Posted in Whathaveyou on January 17th, 2025 by JJ Koczan
Øresund Space Collective bandleader and honcho-when-it-comes-to-releases Scott “Dr. Space” Heller details below a number of upcoming projects for 2025, but I can’t help but be particularly excited that included among the swath of live-on-stage and live-in-studio jams that are always the heart of what ØSC do there’s a new session listed from which at least two LPs (or maybe one 2LP? more likely two 2LPs) will be born. Sometimes it’s years before an Øresund Space Collective record, captured in the moment as it happened, makes it to public ears. The material retains the impov spirit with which it was made, of course, but it’s also nice to get a glimpse of where these players (and the cast does rotate somewhat over different sessions) are at now.
Hopefully something from that shows up sooner than later, but there’s also a 20th anniversary celebration to consider and other outings besides, and I’ll note that while the below is already more than many bands would do in two years, let alone one, Øresund Space Collective and adjacent projects from Dr. Space and other members, will likely have much, much more than this to come throughout the year. This is the start.
From the band’s newsletter:
Welcome to the new year and hope you are all doing well in the world of insanity. While we try to all disappear into the world of music, where we are safe, the weather, the rulers of the world, are going mad and trying to take us all down with them… We will not put up with it so what can you expect from us in 2025???
The Collective met in Stockholm for a studio session that was pretty fun despite the cold, grim, dark weather. I flew in from Portugal, Jiri and Mogens came from Denmark, Christian (Yuri Gagarin) came from Goteborg and we met with Jonathan and Mattias at Roth Handle studios. We spent the first two days making the soundtrack for a short animated film. That was fun and cool. Then we started to jam. About 6hrs of material was recorded over the next two days. Some great stuff as always and some new areas explored.
Sadly, the Relaxing in the Himalayas LPs were warped and had to be repressed, so they will not come until the end of January. The West Space and Love III LPs also had problems and had to be repressed. Links are below… Both are released on Space Rock Productions.
In April, we hope to have the new double LP/2CD, Alotta Hella down in Estrela released on Space Rock Productions. The LP features 4 tracks (one is 50mins) and the CD contains 2 bonus tracks (38 mins) not on the LP. It was recorded in the 2022 session in Portugal and features Dr Martin Weaver (Wicked Lady), Luis Simoes (Saturnia), Tim Wallander (Ex-agusa, Ozric Tentacles), Hasse Horrigmoe (Tangle Edge), Jonathan Segel (Camper van Beethoven), Dr Space, Jiri, Mogens and Pär….
We will also release a film of us live in the studio recording Ode to a Black Hole on DVD with a new 5.1 surround sound mix by Dr Space.. When I find time, I hope to mix some of our older records in 5.1 like The Black Tomato and Sleeping with the Sunworm.
April 11-12th, will be our 20th Anniversary shows and like our 10th anniversary show, we plan to have many different people playing the 4 different set that will be played and we will have the amazing light show of P&P from Germany (they do the lights at Fuzz Fest and other festivals). there will be an afterparty each night with the band til 2 and special merch, poster gallery, etc.. Please buy an advanced ticket…
In May we will play the Spaceboat in Hamburg for the 10th time. Wow.. Amazing. Thanks to Sabine from Sapphire and Space Rock Productions for putting in all the work that is required to make this happen. There are still tickets available. The shows are May 23-24th-..
Also coming in 2025 is the Kozfest 2023 DVD. I have to apologise up front though as I fucked this one up and send Ruben, who did the amazing video editing job of the show, the wrong mix of the audio so the audio is decent but our amazing drummer Tim is really buried in the mix. The upside is if you are bandcamp subscriber or buy the DVD, you will get the proper audio mix which sounds great.. Sorry, I fucked it up….
If you liked the more laid back CD from last year, Espaço, you will also dig, Espaço 2!!! This will be a Bandcamp subscriber CD and limited numbers will be available for the fans… I also expect the fans will get the multitrack recording of the Lygtens Kro gig as well (this was also filmed). It is also possible, I get finished the DVD from the Winter Jazz festival 2022 in Copenhagen.
We will likely also have another studio album out later in the year, either from the new session or one called Progably you´re Wrong, from the 2022-23 sessions. We will see..
We were trying to set up a tour in Sept down to Italy and back but this has failed. It is still possible we will do a weekend of gigs Sept 4-6th. We will see.. It is nearly impossible to set up a tour anymore. Sadly…
Who knows what else might pop up. Jonathan will have gigs with Camper van Beethoven in the USA this year, probably 10 more albums with Astral Magic and other cool collaborations. Dr Space, will have another Alien Planet Trip volume, perhaps another solo CD, Doctors of Space will have two CDs……
Thanks for all the support, you folks are what keeps me alive….. getting the guys together and making music for us and the fans..
Posted in Reviews on November 1st, 2024 by JJ Koczan
The oeuvre of Portugal-based interstellar synthlord Dr. Space expands like the universe itself; it spreads farther at a seemingly increasing rate, propelled by intangible forces. Known best for his work in the multinational Øresund Space Collective, as well as Black Moon Circle and contributions to albums dating back decades at this point, various collaborations like West, Space and Love with current and former members of Siena Root or his work with New Zealand’s Craig Williamson just this year on Lamp of the Universe Meets Dr. Space‘s Enters Your Somas (review here). He even had a column here when that was a thing. Sometimes it’s an ongoing project, sometimes it’s a one-off, but it’s almost always something, and what that ethic has allowed Dr. Space — né Scott Heller — to do is amass a multicontextual, highly varied catalog that nonetheless unites around the theme of exploration.
His latest three offerings — and I say that tentatively because you never really know when the next one is coming — are Dr. Space’s Alien Planet Trip Vol. 8 – Space With Bass IV: Purple Rose Powder, part of two series subset to his solo work, the new Dr. Space-proper LP, Music to Disappear To, with its striking cover art above, and the collaborative Doctors of Space‘s Wisdom of Clowns, which pairs Heller with guitarist/synthesist Martin Weaver (Wicked Lady) for two-plus hours of cosmic outreach, and something you need to understand is that most of what they are is ‘latest.’
I don’t mean that to take away from the music being made — period — or the admirable and raw creativity that Heller‘s output so reliably displays, whether it’s full-band improv psych or the throbbing drones, pulsations and synth sweeps of “Life is Hell” (20:01) setting a somewhat darker tone for the start of Music to Disappear To but finding solace in a second-half organ solo, singing bowls and other gleeful plays with arrangement before the despondent and somewhat vague spoken word returns. But they happen to be three albums that, between them, emphasize divergent influences and aspects of (some of) what Dr. Space does, and they’re roughly concurrent in all being released the same month. So far as I know and as the music indicates, there’s nothing directly tying them together. They’re not a series, they’re just the three records — maybe not even the only three — that Dr. Space put out in October. That and the differentiation of intent behind them are why they’re being grouped together now.
As noted, Music to Disappear To begins with “Life is Hell,” and that song is an encompassing improv manifesto of sound recorded throughout 2023 unfolding over multiple movements. Whatever Heller felt needed to be said — literally spoken — on it, it’s hard to decipher as his voice is buried in the mix and effects are all around, etc., but it’s worth noting that’s the only time anything is said on the album at all. “Life is Hell” is the opener and longest track (immediate points), and a focal point that defines the mood of what follows in “Smile and Rotate” (17:02), “Music to Disappear To” (14:54) and “Frozen Hypothalamus Pie” (15:02), even as each takes off on its own experimental sojourn.
“Smile and Rotate” gradually evolves from minimal drone to stark and lonely synthesizer boops to something that makes that same melancholia dance, while the title-track lives up to its name in its initial low tone and static noise — lest we forget that the force accelerating the expansion of the universe is called ‘dark energy’ — turning sci-fi in the midsection but holding that undertone until the final sweep. The evocation of ice in “Frozen Hypothalamus Pie” is a clever suggestion to suit the keyboardy sound, probably a reference, but doesn’t necessarily account for the tape-loop-sounding experimentation of the middle third or the conversation that seems to be happening perhaps between neurons as much as different vintage synthesizers. It is both Music to Disappear To and the place into which one might, at least for an hour, escape and find comfort.
Dr. Space’s Alien Planet Trip Vol. 8 Space With Bass IV: Purple Rose Powder tells you at least part of what you need to know right off. It’s Space, with bass. Where Music to Disappear To was entirely solo, Space With Bass IV pairs Heller with Hasse Horrigmoe as collaborator on a 2023 recording across four pieces: “Draptomaniac” (13:02), “Slowker” (6:49), “Purple Rose Powder” (32:11) and “Surfing the Sea of Bass” (13:31), the last of which was tracked remotely between the two earlier this year. Horrigmoe is a regular feature in Øresund Space Collective and was a founding member of Tangle Edge in Norway; this is by no means his first Alien Planet Trip, and he’s been involved in Doctors of Space on multiple sessions as well, including Wisdom of Clowns.
The chemistry and fluidity as “Draptomaniac” evolves is palpable. Horrigmoe and Heller are each on their own journey, but they remain complementary in sound between loops and effects and other spacey noisemakings, and “Draptomaniac” fills in space that the subsequent “Slowker,” aberrantly brief but not unprecedentedly so at six minutes, leaves open with a slow-undulating windy swirl behind the quiet bassline. As he does at several points across these records, Dr. Space ends “Slowker” by pushing the synth forward, creating more of a wash, then bringing everything down together, and his doing so reminds of the instrumental role the studio itself plays in making this material, which is inevitably carved out of longer stretches of jamming and improvisation.
“Purple Rose Powder” is inevitably a standout, being practically a full-length EP unto itself, but it is appreciable more for genuinely being a single work, a linear progression happening between movements of synth, loops, effects and I don’t know what. It is proggy and patient in kind, and it earns the choral mellotronic sounds of its finish, the bass once again receding at the end. And the recorded-later “Surfing the Sea of Bass” takes a line from Harrigmoe as its center and follows where the groove wants to go, in this case out over a shimmering ocean. Dr. Space‘s 2023 offering, Suite for Orchestra of Marine Mammals (review here) or Doctors of Space‘s earlier 2024 release, Adventures in the Deep Dark Seas of Sound, feel like relevant touchstones, but if it’s warm vibe you want, it’s there for the taking. If it’s Dr. Space‘s watery period, fair enough.
As they’ve moved away from recording and putting out monthly jams in the raw and more toward building those jams into improv-based studio albums, Doctors of Space have flourished as a project. Heller‘s approach is consistently malleable to those with whom he’s collaborating. Horrigmoe returns on Wisdom of Clowns, as noted, but what began as the duo of Martin Weaver and Dr. Space has let its growth and evolution play out almost in real time through their steady string of releases, and the textures the three players conjure on the opening “Wisdom of Clowns” (21:22), “Needs of the One” (38:44), which would be a highlight even if it wasn’t a Star Trek reference, “Mystic Challenger” (27:27), “Ascari” (20:10), and the concluding, indeed funkified “Dance Floor Hit (For Freaky Creatures)” (21:41) provide worlds to get lost in, whether they’re more active, like “Needs of the One,” which has a beat to remind you krautrock invented New Wave, or “Mystic Challenger,” which has an almost Nintendoan — if more manic — feel in its second half. It’s a ways from chiptune space rock, but pretty darn close to cosmic dub.
Coming in ahead of party time in “Dance Floor Hit (For Freaky Creatures),” the penultimate “Ascari” builds on some of the midi-type stylizations in “Mystic Challenger.” After opening with a proggier wash of synth and guitar/bass, the song brings looped synthesizer chime sounds ahead of the strummed repetitions, the concluding organ and synth not quite a bookend because the guitar started out, but a smooth shift into the organ that begins the closer. The beat kicks in before “Dance Floor Hit (For Freaky Creatures)” is 30 seconds old, and it treats funk with an oldschool-prog reverence. The groove becomes a sacred thing, and Weaver seems a bit to honor Eddie Hazel in the midsection burner of a solo without giving up a mellow sensibility or the flow of the rhythm behind it. Even weirdos gotta boogie. It’s as fitting an ending as one might ask, a reminder that it’s okay to have a good time as you plunge deeper into the outer recesses of the sonic unknown.
On some level, that is what’s happening on each of these releases. Heller under the guise of Dr. Space is well familiar in this terrain and as a veteran player, bandleader and producer, wields the power of suggestion as a part of an expansive and growing aesthetic, while adventures in arrangement continue to push the scope of ‘his thing,’ in terms of sound. A given listener might find themselves transported to other places by this material than what I’ve described here, might hear something else in it. I don’t think that’s wrong. When you make as much room for the audience to dwell in the material as Heller, Horrigmoe and Weaver craft on Wisdom of Clowns, Horrigmoe and Heller bring together for Purple Rose Powder and Heller fosters solo on Music to Disappear To, it should be no surprise that people will have their own interpretations.
Dr. Space, Music to Disappear To (2024)
Dr. Space’s Alien Planet Trip Vol. 8 – Space With Bass IV: Purple Rose Powder (2024)
Why not begin with surf guitar? For Øresund Space Collective‘s first outing to be released through The Laser’s Edge, reportedly their 44th full-length overall — I trust Dr. Space‘s count and you should too — and somewhere right around their 30th studio album, the multinational cosmoglomerate Øresund Space Collective are characteristically all-in and working toward a singular aural ideal. The destination, as ever, is the heart of creativity itself. The spark of inspiration put to tape. A spacewalk into the unknown.
Orgone Unicorn would seem to have been produced in the same 2022 sessions that resulted in 2023’s Everyone is Evil (review here), with a lineup no less expansive than its matter/antimatter space rocking sprawl, including Luis Simões from Lisbon’s Saturnia on guitar, gong and other noises, Martin Weaver of heavy ’70s rockers Wicked Lady handling drum machines and synth, classical sitarist KG Westman (ex-Siena Root), who adds yet more synth, as well as regular features like guitarist/violinist Jonathan Segel, bassist Hasse Horrigmoe, synthesist Scott “Dr. Space” Heller, mentioned above, drummer and percussionist Mattias Olsson and Larry Lush, who contributes Fender Rhoads and, like Heller, Westman and Olsson, takes a turn on mellotron. In its double-CD edition, Orgone Unicorn runs seven songs and an ‘evening with’-style two-plus hours — the 2LP drops “Red Panda in Rhodes” (3:52) and “David Graham’s Wormhole Ride” (17:34) from the procession — but as ever for Øresund Space Collective, the experience is less about the time you spend as measured in earthly minutes than the places the music takes you, and even on their own scale, Orgone Unicorn is out. there. Like, way out there.
To wit, the opening “Skin Walker” (25:35) shifting from its noted surfy vibe into a roiling proggy unfurling, snare tapping away as guitar and various synthesizers engage the antigravs and do somersaults in midair. As one of four pieces over 20 minutes long, I’d say “Skin Walker” sets the tone, but the truth is that works like “Orgone Unicorn” (22:35), “Kraut Toe Trip” (27:36) and the closing “Omnia Magnifico” (20:57) — as well as “Enos Donut” (18:01) and “David Graham’s Wormhole Ride” — are their own exploratory voyages. Listeners experienced in Øresund Space Collective‘s methodology should have little trouble going along for the ride, but the new label probably means that Orgone Unicorn will be a first trip for some, and there’s nothing like a headfirst dive as organic and electronic blend of violin and keys that come together throughout “Enos Donut” or in the mostly-drumless initial stretch of “Kraut Toe Trip” where the bassline becomes the only thing tethering the floating wash of synth to what we probably-incorrectly call reality.
Resoundingly strange and unique in their unflinching commitment to improvisation, Øresund Space Collective are able to go places most ‘regular bands’ wouldn’t dare, and they do, regularly. But they don’t always dwell in the way they do in “Enos Donut,” and Orgone Unicorn is stronger for the fluidity that develops. Instrumental in its entirety — as usual — it’s not one to put on if you’re looking for hits or catchy tunes for top-down summer drives, but as the title-track introduces Fender Rhodes — whether it’s Segel or Lush handling it, I don’t know — alongside Westman‘s sitar, it’s a reminder of how unto-themselves Øresund Space Collective are in terms of sound, how open their process remains, and how special the results of that process can be and regularly are. For them, it’s another day at the office. For you, it’s your brain melted into a mystical acidic goo. So let’s say perspective matters, as is more or less true in all things.
But if you want to expand your mind, broaden horizons, reshape that perspective, even the sub-four-minute throb of “Red Panda in Rhodes” is ready to assist like it’s just waiting for a Carl Sagan voiceover to start describing the nature of the universe — there is some speech at the end, as at the start of “Skin Walker,” but it’s more like in-studio chatter; I won’t call it incidental because it’s probably there on purpose — and it’s backed by the echo-laced solo and proggy underlying rhythm of “David Graham’s Wormhole Ride.” There’s a shift in the recording sound — maybe it was another day — but the apparent vibe is closer to Øresund Space Collective‘s on-stage work than, say, “Enos Donut,” until the drums drop out, maybe just to figure out where everything’s headed, and the wash of synth and guitar meanders into the unknown.
Mellotron rises at around four and a half minutes in and is sweetly wistful amid all the background microwave radiation, and before long, “David’s Graham Wormhole Ride” has smoothed itself out into a fluid movement that holds until weirding out its last couple minutes, resolving in bleeps and bloops on a fade to let the Rhodes introduce “Kraut Toe Trip” as the longest single piece here, distinguished in mood patient, patient, patient as it takes its own time in the initial unfolding to move into punchy jabs of distant-planet boogie that serve as the foundation for the development of the next movement. Of course, there’s more going on at any given moment than one thing, but “Omnia Magnifico” caps with a persistent electronic beat that stands it out from its surroundings while, by its very divergence, remaining consistent in its purpose with the material prior.
The real-world context of Orgone Unicorn being the band’s label-debut on The Laser’s Edge gives the album a landmark feeling, but the truth of the listening experience is richer than that. It feels purposeful in how it centers around longform construction — nothing new for the band, but the after-the-fact editing process gives these songs a kind of thematic shape despite the variety of arrangements and players at work across the span — and that defines a persona to coincide with the immersion of the audio itself. As with much in the sphere (amorphous, self-reshaping polygon?) of jam-based psychedelic music, Orgone Unicorn is less about where it ends up than going with it on the way there, but that trip through undiscovered ground is vibrant, and if it’s to be someone’s first time embracing an Øresund Space Collective release — no minor undertaking, in texture or time — they could hardly ask for a better introduction 44 offerings later.
Posted in Questionnaire on July 15th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
The Obelisk Questionnaire is a series of open questions intended to give the answerer an opportunity to explore these ideas and stories from their life as deeply as they choose. Answers can be short or long, and that reveals something in itself, but the most important factor is honesty.
Based on the Proust Questionnaire, the goal over time is to show a diverse range of perspectives as those who take part bring their own points of view to answering the same questions. To see all The Obelisk Questionnaire posts, click here.
Thank you for reading and thanks to all who participate.
The Obelisk Questionnaire: Hasse Horrigmoe of Øresund Space Collective
—
How do you define what you do and how did you come to do it?
Well, I’m a musician, so I play, practice, compose, mix. It seemed to come by a coincidence when I was 16-17, but I don’t think it was when I, in retrospect, observe the impact it had in my life. I was a manic music fan and by chance ended up in the same class in high school as a guy who was able to show me how to improvise the blues scale over a song I knew.
Describe your first musical memory.
Getting great kicks from children’s songs when I was growing up.
Describe your best musical memory to date.
Hard to say… for my own activities; Tangle Edge 1983. Otherwise; concerts with Magma in Oslo 2007 and Genesis in Gothenburg 1976, with Bill Bruford, of course. Numerous listens to records…
When was a time when a firmly held belief was tested?
In music; playing with Tangle Edge in 1983, when we stretched boundaries for what we thought was possible or even existing. In life; through a Kriya-yoga esoteric course.
Where do you feel artistic progression leads?
To somewhere that already exists, but unfolds as the end place of the journey you started with an idea.
How do you define success?
I haven’t been interested in commercial success, so for me it is artistic development, especially being able to finish ideas through recordings, but also in live situations.
What is something you have seen that you wish you hadn’t?
The 1980s.
Describe something you haven’t created yet that you’d like to create.
Recording a solo album with material of a certain kind that I have never executed before.
What do you believe is the most essential function of art?
To lift the human spirit to a finer perception.
Something non-musical that you’re looking forward to?
Posted in Whathaveyou on May 27th, 2024 by JJ Koczan
If you’d asked — and you didn’t, I realize — I probably would have put multinational cosmic conglomerate Øresund Space Collective north of 44 albums at this point, but I guess that’s the official count so I’m not about to argue. The improv-minded space jammers have signed to the reactivated The Laser’s Edge to release their new album, Orgone Unicorn, on July 26. Øresund Space Collective with, like, a release date? And a PR wire press release announcing it? Weird.
Given the personnel assembled for Orgone Unicorn, it’s even easier to look forward to the album. The sitar of KG Westman (formerly Siena Root), Wicked Lady‘s Martin Weaver adding drum machine, Saturnia founder Luis Simões adding guitar (and gong!) to the proceedings, along with Scott “Dr. Space” Heller‘s core synth and a cast of familiar/veteran characters jamming out across two LPs, and it’s backed by an outside label? Good for them, man. I don’t know if The Laser’s Edge is going to put out like five Øresund Space Collective and related-project releases a year, but it’s pretty cool to see a band who’ve been around for 18 years get picked up like newbies, and I hope the record does well for them. I generally consider writing about Øresund Space Collective a favor to myself, a chance to depart into pure vibe, so yeah, I’ll likely have more to come on Orgone Unicorn.
Looking forward to it:
ØRESUND SPACE COLLECTIVE: Prolific Scandinavian Instrumental Prog/Jazz Collective Signs With Laser’s Edge; Band’s 44th Title, Orgone Unicorn, To See July 26th Release + Video Clip And Preorders Posted
The progressive music authorities at Laser’s Edge have signed prolific Scandinavian instrumental improvisational progressive/space-jazz group ØRESUND SPACE COLLECTIVE for the release of the band’s impressive forty-fourth title, Orgone Unicorn. Confirming the mammoth album for release July 26th, the label today issues the cover art, preorders, and a video clip taken from the title track.
Founded in 2006 by Scott Heller, aka Dr. Space, ØRESUND SPACE COLLECTIVE is based primarily out of København, Denmark, with roots across Scandinavia, Portugal, and more. A supergroup of sorts, the members of this expansive entity come from a wide array of Scandinavian rock groups, including The Carpet Knights (SE), Mantric Muse (DK), Bland Bladen (SE), Gas Giant (DK), Hooffoot (SE), First Band From Outer Space (SE), Siena Root (SE), My Brother The Wind (SE), Agusa (SE), Tangle Edge (NO), The Univerzals (DK), Papir (DK), Black Moon Circle (NO), among many others.
In 2012, prominent Danish guitarist Claus Bøhling (Hurdy Gurdy, Secret Oyster) played with ØRESUND SPACE COLLECTIVE both live and on three studio albums. In 2018, the band was joined by guitarist Martin Weaver (Dark, Wicked Lady), and 2022 saw the addition of amazing multi-instrumentalists, Mattias Olsson (Ånglagård, Molesome) and Luis Simões (Saturnia).
An exciting live act that always gets the crowd moving and dancing to the improvised progressive grooves, ØRESUND SPACE COLLECTIVE has played well-over one hundred concerts in ten countries. The band has performed at numerous European festivals including the Copenhagen Jazz Festival three times, Kildemose Festival many times, Roadburn Festival, Space Rock Odyssey, Slotsskogen Goes Progressive, Space Force 1, Psychedelic Network, Occultrance Festival, Freak Valley Festival, Burg Herzberg, Roskilde Festival, and Reverence Festival, and even made it to North America to play Psycho Las Vegas.
In their eighteen years of existence thus far, ØRESUND SPACE COLLECTIVE has amassed thirty-two studio albums and twelve live albums, and more. Initially releasing their music through the Swedish label Transubstans, they’ve subsequently partnered with an array of labels, eventually forming their own Space Rock Productions label through which most of their albums over the past several years were released.
Following their illustrious Everyone Is Evil album, released in May of 2023, ØRESUND SPACE COLLECTIVE arrives with their monolithic forty-fourth title Orgone Unicorn, their first for The Laser’s Edge Group. Orgone Unicorn features many of the musicians who played on Everyone Is Evil, with Mattias Olsson, Jonathan Segel (ex-Camper Van Beethoven), Larry Lush, Martin Weaver, Luis Simões, Hasse Horrigome, and KG Westman, joining Scott Heller. The record courses with surreal space passages, with a dark, proggy mood. Along with the array of guitars, bass, synths, keys, mellotron, and more used throughout the record, the percussion showcases interplay between drums, gong, and drum machines.
Recorded at Éstudio Paraíso Nas Nuvens in Central Portugal, Orgone Unicorn was engineered by Larry Lush and Dr Space, mixed and mastered by Jonathan Segel and Dr Space, and completed with cover art by David Graham of Moonboy Art. The 2xLP version comprises five songs, while the 2xCD and digital versions feature two additional songs not on the vinyl – including extended versions of several of the songs – which culminate into an engulfing two hours and sixteen minutes of music.
Laser’s Edge Group founder Ken Golden states, “I’ve been following Scott Heller and the all-star ØRESUND SPACE COLLECTIVE for years. In my mind, they are the premier space rock ensemble. It’s a thrill for us to reactivate our Laser’s Edge label with Orgone Unicorn. Space is the place!”
Scott Heller adds, “It is an honor for ØRESUND SPACE COLLECTIVE to join the ranks of the many great bands that are or have been on Lasers Edge. Great to work with Ken, whom I have known for many, many years. I hope the fans will enjoy this new adventure in sound, as we continue to push totally improvised music into weird and wonderful places.”
A portion of the title track to ØRESUND SPACE COLLECTIVE’s Orgone Unicorn has been issued through a surreal and captivating video clip created by Batu Bintas (Imaginatrix), now playing.
Orgone Unicorn 2xLP Track Listing: Side A Skin Walker Side B Eno´s Donut Orgone Unicorn Side C Kraut Toe Trip Side D Omnia Magnifico
Orgone Unicorn 2xCD Track Listing: CD1 1. Skin Walker 2. Eno’s Donut 3. Orgone Unicorn 4. Red Panda In Rhodes CD2 1. David Graham´s Wormhole Ride 2. Kraut Toe Trip 3. Omnia Magnifico
ØRESUND SPACE COLLECTIVE on Orgone Unicorn: Mattias Olsson – drums, congas, mellotron, Poly D Jonathan Segel – guitar, slide guitar, violin, Fender Rhodes Martin Weaver – Microfreek and Roland drum machines Luis Simões – gong, guitar, noise box Hasse Horrigmoe – bass Larry Lush – Fender Rhodes, mellotron KG Westman – sitar; mellotron, synths Dr. Space – Hammond, Mellotron, Modular Synth, Octave Cat, ARP Odyssey, Poly D
Posted in audiObelisk on February 23rd, 2024 by JJ Koczan
It doesn’t take long on Live @ Club Void Effenaar 23-3-23 before you’re in the room. You can hear voices in the crowd as Dutch instrumental improvisationalists DUNDDW begin to unfold their set, soon enough to be joined by Scott “Dr. Space” Heller (Øresund Space Collective, Doctors of Space, Black Moon Circle, solo work, etc.) expanding the trio as a four-piece with a guest spot on synth after about 12 minutes in, some comment and a chuckle as things mellow and space way, way out thereafter in the jam’s dreamier midsection, and so on.
The LP-length single-song set is out today as an independent release from DUNDDW, for whom it follows a 2023 split with Kombynat Robotron (review here) and their 2022 debut, Flux (review here), and the occasion that brought Heller from Portugal to the Netherlands was Black Moon Circle touring to support their 2023 LP, the expansive Leave the Ghost Behind (review here). Held weekly in the smaller room at the legendary Effenaar in Eindhoven (and no, it’s not just legendary because I saw Motorpsycho there one time, though that’d be enough in my head), ‘Club Void’ is a series of shows put together by the venue’s Robert Schaeffer as well as Paul van Berlo of the Into the Void Festival (also Loud Noise Booking) and Peter van Elderen, formerly the vocalist of Peter Pan Speedrock. All of these are endorsements that, existentially speaking, are good to have.
But DUNDDW have been pretty well encouraged since their outset bringing bassist Huibert der Weduwen and drummer Peter Dragt of Bismut together with Mt. Echo‘s Gerben Elburg on guitar for pointedly exploratory purposes, and the flow they conjure throughout Live @ Club Void Effenaar 23-3-23 presents a vivid picture of why for listeners who haven’t had the chance to actually see them. The cosmic adventure is mellow in spirit on the whole, but communal in a way that feels active, and inviting in tone and groove. Dropping nearly to silence at times, it represents well the conversation happening on stage as the sounds were being made, while allowing the audience and the LP-listener space to put themselves in the moment. In the initial build-up, DUNDDW work their way into a voluminous build, guitar signaling volume changes as they ooze past nine minutes, and when Dr. Space hops on board after (or maybe during) the ensuing wash a short time later, the proceedings get duly hyperspatial.
They drift and reorient, finding a new path with the four of them on the stage, and gradually the float becomes more driving, pushing into intense space rock before noising out behind the waves of Heller‘s synth with Dragt‘s crash and tom fills marking the end of that movement circa 26:30 and the beginning of the final cycle of ebbs and flows, more solidified in their purpose than they were only minutes before, but clearly having learned from the second part of the jam. Keep an ear out for bells, which you might just hear in that last stretch if they, it, or anything actually exists, and know that DUNDDW save their most fervent push for the crescendo, and that the experience of getting there is as much the point as the big finish and ringout itself.
Live @ Club Void Effenaar 23-3-23 isn’t intended to be some grand statement. At its heart, it’s a bootleg-style outing that captures one night among many DUNDDW went on stage and did what they do. This, coupled with the Heller collaboration that stands it out among other gigs, is the appeal. It would be ridiculous if DUNDDW did some hyper-produced live record. They might as well go to a studio and jam out an new LP if they’re going to spend the time and money. But here, they express the sense of journey from one end of this massive piece to the other, while also conveying their root ethic of commitment to organically capturing the creative moment as it happens. For that, Live @ Club Void Effenaar 23-3-23 offers resonance even beyond that of its echoing final tones.
Again, it’s out today, so by all means, dig in below and enjoy. Some PR wire-type info follows:
Friday, February 23rd, we (Dutch improv instrumental spacerock band DUNDDW) will digitally release a 40 minute jam we played last year at Club Void in The Netherlands. Around 17 minutes in Dr. Space – aka Scott Heller from Øresund Space Collective, Black Moon Circle a.o. – joins in on the jam.
Says DUNDDW: ” We really felt the flow during this jam. It builds up in three waves, with Dr. Space joining in about halfway through with some great synths, bells and spacy genius.”
Says Dr. Space: “I’ve been friends with the guys in Bismut, and DUNDDW invited me to jam with them and it was fun. Sure we will do it again. Great guys.”
DUNDDW is a 100% improvising, instrumental spacerock/krautrock trio from The Netherlands, with members from Bismut and Mt. Echo. Their first full length album Flux was released in November 2022. In June 2023 they released a split vinyl LP with German krautrock band Kombynat Robotron. February 2024 marks the release of a live jam they played in 2023, with Dr. Space joining in.
DUNDDW = Peter Dragt – Drums Huibert der Weduwen – Bass Gerben Elburg – Guitars
Posted in Bootleg Theater on October 13th, 2023 by JJ Koczan
Sometimes, at the end of a perfectly wretched week, there’s nothing like putting on some Øresund Space Collective and letting your head go for a little while. The long-running psych improvisationalists will celebrate their 20th anniversary in 2024, and Helsingør — the live album above named for the city in Denmark where it was recorded — sees them characteristically, fully, awesomely dug into their craft. With opener “The Key of Secrets” and the charmingly-named “Technical Problems” both topping 20 minutes, immersion is quick and comprehensive, and if there are actually issues in the latter, I’m not sure where. Certainly you wouldn’t say anything is holding them back over the course of that 22 minutes.
Helsingør was recorded by Patrik Barrsäter in Oct. 2021 as one of three gigs in Scandinavia undertaken by Øresund Space Collective, who despite being named after a city in Denmark have ranged geographically far enough — synthesist and bandleader Scott “Dr. Space” Heller has his Estúdio paraíso nas Nuvens where this stuff is mixed, and others in the consistently rotating lineup come from Belgium, Germany, Sweden, etc. — that one wouldn’t necessarily think of Helsingør as a homecoming, especially since, as Dr. Space notes between songs in “Just Fucking Go,” they’d never played there before. In any case, as one of three shows in that run, the nearly-two-and-a-half-hour set isn’t the first live album Øresund Space Collective have put out from the same time. Their Høstsabbat 2021 live release showed up in March ahead of their latest studio work, Everyone is Evil (review here), both of which along with Helsingør and just about everything else the band does most of the time comes out through Heller‘s Space Rock Productions imprint.
And if two live albums out of three shows — the first date was in Malmö, Sweden; I don’t know if it will be released or not, but if it was, you know what that means: 10LP box set! — tells you anything, it’s that the band was locked in and they knew it. Sure enough, Jiri Jon Hjorth‘s bass turns the 13-minute “Wiggle Waggle Shake That Funky Thing” into much more of an embodiment of its title than was “Technical Problems,” and with regular features in the band like Hjorth, synthesist Mogens Pedersen, guitarist/violinist Jonathan Segel and Heller himself, along with Nicola on guitar and Marten on drums, the chemistry in the explorations — which I’ll just note for emphasis are made up on the frickin’ spot — shouldn’t be understated or taken for granted. Apparently filmed and available as a multi-cam DVD, Helsingør follows its course through two full sets and only grows more lysergic as “Wiggle Waggle Shake That Funky Thing” gives over to the half-hour of cosmic adventuring they decided at some point to call “Sailing Eastward,” Heller noting at the outset that the first set was funky — true — and they were going to get trippier.
Fair enough since they do. In most contexts, “Sailing Eastward” would be a full-length on its own, and it follows a complete front-to-back progression from its unfolding through the proggy noodling of the midsection, the drum pickup circa 17 minutes in and the build into space-jamming that rolls out from there. Like the universe itself, Øresund Space Collective work on a different scale of patience, and sometimes just a flourish of guitar, bass, keys, synth, violin, a cymbal crash or whatever it might be, can spark an entire shift in where they’re headed. For being “more acidic,” there’s plenty of funk in “Sailing Eastward” — sometimes the groove can’t be denied — and they balance that late in the track with the guitar solo running overhead with warm and psychedelic tonality. When they arrive at the end with the drums bashing away, everyone seems to know it. “I think he almost knocked me off the stage,” says Heller of Marten‘s drums.
A second round of band intros — it’s a second set — shifts into the final two songs of Helsingør, which also happen to comprise just about the last hour of the “evening with” runtime. Keys open “Moody Mother” (25:00) and remain prominent in the opening section, but over the steady playfulness of the mellow-swinging drums, guitars and bass are not at all forgotten. Mellotron sounds after 10:30 or so might be the source of the title, but it’s a languid nod until about 20 minutes when the swirling solo mixed probably lower than it was in real life (but is nonetheless well placed) provides the drums a chance to take off at a speedier clip, which they do, rallying everyone on stage to the linear purpose of an apex. All of this communication happens without words, organically in the music. It’s what Øresund Space Collective do. It is no small part of what makes them such a comforting listen.
They’re also not perfect and they’ve never been, which in my head just makes them a better band for the lack of pretense. “Moody Mother” courses smoothly, though, and caps in a dream-drone of synth and keys and guitar before Heller implores the crowd to tell their friends and asks if they want one more. “We’ve only played two hours? Okay, we can play some more.” Laughs and applause, thanks in Danish.
That “some more” turns into the 35-minute “The Never Ending Trip,” which is just going to take its time, alright? Yes? Good. Take a breath. There’s some keys, some guitar, some effects on the violin, the drums not trying to bother anybody but they gotta move a bit with the bass. Segel‘s violin takes on an almost Yawning Man winding sensibility atop the rhythmic jabs, but they’re having fun and you can tell. They let the piece take shape as it will and then set out with it, not quite sure where they’ll land and maybe even actually okay with that — which I feel like is as admirable as an ethic as any of the actual sounds they make are — but finding serenity, scorch, bop and drift along the way, the latter of those holding sway for a long stretch after about 25 minutes in until in just the last stretch, the guitar returns with a definitive strum and the synth and bass move toward it. Long gone are the drums. Long gone is earth. Synth and keys bring down “The Never Ending Trip” as everyone seems to wonder for a second if the jam is really done, and then yes, it is, with one more ‘tusen takk’ (‘thank you very much’) for good measure.
I’ve written a fair amount about Øresund Space Collective and/or related projects over the years and I don’t regret any of it. They are among the bands on earth I most feel a void at having never seen live, but we live in a universe of infinite possibilities and face an unknowable future, so I may yet get there. And I’ve no doubt I’ll be writing about them again at some point as they celebrate their 20th anniversary — even if they don’t put out one, two, three, maybe four releases in the next 12 months, there’s always plenty of back catalog to dive into — but to my ears, Helsingør puts emphasis on the personality and character of what they do and the multi-hued dynamic that makes their work so resonant. I wanna live on this wavelength.
As always, I hope you enjoy. Thanks for reading.
—
Just in case it didn’t come through in the first sentence of the post, the week sucked. I spent Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday home with a sick kid out of school who was extra miserable even before throwing up all over the couch yesterday morning. It has been a deeply unpleasant time. Also we need a new couch.
I had intended to review the Mondo Drag album — which I’m pretty sure came out in fucking August — for this Wednesday. I got about a third into it early Tuesday morning and it’s been there ever since. When I’ve had the energy, I haven’t had the time. Yesterday there was a premiere scheduled and today I had two, one of which I nearly forgot about since I hadn’t even had the chance to put it in the notes doc by which I manage the whats and whens of this site.
Throw this on top the garbage pile that is my mental state, and yes, I did spend a decent portion of yesterday evening imagining ways to off myself in the garage. I could go on about that. Yes, I’m in the market for a therapist. See “time,” above. Anybody know an LCSW who likes riffs? Would be amazing to speak to somebody who could know what I mean when I talk about feeling more doomed than Conan on tour with Sunn O))). Speak the language, etc.
I did an interview earlier this week with Scott Spiers who runs Cleanandsoberstoner. He’s an addiction counselor, which I guess makes the name of his site make sense. We met at Desertfest New York and it was great to talk shop for a while, chat about favorite bands, new albums, all that stuff past and present. I went on. He was saying he wanted to run it as a two-parter, which I’d imagine will change once he edits it and sees how many times I lose my train of thought. There’s also a definite chance I called him Chris as I had brainfarted and was thinking of a childhood friend he reminded me of. I’m kind of a wreck right now and probably shouldn’t have done the interview in the first place, but, well, one doesn’t always make the best decisions for oneself when ‘in it’ as I seem to be. Anyway. He called me “mercurial,” which I think just meant “busy,” and “very private,” which was interesting since I had talked about being bulimic a little bit before and got to shout that out for comic effect. If and when it gets posted, I’ll share.
The Pecan is back in school today. We sent her in coughing and complaining about having to carry her backpack, so I expect it will be a banner morning on her end too. Next weekend we’re having a big birthday party for her turning six. You should come. Seriously. If you’re reading this and want to hang, you’re invited. It’d be nice to have someone there to talk music. If you don’t have my email or we’re not connected on social media or whatever, the contact form is right there. “DM for address,” in the parlance of our times. Bring the kids. We’ll have a bounce house and they can meet the puppy. I’ll probably spend most of the day doing dishes, which is fine.
But that’s on the other end of next week. Between now and then will I ever finish that fucking Mondo Drag review? Hard maybe. Every day next week is booked as well, with full album streams for The Spacelords and Bismut, a video premiere for Vitskär Süden (it’s fun in a Halloweeny kind of way) and a review on Friday for the Howling Giant record that I’ve slated as a favor to myself writing the day before. Thursday might be when Mondo Drag happens, if it does, and that pushes Zone Six to Oct. 30, which is my next open day. I hate fighting with my own schedule, by which I mean I apparently love it since I do it all the time.
Okay. I wish you a great and safe weekend. Have fun, hydrate, stay well, and if you could please keep your eyes open for a small couch somewhere in the neighborhood of 62″ wide (about 1.5 meters), that’d be great, thanks. And one more time, thanks as always for reading. That you might do so is decisive in my mind as to the worthiness of this project.
Welcome back to the Summer 2023 Quarterly Review. I hope you enjoyed the weekend. Today we dig in on the penultimate — somehow my using the word “penultimate” became a running gag for me in Quarterly Reviews; I don’t know how or why, but I think it’s funny — round of 10 albums and tomorrow we’ll close out as we hit the total of 70. Could easily have kept it going through the week, but so it goes. I’ll have more QR in September or October, I’m not sure yet which. It’s a pretty busy Fall.
Today’s a wild mix and that’s what I was hoping for. Let’s go.
Quarterly Review #51-60:
Weite, Assemblage
Founded by bassist Ingwer Boysen (also High Fighter) as an offshoot of the live incarnation of Delving, of which he’s part, Weite release the instrumental Assemblage as a semi-improv-sounding collection of marked progressive fluidity. With Delving and Elder‘s Nick DiSalvo and Mike Risberg in the lineup along with Ben Lubin (Lawns), the story goes that the four-piece got to the studio with nothing/very little, spent a few days writing and recording with the venerable Richard Behrens helming, and Assemblage‘s four component pieces are what came out of it. The album begins with the nine-minutes-each pair of the zazzy-jazzy mover “Neuland,” while “Entzündet” grows somewhat more open, a lead guitar refrain like built around drum-backed drone and keys, swelling in piano-inclusive volume like Crippled Black Phoenix, darker prog shifting into a wash and more freaked-out psych rock. I’m not sure those are real drums on “Rope,” or if they are I’d love to know how the snare was treated, but the song’s a groover just the same, and the 14-minute “Murmuration” is where the styles unite under an umbrella of warm tonality and low key but somehow cordial atmosphere. If these guys want to get together every couple years into perpetuity and bang out a record like this, that’d be fine.
The fourth album from Portland, Oregon’s Mizmor — the solo-project of multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, producer, vocalist, etc.-ist A.L.N. — arrives riding a tsunami of hype and delivers on the band’s long-stated promise of ‘wholly doomed black metal.’ With consuming distortion at its heart from opener/longest track (immediate points) “Only an Expanse” onward, the record recalls the promise of American black metal as looser in its to-tenet conformity than the bulk of Europe’s adherents — of course these are generalizations and I’m no expert — by contrasting it rhythmically with doom, which instead of fully releasing the tension amassed by the scream-topped tremolo riffing just makes it sound more miserable. Doom! “No Place to Arrive” is admirably thick, like noisy YOB on charred ambience, and “Anything But” draws those two sides together in more concise and driving style, vicious and brutal until it cuts in the last minute to quiet minimalism that makes the slam-in crush of 13-minute closer “Acceptance” all the more punishing, with plenty of time left for trades between all-out thrust and grueling plod. Hard to call which side wins the day — and that’s to Mizmor‘s credit, ultimately — but by the end of “Acceptance,” the raging gnash has collapsed into a caldera of harsh sludge, and it no longer matters. In context, that’s a success.
With a couple quick drum taps and a clearheaded strum that invokes the impossible nostalgia of Bruce Springsteen via ’90s alt rock, Netherlands-based The Whims of the Great Magnet strolls casually into “Same New,” the project’s first outing since 2021’s Share My Sun EP. Working in a post-grunge style seems to suit Sander Haagmans, formerly the bassist of Sungrazer and, for a bit, The Machine, as he single-track/double-tracks through the song’s initial verse and blossoms melodically in the chorus, dwelling in an atmosphere sun-coated enough that Haagmans‘ calls it “your new summer soundtrack.” Not arguing, if a one-track soundtrack is a little short. After a second verse/chorus trade, some acoustic weaves in at the end to underscore the laid back feel, and as it moves into the last minute, “Same New” brings back the hook not to drive it into your head — it’s catchy enough that such things aren’t necessary — but to speak to a traditional structure born out of classic rock. It does this organically, with moderate tempo and a warm, engaging spirit that, indeed, evokes the ideal images of the stated season and will no doubt prove comforting even removed from such long, hot and sunny days.
German instrumentalists Sarkh follow their 2020 full-length, Kaskade, with the four-song/31-minute Helios EP, issued through Worst Bassist Records. As with that album, the short-ish offering has a current of progressive metal to coincide with its heavier post-rock affect; “Zyklon” leading off with due charge before the title-track finds stretches of Yawning Man-esque drift, particularly as it builds toward a hard-hitting crescendo in its second half. Chiaroscuro, then. Working shortest to longest in runtime, the procession continues with “Kanagawa” making stark volume trades, growing ferocious but not uncontrolled in its louder moments, the late low end particularly satisfying as it plays off the guitar in the final push, a sudden stop giving 11-minute closer “Cape Wrath” due space to flesh out its middle-ground hypothesis after some initial intensity, the trio of guitarist Ralph Brachtendorf, bassist Falko Schneider and drummer Johannes Dose rearing back to let the EP end with a wash but dropping the payoff with about a minute left to let the guitar finish on its own. Germany, the world, and the universe: none of it is short on instrumental heavy bands, but the purposeful aesthetic mash of Sarkh‘s sound is distinguishing and Helios showcases it well to make the argument.
A 2LP second long-player from mostly-traditionalist doom metallers Spiritual Void, Wayfare seems immediately geared toward surpassing their 2017 debut, White Mountain, in opening with “Beyond the White Mountain.” With a stretch of harsher vocals to go along with the cleaner-sung verses through its 8:48 and the metal-of-eld wail that meets the crescendo before the nodding final verse, they might’ve done it. The subsequent “Die Alone” (11:48) recalls Candlemass and Death without losing the nod of its rhythm, and “Old” (12:33) reaffirms the position, taking Hellhound Records-style methodologies of European trad doom and pulling them across longer-form structures. Following “Dungeon of Nerthus” (10:24) the shorter “Wandering Doom” (5:31) chugs with a swing that feels schooled by Reverend Bizarre, while “Wandersmann” (13:11) tolls a mournful bell at its outset as though to let you know that the warm-up is over and now it’s time to really doom out. So be it. At a little over an hour long, Wayfare is no minor undertaking, but for what they’re doing stylistically, it shouldn’t be. Morose without melodrama, Wayfare sees Spiritual Void continuing to find their niche in doom, and rest assured, it’s on the doomier end. Of doom.
Even when The River make the trade of tossing out the aural weight of doom — the heavy guitar and bass, the expansive largesse, and so on — they keep the underlying structure. The nod. At least mostly. To explain: the long-running UK four-piece — vocalist Jenny Newton, guitarist Christian Leitch (formerly of 40 Watt Sun), bassist Stephen Morrissey and drummer Jason Ludwig — offer a folkish interpretation of doom and a doomed folk on their fourth long-player, the five-song/40-minute A Hollow Full of Hope taking the acoustic prioritizing of a song like “Open” from 2019’s Vessels into White Tides (review here) and bringing it to the stylistic fore on songs like the graceful opener “Fading,” the lightly electric “Tiny Ticking Clocks” rife with strings and gorgeous self-harmonizing from Newton set to an utterly doomed march, or the four-minute instrumental closer “Hollowful,” which is more than an outro if not a completely built song in relation to the preceding pieces. Melodic, flowing, intentional in arrangement, meter, melody. Sad. Beautiful. “Exits” (9:56) and “A Vignette” (10:26) — also the two longest cuts, though not by a ton — are where one finds that heft and the other side of the doom-folk/folk-doom divide, though it is admirable how thin they make that line. Marked progression. This album will take them past their 25th anniversary, and they greet it hitting a stride. That’s an occasion worth celebrating.
Sons of Froglord is the fourth full-length in three years from UK amphibian conceptualist storytellers Froglord, and there’s just about no way they’re not making fun of space rock on “Road Raisin.” “Collapse” grows burly in its hook in the vein of a more rumbling Clutch — and oh, the shenanigans abound! — and there’s a kind of ever-present undercurrent sludgy threat in the more forward push of the glorious anthem to the inanity of career life in “Wednesday” (it doesn’t materialize, but there is a tambourine on “A Swamp of My Own,” so that’s something), but the bulk of the latest chapter in the Froglord tale delivers ’70s-by-way-of-’10s classic heavy blues rock, distinct in its willingness to go elsewhere from and around the boogie swing of “Wizard Gonk” and the fuzzy shuffling foundation of “Garden” at the outset and pull from different eras and subsets of heavy to serve their purposes. “Froglady” is on that beat. On it. And the way “A Swamp of My Own” opens to its chorus is a stirring reminder of the difference drumming can make in elevating a band. After a quick “Closing Ceremony,” they tack on a presumably-not-narrative-related-but-fitting-anyway cover of Creedence Clearwater Revival‘s “Born on the Bayou,” which complements a crash-laced highlight like “The Sage” well and seems to say a bit about where Froglord are coming from as well, i.e., the swamp.
Released digitally with the backing of Abraxas and on CD through Smolder Brains Records, the Cult of Devil Sounds split EP offers two new tracks each from São Paulo, Brazil’s Weedevil and Veraruz, Mexico’s Electric Cult. The former take the A side and fade in on the guitar line “Darkness Inside” with due drama, gradually unfurling the seven-minute doom roller that’s ostensibly working around Electric Wizard-style riffing, but has its own persona in tone, atmosphere and the vocals of Maureen McGee, who makes her first appearance here with the band. The swagger of “Burn It” follows, somewhat speedier and sharper in delivery, with a scorcher solo in its back half, witchy proclamations and satisfying slowdown at the end. Weedevil. All boxes ticked, no question. Check. Electric Cult are rawer in production and revel in that, bringing “Rising From Hell” and “Esoteric Madness” with a more uptempo, rock-ish swing, but moving through sludge and doom by the time the seven minutes of the first of those is done. “Rising From Hell” finishes with ambient guitar, then feedback, which “Esoteric Madness” cuts off to begin with bass; a clever turn. Quickly “Esoteric Madness” grows dark from its outset, pushing into harsh vocals over a slogging march that turns harder-driving with ’70s-via-Church–of–Misery hard-boogie rounding out. That faster finish is a contrast to Weedevil‘s ending slow, and complements it accordingly. An enticing sampler from both.
When I read some article about how the James Webb Space Telescope has looked billions of years into the past chasing down ancient light and seen further toward the creation of the universe than humankind ever before has, I look at some video or other, I should be hearing Dr. Space. I don’t know if the Portugal-based solo artist, synthesist, bandleader, Renaissance man Scott “Dr. Space” Heller (also Øresund Space Collective, Black Moon Circle, etc.) has been in touch with the European Space Agency (ESA) or what their response has been, but even with its organ solo and stated watery purpose, amid sundry pulsations it’s safe to assume the 20-minute title-track “Suite for Orchestra of Marine Mammals” is happening with an orchestra of semi-robot aliens on, indeed, some impossibly distant exoplanet. Heller has long dwelt at the heart of psychedelic improv and the three pieces across the 39 minutes of Suite for Orchestra of Marine Mammals recall classic krautrock ambience while remaining purposefully exploratory. “Going for the Nun” pairs church organ with keyboard before shimmering into proto-techno blips and bloops recalling the Space Age that should’ve had humans on Mars by now, while the relatively brief capper “No Space for Time” — perhaps titled to note the limitations of the vinyl format — still finds room in its six minutes to work in two stages, with introductory chimes shifting toward more kosmiche synth travels yet farther out.
The debut from Santa Fe-based solo drone project Ruiner — aka Zac Hogan, also of Dysphotic, ex-Drought — is admirable in its commitment to itself. Hogan unveils the outfit with The Book of Patience (on Desert Records), an 80-minute, mostly-single-note piece called “Liber Patientiae,” which if you’re up on your Latin, you know is the title of the album as well. With a willfully glacial pace that could just as easily be a parody of the style — there is definitely an element of ‘is this for real?’ in the listening process, but yeah, it seems to be — “Liber Patientiae” evolves over its time, growing noisier as it approaches 55 or so minutes, the distortion growing more fervent over the better part of the final 25, the linear trajectory underscoring the idea that there’s a plan at work all along coinciding with the experimental nature of the work. What that plan might manifest from here is secondary to the “Liber Patientiae” as a meditative experience. On headphones, alone, it becomes an inward journey. In a crowded room, at least at the outset it’s almost a melodic white noise, maybe a little tense, but stretched out and changing but somehow still solid and singular, making the adage that ‘what you put into it is what you get out’ especially true in this case. And as it’s a giant wall of noise, it goes without saying that not everybody will be up for getting on board, but it’s difficult to imagine the opaque nature of the work is news to Hogan, who clearly is searching for resonance on his own wavelength.
In April, we hope to have the new double LP/2CD, Alotta Hella down in Estrela released on Space Rock Productions. The LP features 4 tracks (one is 50mins) and the CD contains 2 bonus tracks (38 mins) not on the LP. It was recorded in the 2022 session in Portugal and features Dr Martin Weaver (Wicked Lady), Luis Simoes (Saturnia), Tim Wallander (Ex-agusa, Ozric Tentacles), Hasse Horrigmoe (Tangle Edge), Jonathan Segel (Camper van Beethoven), Dr Space, Jiri, Mogens and Pär….
up front though as I fucked this one up and send Ruben, who did the amazing video editing job of the show, the wrong mix of the audio so the audio is decent but our amazing drummer Tim is really buried in the mix. The upside is if you are bandcamp subscriber or buy the DVD, you will get the proper audio mix which sounds great.. Sorry, I fucked it up….
Who knows what else might pop up. Jonathan will have gigs with Camper van Beethoven in the USA this year, probably 10 more albums with Astral Magic and other cool collaborations. Dr Space, will have another Alien Planet Trip volume, perhaps another solo CD, Doctors of Space will have two CDs……
