mer has said that if Head Musicis where your ears are at, then Strange Fish can easily dock in your own head space, and that’s spot on. Though Head Music focused on Krautrock, the range of interpretations and executions were as varied as the type of music it sought to celebrate, making a statement far beyond the confines of a genre. Strange Fish does the same, blurry the edges of this head music revealing just how much the variety here shares in intent. Whether it’s the more folk leanings of James McKweon, the space prog of Vespero and Organic is Orgasmic, Jay Tausig‘s Kraut beat on the stellar Shortwave, or the foot through the floorboards space rock chug of vert:x and the outrageous showing of Oceanfire, the concrete target may be hard to put into words, but we have the music to do that for us and you’ll know it when you hear it. What you also hear, loud and clear, is the unspoken artist here: the sprawl. The height, width and depth of Strange Fish is as vital as any of the artists on display. You can take each album as a great compilation, or broad sampler of a handful of bands, but Strange Fish achieves maximum depth in full scope. Though it may not share the more direct intent of other opuses like The White Album, Physical Graffiti, or even Exile On Main St., what it does share is a celebration of those records’ sprawl. Depending on where your interests lie, and what defines a peak or valley, Strange Fish is never less than intriguing and fully successful in its reverence of the simple action of dipping your toe in stranger waters than you usual do. Fruits de Mer have the lures, the waters are stocked…all you have to do is wait for the bite after the nibble.
Italian quartet In Zaire describe themselves as ‘Psychedelic Afro Beat from Italia,’ but that’s only a small part of what this ball of fire is all about. Neo-global furnace blasts, Krautrock, space rock, psych rock…and more…compress and explode on their first full-length White Sun Black Sun, via Sound of Cobra. Drenched in combustion, with an almost punk ferocity, In Zaire literally explode out of the gate with Sun. When an outfit comes outs with such intensity, it can make you nervous thinking they shot their full payload up front. The more White Sun Black Sun burns though, the deeper In Zaire go, seemingly never running out of fuel. Sun instantaneously goes supernova, threatening to consume the pilots who have absolutely no intention of re-entry on this flight. Fears are laid to rest as Moon redefines that body as anything but lifeless. It threatens to alter all orbits with a churning galactic chug that heads right into the eye of the vortex, spinning a wicked corkscrew drive. New life? There’s more of it on Mars, with a swampy guitar dancing over a tinkling of gaseous bodies proving beyond a lunar shadow of doubt that there is water—and life—on Mars. At this point, In Zaire has gone deeper than most ‘nauts, but planetary explorations continues, and thrives when the surface of Mercury cracks open with a simple drum beat that acts as gyroscopic control as the rest of In Zaire coil tightly around it, generating a rumbling aura that expands the energy output further than you would think. There’s a bone-rattling looseness that is evident throughout the record, a frayed edge that gives In Zaire an added punch of ferocity above their already white-hot delivery. It’s a pretty straightforward cut that uses the understated power of buzz to full effect. The outermarker is pushed even more approaching Jupiter, an amorphous rumble that implies size through intergalactic ballooning over crippling mass. This is a gas giant, deceptively open while contained in a cauldron of bouncing and rhythmic reaction. Don’t let planetary sequence fool you into thinking you’re back in tighter with Venus. A microcosm of the galaxy (not just ours), throbbing bass and drums circle the star-wagons around an open core with the guitar providing transport between the ricocheting particles. The circular nature of In Zaire is used to full effect, while brief roiling flares highlight the latent power they have in more restrained passages as well as the added booster energy that’s under the hood even when the eye of the storm opens wide open to swallow everything in its path. By the end, Venus becomes a mass of electrified lava of one-mind. As it fades out, it’s clear this is only a window to the never-ending change and activity of another body teeming with life. No matter what the astronomers say. Deepest out is your next outpost, Saturn…out to the edge where what little has been mapped out ends.This is where the tether is fraying and you willingly reach for the scissors to make the final cut. By the end, your not only in deeper space, but your strapped in for a whole new launch sequence. The biggest mystery, and key to the allure, of In Zaire is that for all the interstellar hyperbole, this is firmly rooted on Mother Earth. With the rhythm, tribal fury and power of tectonic grind, White Sun Black Sun serves as a reminder that our Mothership here is part of an open-ended system that is a conflagration in constant motion, consuming, exhuming and expanding at a rate that loses scale in the great vacuum. Just as importantly, White Sun Black Sun is a blazing calling card that there’s a new Master of the Universe in town.
Hills have worked the Gothenburg time-machine for a special June release via Cardinal Fuzz before their upcoming Rocket Recordings release slated for this year. Live was originally a very limited cassette release, made up of 2 long jams that captured the strong roots and base soil under Hills and really put a spotlight on their improvised meditative ‘hyp-no-monotony.’ Hills thrive in the live setting. Expanding their sound with lengthy psychedelic ruminations, Live also gets down to something very elemental about Hills, a taste of the marrow. Obviously put down in intimate settings, Live feels personal, like you’re right there, down in it…Hills quickly get into full-flight and that setting blossoms, folding and unfolding into itself while still packing a strong inward, personal punch. Think of looking—and listening—down the kaleidomicroscope the ‘wrong’ way again, razoring on a map pinpoint until it becomes an iris, overlapping plates sliding open to let you into a whole new space that’s as boundless as this side. Burgeoning in an improvised atmosphere Hills become even more elastic, shaking of structure, but never form. Live is not only another feather in the cap for Hills growing canon, but a heady snapshot of them that goes far beyond the frame-edge.
Frigörande Musik (excerpt) :: Hills :: Live (2013, Cardinal Fuzz)
White Wish-Secret Circuit-Tropical Psychedelics-Emotional Response-2013
Tausendfüßler-Embryo-Embryo’s Rache-Get Back-1971
Brainticket Part 1-Brainticket-Cottonwoodhill-Cleopatra-1971
Auslauf-Electric Orange-Netto-Sulatron-2011
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Transvesuvian-A. Vuolo & E. Grande-Desert-Strut-1979
Part One-Tangerine Dream-Ricochet-Jem-1975
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A Surgical Landing-Dinosaur On Fire-Sleep Moon Voyage-Dinosaur On Fire-2012
Escape Velocity-Zombi-Escape Velocity-Relapse Records-2011
They’ll No More Suffer From Thirst-Maserati-Pyramid of the Sun-Temporary Residence-2010
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Sun-In Zaire-White Sun Black Sun-Sound of Cobra-2013
Moon-In Zaire-White Sun Black Sun-Sound of Cobra-2013
Ouroboros-Mugstar-…Sun, Broken…-Important Records-2010
A Little Ticker Tape Never Hurt Anybody-Kinski-Cosy Moments-Kill Rock Stars-2013
Long Term Exit Strategy-Kinski-Cosy Moments-Kill Rock Stars-2013
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Brainticket Conclusion-Brainticket-Cottonwoodhill-Cleopatra-1971
Brainticket Part 2-Brainticket-Cottonwoodhill-Cleopatra-1971
Eat Lights Become Lights have drawn up plans and finished construction for Modular Living, due July on wax (Great Pop Supplement) and through the wonders of 0s & 1s (Rocket Girl). ELBL have also eased the weight with a live offering of cuts from Autopia and Heavy Electrics from The Windmill in Brixton available via their Bandcamp outpost. If that’s not enough to ease the weight of modern living, be sure to find comfort with Life In The Sprawl.
German born Günter Schickert, whose ‘name barely registers among most of the Krautrock intelligentsia,‘ was an active devotee of the Berlin jazz scene in the 60s who didn’t make his first solo album until 1974. Initially, it was a small-batch private release, later picked up by the venerable Brain label, the outfit responsible for getting out Neu!, Guru Guru, Embryo and even the Scorpions (undoubtedly when it was still fun). Between June and September of ’74 with what he had on hand, Schickert put his own brain and fingers to work and the result of that flurry of activity was Samtvogel.
‘When I was recording Samtvogel in 1974 I had only 2 Taperecorders. I played one track and while listening I added the second one. And so on. Four times. When I mixed all together I borrowed a 3rd taperecorder. And still added the last track to the master. I had a small mixer with 2 stereo and 1 mono but it was possible to pan tracks. No equalization. It all came out of my still living G2000 Dynacord guitar amplifier, of course valve, with no master, even the voice recorded through it. If I made a mistake in 1 track I had to repeat it from the beginning. And if while mixing I was not fast enough in changing the tape I had to start again. So it took me more than 3 months to get ready.’
Schickert, whose main instrument was the guitar, had made some sessions of ‘echo-guitar’ before Samtvogel (not dissimilar to Achim Reichel of A.R. & The Machines fame), but here is where it apparently all came together in classic form. Samtvogel is not only a prime serving of early Krautrock pioneering with acid flares, but a gem of experimental, as well as personal, music. With echo-guitar in hand, Schickert laid down 3 cuts that go exponentially beyond that small number. The 6 minute Apricot Brandy eases in, minimally and deceptively, laying down more than one path that Samtvogel will expand down with the lengthier Kriegsmaschinen, Fahrt Zur Holle and Walde. Kriegsmaschinen, Fahrt Zur Holle builds slowly, layering up on itself until it becomes a vibrating push that doesn’t just cut through the air–here and up there—but infuses itself with it. It’s a chiming, shimmering and, at times delicate, loopy vortex that has as much going on outside it as it does inside…like a soundtrack to a chemical reaction, randomly choreographed particles bouncing and ricocheting off of each other generating new energy. Schickert weaves in some vocals that resonate with what’s generating sonically, giving Kriegsmaschinen, Fahrt Zur Holle even more lift, but also a tether to the human factor of the trip, as alien as it all feels. Walde moves the flurry to the front end, thickening the pulse and flattening the curve a bit as sounds and proddings push in from all sides, exploratory fingers testing the flexibility of the force field Schickert is provoking out of thin air. Walde has the feeling of being broken into sections, but the demarcations are so fluid and bleeding into each other, drawing a line in the sand is pointless. Not being able to put your finger on it, or deciding if the trip is inner or interstellar is a huge part of Walde’s pull, and Samtvogel’s gravity.
Samtvogel was also hard to put your hands on so you could get your brain around it. In another example of forward thinking by looking back, April sees a re-issue of this personal and seminal gem from Important Records.
Kriegsmaschinen, Fahrt Zur Holle :: Günter Schickert :: Samtvogel (2013, Important Records)
Russia’s Polska Radio One follow up a string of great singles with yet another, Новый Космос (сингл)/New Space. Self proclaimed compass direct states, ‘Somewhere between sixties-style British rock, modern fuzz-guitar psychedelia and traditional german kraut you can find a frequency of this radio station.’ Indeed. Frequencies tried and true pushing into that ‘new space’ deliver the stated recipe baked both crisp and deliciously gooey—and groovy— in the right measure. Polska Radio One receive and transmit from a Federation that crosses borders, time-zones and time machines. Tune in.
Sally Go Round The Sun ≈ Elephant Stone ≈ Elephant Stone ≈ Hidden Pony Records/The Reverberation Appreciation Society ≈ 2013
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Jacco Gardner ≈ The Riddle ≈ Cabinet Of Curiosities ≈ Trouble in Mind ≈ 2013
Shades of Orange ≈ The End ≈ Acid Drops, Spacedust & Flying Saucers ≈ Mojo ≈ 2001
Procession/Story In Your Eyes ≈ The Moody Blues ≈ Every Good Boy Deserves Favour ≈ Polydor ≈ 1971
Old Man Going ≈ The Pretty Things ≈ Resurrected ≈ Snapper ≈ 1999
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The Sparrow is a Sing ≈ Twink ≈ Think Pink ≈ Akarma ≈ 1970
10,000 Words In A Cardboard Box ≈ Aquarian Age ≈ Acid Drops, Spacedust & Flying Saucers ≈ Mojo ≈ 2001
Try It ≈ Sky Picnic ≈ Re-Evolution: Fruits de Mer Sings The Hollies ≈ Fruits de Mer ≈ 2013
Sandalwood Haze ≈ Chris Sherman ≈ Sandalwood Haze ≈ Chris Sherman ≈ 2013
The Opening Within ≈ Emma Nordenstam ≈ Response to the Birddream ≈ Sakuntala ≈ 2013
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30 Days / 30 Nights ≈ Aidan Baker ≈ Already Drowning ≈ Gizeh Records ≈ 2013
Birds ≈ Asva ≈ Presences of Absences ≈ Important Records ≈ 2011
Tangerina ≈ Mugstar ≈ Axis ≈ Agitated Records ≈ 2012
Trees ≈ Föllakzoid ≈ II ≈ Sacred Bones ≈ 2013
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Bring Me Sand ≈ Hills ≈ Master Sleeps ≈ Transubstans ≈ 2011
Kwangmyŏngsŏng ≈ Mechanik ≈ Velut Stella Splendida EP ≈ Mechanik ≈ 2012
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Ghoul (edit) ≈ The Ocular Audio Experiment ≈ Ghoul ≈ The Ocular Audio Experiment ≈ 2012
"This show is 110% … one of the most consistently awesome programs we have come across."
The Sunrise Ocean Bender sets sail every Monday morning, 1 – 3 a.m. on WRIR lp 97.3 FM, to find something for your ears, and something for your head … From psych to prog to pop and whatever tributary we can find on the way … and right back around again. There might be a map, but the destination is up for grabs. If it all goes right, we may just get lost. Meet me at the muster station … it might be a long week.
Italian quartet 
German born Günter Schickert, whose
Russia’s 
