E X P A N S I V E SOUNDS / SOUNDS OTHERWORLDLY

E X P A N S I V E SOUNDS

It's been a mix, old and new, playing here recently and mostly of an expansive nature triggered by revisiting Dark Star's 'Twenty Twenty Sound' album for the first time in quite a while. Spontaneous psychedelia! The album's an explosion of guitar effects, 'tight-as' drumming and trance-inducing bass lines along with often, quite random lyrics. It was released on Harvest (yes, that Harvest) in the summer of 1999 and my, how that time has quickly gone by. I first heard the 'Graceadelica' single in late 1998, '...it's all coming back to me now...', as its refrain goes and if the ex-Levitation trio never recorded anything else, then this track would stand alone as an impressive statement of intent. Driven by an amazing groove that pulls the listener in, just lock into that bass playing and follow - it lives in a song of its own. 'I Am The Sun', another single, followed a few months later and featured wild guitarwork and lyrics, well, I found these quite perplexing at the time - Joan of Arc, Jesus and the tale of the singer being left abandoned after a strange night car ride...hmmmm. All quite dark when compared to the bright summer of '99 shortly after the setup of Heyday, where the then released Twenty Twenty Sound' was in heavy rotation. It's another one of those albums that seemingly arrived out of nowhere and then disappeared into the ether just as quickly. It left its mark on those who heard it. A shooting star. Listening to it again now, I'm still impressed by its intensity and array of sounds/rhythms. To add a little surrealism to this, I had a dental appointment for a check up that summer at a practice just round the corner from the office. There was a TV screen in the treatment room playing music videos (honestly, I'm not making this up!) and as I was in the chair being checked out, 'Graceadelica' played on screen right in front of me. There was no way I could mistake that hypnotic groove despite all that was going on around me. One of the more pleasant, if not strangest memories, I have of visiting the dentist!


I've at last caught up with 'The Shape Of Things To Come' double set from FdM. These more than generous promo sets are always packed to the gills (sorry, no pun intended), so I like to take my time to fully appreciate them. 'Shape Of Things' has many interesting tracks but I'll begin with The NoMen. The band is no stranger to contributing to FdM's vast back catalogue and has four tracks on 'Shapes', all taken from the 'Drone Demon'. If you add the times of each of these tracks together, then the total would still probably fall short of most of the other tracks found elsewhere in the set. I admire the band's spontaneity/creativity/diversity, they remind me of Guided By Voices who can also knock out songs by the dozen. It's that 'punk' spirit I suppose, that music doesn't always have to be so 'precious', it can still thrill with just a short burst of energy, and often! Favourite track? It has to be the Kraftwerk-tinged 'Sleep Became'. What about that sudden ending after being blissfully carried away by the track thus far? Erm, I suppose, sleep finally 'became'! I'm also quite partial to the urgency of 'The Dark'. In a slight contrast to the rest of the CD, it has a 'no one sleeps while I'm awake' vibe to it and nicely sets the listener up for Mushroom's 'Purple Pie Pete'. It didn't just take the T. Rex connected title to catch my interest here, the presence of slide guitar and harmonica helped as well, not forgetting the groovy organ either. Bluesy sounds have always been psych-like to me, it's the same with Indian music too, there's something in the way the notes bend that sets something off in my brain and then I'm away! Suspirium is new to me. 'Fateful Encounter' is a track of 'two halves'. Beginning all 'Tangerine Dream', after about four minutes guitars take over, sometimes sounding a little shaky in places, but eventually blending together quite well. I've been taken with this piece admiring it for its dreamlike quality. Only FdM could add a 23 minute plus 'bonus track' to a disc and that's what you find at the end of the first disc with under golden canopy's 'Strange Dreams Under Moss Covered Chords Part 2'. A glorious chill-out, one to really listen deep to. It's the longest track on the entire set, but it seems to fly by me each time I hear it. The first disc of 'Shapes Of Things To Come' definitely has the edge over the second, but I thoroughly enjoyed exploring the set as a whole. Thanks again Keith for the usual top-notch choice of interesting new music.

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE NOMEN... CLICK HERE
FIND OUT MORE ABOUT SUSPIRIUM... CLICK HERE
FIND OUT MORE ABOUT UNDER GOLDEN CANOPY... CLICK HERE

Finally, I recently found tucked away on Steve Kilbey's Bandcamp page Mercator Projection's 'Space Bootleg', a live one-off experimental performance (a vegetarian space cake Christmas show, no less!) from December 2006 featuring most of the members of The Church (no Peter Koppes), together with Jordan Brebach (guitar) and William Bowden (radiotronics). In keeping with the later, more expansive sounding Church, this slightly rough round the edges performance is quite a trip! Fascinating track list, with most of the songs running into each other making it an almost continuous performance. There's a heavy dose of Floyd and Hawkwind classics mixed with Neil Young, Deep Purple, Steve Harley and even the odd Church track or two. I lean more towards the mellow, more atmospheric tracks, like the opening variation on 'Careful With That Axe, Eugene', the smouldering 'Cortez The Killer' that follows and, a little later, the unusual medley of 'Child In Time' with The Church's own 'Tantalized' via Hawkwind's 'Shouldn't Do That'. How about that for a selection? This seemingly spontaneous performance also includes the trippy Church live favourite 'Magician Among The Spirits'. This simply shimmers here, all 16 minutes of it awash with effects. There's even the opportunity here for Kilbey to channel his inner Jim Morrison! It's performances like this that leave me in no doubt of The Church's versatility, none of their contemporaries come close, nor recent pretenders either. A pleasant surprise for me was the appearance of another Steve and Marty 'duet', that of Steve Harley's 'Ritz'. I say a pleasant surprise, as this time I really enjoyed it! For too many acoustic duo shows in the mid 90s, 'Ritz' opened the proceedings and, well, eventually became a dirge to these ears. Lifeless. The Church even recorded it for the Magician Among The Spirits' album, but by then I'd heard enough of it. On 'Space Bootleg' it finally has vitality, the radiotronics add atmosphere and Tim Powles adds that much needed kick. Now with more passion to the playing, Steve and Marty's vocals finally bring life to those imaginative Harley lyrics – they're '...peeking through the Nimbus covers'... at last! As the track breaks down it then slowly re-emerges as Floyd's 'Set The Controls...' and Marty goes all out on this, it's bliss. With treats such as these, though not being a fan of Hawkwind particularly, I could tolerate the rock outs of 'Lord Of Light', 'Seven By Seven' and, obviously, 'Silver Machine'. I suppose these did leave my toes a-tapping, being already swept away as I was with the rest of the set . Try a piece of 'Space Bootleg' space cake for yourself on Steve Bandcamp page CLICK HERE

SOUNDS OTHERWORLDLY

Durutti Column / LC (Expanded 2CD set)
I recently read Tony Wilson's '24 Hour Party People' book tracing the story of Factory Records and The Hacienda club through their many twists and turns, so what better than to dive once more into this 1981 set by Factory's first signing? I can easily trance out to Vini Reilly's guitar and piano playing on 'LC'. There's a gentleness/fragility to the songs, veering towards the ambient, but with an experimental side too, that sometimes works, sometimes doesn't, but it's always interesting to hear Reilly following his muse. I doubt he labours over composing, the music appears to flow easily from him. Strange then, that the title of this second album is 'LC', from Lutte Continuum, an Italian anarchist slogan meaning something like 'the struggle continues'. The tribute to Ian Curtis 'The Missing Boy', 'Never Known' and beautiful piano piece 'The Sweet Cheat Gone' are highlights. This expanded reissue also includes contemporaneous tracks that featured only on compilation albums and an assortment of demos made for the album. It's dreamlike music and it should come as no surprise to find that 'LC' is one of Brian Eno's favourite albums.


OST / Raga – A Film Journey Into The Soul Of India (2010 expanded soundtrack - download)
When I bought the DVD of this 1971 documentary on the life of Ravi Shankar, I took advantage of a free download of the expanded George Harrison produced soundtrack. The music, chants, field recordings and interviews contained are sequenced so well, you find yourself travelling through a condensed, but still vibrant, audio version of India. Kick back to meditative Vedic hymns and the startling sitar/ violin interplay between Shankar and Yehudi Menuhin among other delights. I must make a special mention too of Ravi's playing on 'Raga Desh'. How did he manage to play so fast? Incredible musicianship with not a slip in intensity.


Roopa Panesar / Subha CD
UK female sitarist's 2022 album. 'Subha' (morning) is a collection of ragas for the start of the day. Really beautiful and mesmerising sounds. Roopa is accompanied ably by Ramdas Palsule on tabla and Kaviraj Singh on tanpura. 'Rag Ahir Bhairav' clocking in at nearly 33 minutes is pure joy.
(apologies - couldn't find the album on youtube, this is as close as I could get)


Wingless Angels / Wingless Angels
Jamaican Rastafari collective led by Justin Hinds, recorded live in the late 90s by Keith Richards. The relaxed beat of the drums (less than heartbeat rate) eases the listener in and together with the vocal chants, makes for a quite entrancing experience. 'Morning Train' is a moving piece, featuring a gentle violin and is indicative of the Gospel/Spiritual feel of the rest of the performances here. The between song banter and laughter only emphasizes further the good vibes had by all lifting the spirits further. A touch of bliss for sunrise!