With preorders up shortly on 2CD, 2LP and download, Causa Sui will release Live at Freak Valley on April 7. It’s the first official live album from the Danish heavy psych masters, and comprised of their full 90-minute set, it finds them right at home in their jamming element, taking on cuts like “Homage,” “The Juice” and “Euporie” from 2013’s stellar Euporie Tide full-length at the Freak Valley festival last May in Germany, where they shared the stage with Asteroid, Uncle Acid, Orange Goblin, Naam, The Machine and many others. A blend of newer and older material makes Live at Freak Valley something of a retrospective on the part of the four-piece of Jakob Skøtt (drums), Jess Kahr (bass), Jonas Munk (guitar) and Rasmus Rasmussen (keys), going back to the band’s 2005 self-titled debut for a run through “El Paraiso” and hitting the stellar Summer Sessions series with “Lonesome Traveller,” “Soledad” and “Red Valley.”

The latter is the first audio to be made public from Live at Freak Valley, and it comes accompanied by a video shot at the festival. Thierry Miguet handled the cameras and editing, while Skøtt finalized the post-production and Monk mixed the audio, and as the band says in the release info below, the results don’t wind up all that different from the band’s studio output, either on Euporie Tide or their even-jammier outings like 2011’s two-part Pewt’r Sessions. Either way, you’re getting wholly natural and warm sounds from Causa Sui, and their blend of driving heavy rock and exploratory psychedelia is second to nobody. Enjoy “Red Valley” and stay tuned for more on Live at Freak Valley:

The first official live album from Causa Sui, recorded in the early summer of 2013 at midnight, headlining the outdoor festival Freak Valley in Netphen, Germany.

This full 90 minute Causa Sui set comes hot of the heels of last years acclaimed studio effort Euporie Tide, and is a condensed manifestation of the low-end heavy side of the band. This show presents the band in elemental quartet mode and features a wide palette of cuts from the entire catalog. From the band’s signature cut ”El Paraiso” from their 2005 debut, through revamps of the more translucent Summer Sessions material, straight up to virgin jams, fresh from the rehearsal room.

Over the course of the last 8 years, Causa Sui have become one of the most venerated acts in European psychedelia, due to shows on all the major genre festivals as well as a revered string of albums and collaborations. With their unique blend of old and new sounds, from mammoth riffage to pastoral soundscapes, Causa Sui is something of an anomaly in today’s musical landscape. This set serves as a great introduction for anyone unfamiliar with the bands distinctive take on instrumental psychedelic rock. And for the fans it’s simply a must-have.

Mixed and mastered by Jonas Munk from multitrack recordings this set sounds as warm as crisp as any of the albums.

El Paraiso Records

El Paraiso Records on Thee Facebooks

Years from now, when some unfortunate soul is putting together a comprehensive history of European heavy psychedelia, Dutch power trio Orange Sunshine will be one of a select few acts complicating the narrative. Similar to the manner in which their chief point of influence, Blue Cheer (who were also named after a kind of acid), forces those who’d look beyond the simplistic “Black Sabbath invented heavy metal” to broaden their horizons, so too does Orange Sunshine show that not all Euro-retro grooving began with Norrsken in Sweden or On Trial in Denmark. Orange Sunshine got their start kicking around Den Haag circa 1999, and released their debut, Homo Erectus, in 2001, following it up with Love = Acid, Space = Hell two years later, both albums released through Motorwolf Records with reissue through Leaf Hound. The three-piece of drummer/vocalist Guy Tavares, guitarist Arthur van Berkel and bassist Mehdi Rouchiche issued their third outing, Bullseye of Being, via the same labels in 2006/2007, but have produced little studio material since — just a couple singles.

In late 2013, Who Can You Trust? pressed a tape of their 2007 set from Roadburn (they also played in 2010), and just last month, Lay Bare Recordings followed suit with a vinyl of Orange Sunshine recorded at last year’s Freak Valley festival in Germany. The aptly-titled Live at Freak Valley 2013 is presented, even digitally, on two sides, and captures Orange Sunshine‘s ’60s loyalist heavy garage psych groove with a marked flow and thorough looseness. Each side tops a little over 20 minutes but meets a fuzz quota for probably twice that, Tavares‘ vocals cutting through in soulful, bluesy madman shouts. Rouchiche carries a lot of the weight on bass, holding together jams that seem to send van Berkel on solo explorations, but as a whole, the three-piece wind up as tight as one might hope for a dynamic act who’ve been at it for roughly a decade and a half, despite the swing in the songs themselves. Side A includes the opening jam that was their warmup before their time actually started, takes on All Saved Freak Band‘s “All Across the Nation,” and The 31 Flavors‘ “Distortions of Darkness,” and side B boasts Lincoln Street Exit‘s “Straight Shootin’ Man,” Sam and Dave‘s “I Thank You” (co-written by Isaac Hayes)  “Rock Me Baby” — which Blue Cheer also did — and the Rolling Stones‘ “Gimme Shelter.” The latter closes out in jammed fashion, and each is given Orange Sunshine‘s own stamp and stomp along the way, fitting smoothly with the original “Did You Tell the Woman?,” which to-date hasn’t been included on an Orange Sunshine LP.

The vinyl version of the album is just about gone (Lay Bare sold their yellow-platter version, the band has some regular copies left), but Orange Sunshine have made it available digitally through their Bandcamp, and while it’s not a new studio offering and the fact that it’s at least almost entirely covers doesn’t make me think a new one is on the way anytime soon, it still sounds like a psychedelic garage freakout and I wouldn’t ask more of it than that. Check out Live at Freak Valley 2013 now as part of the 24/7 stream on The Obelisk Radio or sample its two sides on the player below and see what you’ve been missing by not tuning in and dropping out:

Orange Sunshine, Live at Freak Valley 2013 (2014)

Orange Sunshine on Thee Facebooks

Live at Freak Valley vinyl from Orange Sunshine

Lay Bare Recordings