The first time I listened to Astra‘s The Black Chord (review here) was on the plane over to see Desertfest in London and Roadburn this year, and I think probably as a result of that, I’ll always associate the album with the feeling of ascending, climbing into the sky and watching the ground recede below. I like that about the album, and I think the San Diego outfit’s multifaceted approach is suited to that wide open sensibility and the feeling that at any minute it can all come crashing down. Lush but still ultimately fragile.

Word just came down that Astra will make their second Roadburn appearance in 2013 as part of the Afterburner, for which tickets are still available, unlike the fest itself, which sold out within 24 hours. Check it:

Astra confirmed for Roadburn Afterburner

Deeply influenced by the European prog rock bands from the 60s and 70s, Astra blew people away with their Roadburn 2010 performance in support of The Weirding (their much acclaimed debut album) released on Rise Above Records.

Astra have continued to expand their style and grow as a band — as showcased on their sophomore album, The Black Chord — by employing some impressive gear (from Mellotrons to Moogs and Oberheims, and from Hammonds to flutes and 12-string guitars) to back up their intricate songwriting.

With prog rock making its way back, we can hardly wait to welcome Astra back to Roadburn, to massage our ears with their harmonious, melodious and heavenly combination of psychedelia and progressive rock.

Roadburn Festival 2013 will run for four days from Thursday, April 18th to Sunday, April 21st, 2013 (the traditional Afterburner event) at the 013 venue in Tilburg, Holland. Tickets for the Afterburner are still available!

With critics and listeners seemingly already in their corner, San Diego classic space/prog five-piece Astra make a Moog-heavy sophomore outing in the form of The Black Chord. Astra won many ears to their side with 2009’s Rise Above debut, The Weirding (review here), on which they offset retro King Crimson-style melodies with a sense of modern urgency that indeed also shows up throughout the six tracks of the second album. It’s Astra’s balance of old and new that makes their recorded output so fascinating, and as the US has become even more enamored of all things taggable as progressive and/or psychedelic in the last three years – at least in an underground sense – The Black Chord arrives at just the right time and in just the right place for the band to be able to make the most of their songwriting. A returning lineup of Richard Vaughan (vocals/guitar/Moog/mellotron), Conor Riley (mellotron/Moog/organ/piano/vocals), David Hurley (drums/percussion/flute), Brian Ellis (Moog/lead guitar) and Stuart Sclater (bass) is tighter and shows significant growth from the first album, which is appropriate given that in progressive rock one expects a certain amount of progress. That comes in part in the confidence and clarity with which they now handle the melodies, and where The Weirding felt at times like it was trying to throw everything at you all at once, The Black Chord is more patient in its execution and all the more majestic-sounding for that.

In addition, The Black Chord clocks in at a vinyl-ready 47 minutes, where The Weirding topped more than a full hour, so that also lets the songs establish more of their own character without overwhelming a listener’s attention, however fickle it may or may not be. With heavy emphasis on their keys – the Moogs, mellotrons, organs and piano are as much if not more essential to Astra’s sound here as the two guitars – and a solid rhythm section in Sclater and Hurley, The Black Chord is overall striking in its cohesion and flow between songs. Side A is comprised of instrumental opener “Cocoon” (8:43) and the title-track (14:58), which between the two of them account for half the album’s runtime and much of its breadth. One expects from the grandeur with which “Cocoon” gradually unfolds that Astra’s self-indulgence is perhaps going to take over and rule the material, but though both the guitars and the keys enjoy movements of prominence, those come largely in service to the songs themselves rather than any show of technicality. The opener’s groove gradually speeds up, carried forward by the guitar and a synth line of building intensity, but Sclater’s bass maintains a casual feel even as a chase ensues. That’s the first of Astra’s several visits to the Court of the Crimson King on The Black Chord, but they’re likewise enamored of Floyd and that comes through in some of the quieter stretches of the title cut.

Relatively speaking, it’s not long before the vocals kick in on “The Black Chord,” topping piano and bass and establishing a verse progression that’s among the album’s best. At just under 15 minutes, “The Black Chord” is the record’s longest song by more than five, and has a scope to match, showing some eclecticism in its rhythmic bounce – the sounds and jazzy pops of Hurley’s drums account for a decent amount of King Crimson comparisons in themselves – but it’s still the melodies, sudden stops and semi-blown-out “21st Century Schizoid Man”-style vocals that drive the point home. As much as they’ve clearly taken influence from those first couple Crimson records, though, it’s important to note that Astra have worked those elements into something their own even more so on The Black Chord than on The Weirding, a guitar-led passage giving way to an organ solo backed by mellotron washes and a tradeoff between players that’s smooth and natural-sounding. A large instrumental “break” accounts for much of “The Black Chord”’s sprawl, but perhaps in a mode more conscious of their audience, Astra return to the verse and sweet key bounce before developing a kind of routed jam that carries through the last four minutes with a build and payoff worthy of closing out the first half that continues its momentum in the opening “Quake Meat,” which begins to set the tone of side B’s methodology of shorter tracks and a crisper approach of conveying musical ideas. At 6:40, it’s extended compared to some other bands, but in relation to what’s preceded on The Black Chord, it’s practically a radio single.

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Kudos to San Diego retro prog weirdos Astra for going with an orange color scheme. The Frippertastic mellotron-loving five-piece will release their new album, The Black Chord, on March 27 via Rise Above/Metal Blade, and have made available the new track “Quake Meat” for high-def YouTube streaming. Check it out, followed by a little hot PR wire lovin’:

The new track from The Black Chord, “Quake Meat,” can be heard now over at metalblade.com/astra. The Black Chord will be available in North America on March 27. Astra will be hosting an album release show in San Diego on March 16. The show will be at The Casbah with Dead Meadow, The Loons and Joy. The show will also feature visuals by Operation: Mindblown. For more info, check out astratheband.com.

If you missed the last batch, check them out here. Of course, I’m stoked beyond belief that after all the kindness the festival showed in allowing me to show up, drink their beer, eat their food, rock out to their bands and basically pollute their beautiful country with my terrible presence, Roadburn is letting The Obelisk host these audio streams of the 2010 festival performances, which took place April 15-18, at the 013 Popcentrum in Tilburg, The Netherlands. Awesome.

Click the links below to listen:

Sons of Otis live at Roadburn 2010

Eagle Twin live at Roadburn 2010 (Thursday performance)

Eagle Twin live at Roadburn 2010 (Friday performance, featuring Greg Anderson)

LongDistanceCalling live at Roadburn 2010

Astra live at Roadburn 2010

Jex Thoth live at Roadburn 2010

Jex Thoth live at Roadburn Afterburner 2010

Once again, special thanks to Walter and Roadburn for letting me post these links. Please dig into the complete audio stream collection here.

Any fans of King Crimson‘s earliest days and/or the modern mellotron antics of Steven Wilson-era Opeth or Belgian rockers Hypnos 69‘s extra-proggy last record, The Eclectic Measure, will want to catch up with San Diego retro prog (henceforth to be referred to as “reprog” in these pages) containment unit Astra. Their shroomy Rise Above Records debut, The Weirding is a sweetly melodic, intricately-arranged excursion into the ’70s when the ’70s were young and the excesses arena rock had yet to take hold. There are some heavier moments peppered in the longer tracks, mostly arriving after sizeable buildups, but even so, it’s countryside prog all the way.

The five-piece (I can’t even remember the last time I wrote about a band with that many people in it on this site) outfit capture a specific moment in the development of their genre, when certain among the set of acid rockers decided that simply wasn’t smart enough for them, made a left turn and landed square in the midst of technically proficient psychedelic self-indulgence. Guitarists Richard Vaughan (also vocals, mellotron and echoplex), Conor Riley (also vocals, mellotron, “arp odyssey” and organ) and Brian Ellis (also vocals and moog) don’t go overly tech in their six-string work, but Astra, with their abundance of synth atmosphere and encompassing, engaging sound, could easily fall into the category of a kitchen-sink kind of band.

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Los Angeles rural riffers Night Horse, who released their debut EP on Tee Pee not so long ago, are streaming a new song now. Not only that, but San Diego‘s prog specialists Astra have also put up a new track to their MySpace page that comes off their Rise Above debut, The Weirding. Nothing like free goo. Here’s press release excerpts:

Night Horse:
Fresh off the heels of their critically acclaimed EP The Dark Won’t Hide You, Night Horse return with another heavy helping of rockin’ blues ‘n roll by the name of “Good Bye Gone,” the A side to a split single with like-minded roots rockers from San Diego, Dirty Sweet — the first of three split singles Night Horse have planned for this summer on Tee Pee Records.

Night Horse, “Good Bye Gone”

Astra:
San Diego based progressive rock band Astra has completed work on its hotly-anticipated debut album, entitled The Weirding.?The record hits stores in North America today via Rise Above Records. A taste of what The Weirding holds in store can be experienced now as the new Astra song ?The River Under? been posted online at this location.