Posted in Whathaveyou on December 24th, 2018 by JJ Koczan
Between September and November, Samsara Blues Experiment toured on four continents, playing in North and South America, Europe, and Australia and New Zealand. And, you know, they had a couple weeks between each run, but still, holy crap. Were their frequent flier miles expiring or something? Most people don’t get on four continents in a lifetime — they did it in a season. Madness.
As per their social medias, they’re taking a bit of time for the holidays and to work on new material. Their recent setlists have featured a couple new songs, so I guess progress has begun on a follow-up to One with the Universe (review here), which came out in 2017. Does that mean it’ll be out next year? Write in winter, record in spring, promote in summer, release in fall, maybe? It’s possible. If they’re in a hurry and the songs are far enough along, they could feasibly have it out by summer, and Samsara Blues Experiment certainly seem to be in a hurry these days, though I wouldn’t necessarily count on that to translate to songwriting.
Perhaps, then, their newly-announced Spring 2019 tour with Swiss mostly-instrumental stalwarts Monkey3 is a way to tighten up new songs before they enter the studio? Anything’s possible I guess. That would give them until the end of March to catch their breath and get material together. I don’t know. However the scheduling works out — how did this post become an appointment calendar? — the next Samsara Blues Experiment should be one to look forward to, and I plan on doing exactly that.
Here are those dates, courtesy of Sound of Liberation:
Folks, we are more than happy to announce, that Samsara Blues Experiment & monkey3 are going to share the van in March / April 2019! What a heavy trippin’ package! We can’t wait for spring!
Posted in Whathaveyou on September 6th, 2018 by JJ Koczan
Three tours, three months, touching four continents. Pretty god damn impressive for a band who a couple years ago decided they weren’t all that interested in playing out. Berlin heavy psych rockers Samsara Blues Experiment have resumed activity in a big way since the release last year of One with the Universe (review here) on Electric Magic Records, and if their ultimate goal is universal oneness, then hitting so much of the planet in so little time can only be considered a great way to go about it. They may still have a bit to go, but, you know, the more ground you can cover, the better.
So it’s Australia and New Zealand starting this weekend, then in October a run through South America and Mexico, and finally in November, a week-long stint through Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. I’ll just go ahead and assume that’s it for them for 2018, though one never really knows, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they were back at it next year again. I wouldn’t hold my breath for US dates, but there are always festivals and things of that sort and clearly Samsara Blues Experiment have made themselves welcome in a variety of places. Should be fun to see where they end up next. Japan?
The band posted the dates on the sans-frills manner as follows:
SAMSARA BLUES EXPERIMENT – LIVE is LIFE!
AUSTRALIA & NEW ZEALAND 07/09/18 Perth (OZ), The Amplifier 08/09/18 Brisbane (OZ), Crowbar 09/09/18 Sydney (OZ), Leadbelly 10/09/18 Auckland (NZ), Whammy Bar 11/09/18 Wellington (NZ), Valhalla 13/09/18 Melbourne (OZ), The Bendigo 14/09/18 Geelong (OZ), Barwon Club 15/09/18 Melbourne (OZ), The Bendigo 16/09/18 Adelaide (OZ), Crown & Anchor
SOUTH AMERICA & MEXICO 11/10/18 Palmas (BR), Festival Bem Ali 12/10/18 Brasilia (BR), SUJO 13/10/18 São Paulo (BR), Abraxas Fest 14/10/18 Rio de Janeiro (BR), Abraxas Fest 16/10/18 Buenos Aires (AR), The Roxy 17/10/18 Montevideo (UR), Bluzz Live 19/10/18 Mexico City (MX), Multiforo Alicia 20/10/18 Puebla (MX), TBA
GOOD OLD EUROPE 10/11/18 Berlin, Zukunft am Ostkreuz 12/11/18 Hamburg, Hafenklang 13/11/18 Tilburg (NL), O13 14/11/18 Amsterdam (NL), Melkweg 15/11/18 Groningen (NL), Vera 16/11/18 Dortmund, Rock Hard Night @Piano 17/11/18 Brussels (BE), Magasin 4
Posted in Whathaveyou on November 22nd, 2017 by JJ Koczan
I know I said as much around the time they were putting the album out this past Spring, and before that as they took to touring and doing shows again after a couple years’ absence, but the resurgence of German psych rockers Samsara Blues Experiment stands among my favorite heavy happenings of 2017. Doesn’t at all hurt either that their fourth long-player, One with the Universe (review here), wound up as one of the strongest releases of the year — or will wind up among them when list-time hits next month, anyhow — or that the band has continued to tour on multiple continents. Even if I didn’t get to see them, the Berlin trio’s continued thriving only makes the European heavy underground as a whole stronger. And yes, I mean that.
Samsara Blues Experiment just took part this week in Dutch outfit The Machine‘s 10th anniversary show, and the news that they’ll once again hit the road come next March couldn’t be more welcome, as it will see them carry over the active streak from 2017 to 2018. They promise more to come as well, so I’ll be keeping an eye out to the best of my ability. Till then, dates in the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Switzerland and Germany follow here, as presented by Sound of Liberation and posted by the band:
PS: We know you want us in Italy, UK & Ireland, Spain, the East, and North of the wall of snow and everywhere else, and we are somehow working on it too.
This one’s been a while in the making. Like, years. And as Samsara Blues Experiment guitarist/vocalist Christian Peters says below in his answer, the question I’ve been waiting to ask him as well is the one about his band’s experience touring the US for their 2013 album, Waiting for the Flood (review here). I had been thinking of this as a tipping point for the group to enter into something of a semi-hiatus as they did after that record, touring some in Europe but ultimately stepping back for a few years as Peters pursued solo work, his Electric Magic Records label, and other creative outlets.
My narrative, as ever, was off. It was a long European run that set Samsara Blues Experiment to the task of reevaluating who they were and what kind of band they wanted to be, and as the Berlin-based trio make their return in 2017 via their fourth full-length, One with the Universe (review here), Peters seems nothing if not clearheaded in his feelings on the issue. Joined in the now-three-piece by drummer Thomas Vedder and bassist Hans Eiselt after parting ways with former bassist Richard Behrens (who nonetheless recorded the new album), Peters seems to be embracing the opportunity to refresh his band’s sense of purpose and direction, and as they’ve never sounded so much like themselves on tracks like “Vipassana,” “Sad Guru Returns” and the album’s title-track, so too do Samsara Blues Experiment come across as assured of the methods by which their creativity is brought to life.
As it turns out, that sense of being assured was hard-won, both on his part and that of the band as a whole, and that tour in the US did seem to be a factor in how they’ve wound up where they are, for better and worse alike. In talking to Peters about that trip and about the album in general, I wanted to get a sense of where they were and where they might be going, and though he was reluctant to speculate on the latter, the honesty and at times philosophical approach to everything his group has been through underscores his knowing how vitally important the band is to him. It’s not something he could just leave behind — it’s an ongoing work driven by passion and a shifting creative spirit.
And after a full decade together, one shouldn’t be surprised to find One with the Universe also is Samsara Blues Experiment‘s most mature offering to-date, but what seems even more resonant to me in reading Peters‘ answers about its making is just how much more a work of spirit it is than simply another batch of parts thrown together. Not every artist is brave enough to admit that about their own output; some like to pretend these things just happen by mistake. Granted a song can come about spontaneously, and often those results are among the most satisfying, but that doesn’t mean they don’t matter. To pretend otherwise is silly. This is important to Peters. Crucially so. Especially in light of the quality of the work they’re doing, it’s hard not to respect the hell out of that.
Complete Q&A follows here. Please enjoy.
It’s been four years since the last Samsara Blues Experiment album. Tell me about what’s changed in the band over that time and where you feel you are today as a group as opposed to where you were when you did Waiting for the Flood?
The most evident change is the turn back to a three-piece, as it was already in the earlier days of the band. In November 2013 we did this one long EU tour which sort of set the tracks for what had to happen right after this. I for myself was at one point pretty close to a burnout situation then, not sure if everything in the rock ‘n’ roll circus really was made for me, and I had to take a time out from the whole thing then. So right after this tour we had a few weeks of no rehearsals or playing live, and when the four of us met, it was mostly for talking about where everybody wanted to go with the band and with his life.
It pretty soon turned out that Richard, in total contrary to my ideas, wanted to tour even more, play more, turn it all into this sort of a job. Which then was something like a worst-case scenario for me, also because I thought that the four-piece sound really had to be thought about and worked out much more than we did then. I was not always happy with two dueling guitars too. And also, you know, in my belief there has to remain some kind of freedom which probably cannot be maintained if my while life sort of depends only from what I do in the band. I wanted to play better songs, better shows, not necessarily more! But I also wanted something else, of which I wasn´t specific about… I needed to find that out for myself.
So at some point it all seemed to have become a pretty tricky situation because everybody wanted to first of all find a “let’s stay together”-solution, but several other personal things led towards Richard leaving the band and Hans switching to bass. At some point it just happened kind of naturally, also because Hans was a bass player before, and btw one whom I always admired. We had to get used to this new situation and work a lot behind closed doors… So we spent the years 2014 and 2015 with shaping “the new band sound” and the new band as well. And besides from that I also got pretty deep into playing synthesizers and recorded a whole bunch of solo albums and EPs as Surya Kris Peters. I just needed to find other ways to be creative, I guess.
So after these weeks and months of “reshaping,” Thomas, Hans and I agreed that 2016 would be pretty much the year for coming up with new ideas for a new album, and not playing live at all. But since a year without one show can be long, at some point we decided to at least play one Berlin show and aside of that did what we needed to do to record One with the Universe in January 2017, again in Richard’s studio with him on the job, as a friend, now also a “hired studio technician” but sometimes still also a fourth creative input, not more on bass, more like a co-producer.
What’s the story behind “Sad Guru Returns?”
It started as a wordplay, because whenever I went through Berlin last summer I saw these Sadhguru-posters. I just like words, how words sound, how words interact, and I then made up this sad-guru thing and later found these samples of him speaking which could be pretty much be my own thoughts when he says, “we are the most comfortable generation ever, but we are not happy,” etc. — to me it’s like almost everybody seems to be looking for something but rarely anybody starts with him- or herself.
Life’s not about things you know. Not at all. In my humble opinion, it’s mostly about making real connections with people. Then there’s a lot of potential in each and every one of us, to be positive and loving and happy, to be creative, to be an even more important part to the whole thing than we are already. You know, I just don’t dig people dragging themselves and others down, especially if there seems to be no reason for that. All the negativity in people right now it seems to be just too much. At least that’s how I see it. Too much sadness in this world, way too much fear too these days… Everybody can make decisions, to a certain point at least. You can be happy and poor too. We all live, we’ll all die. Think about it. How do you want to spend your time on this planet?!
In the interim between records, you embarked on several solo outings as well. Did this affect your return to songwriting for Samsara Blues Experiment at all?
Well probably, because some of the songs have quite a lot of synths in them, like the whole intro-part of “Eastern Sun and Western Moon” or the title-track. I am just happy that both and Hans and Thomas share some of my enthusiasm for sounds from these “little keyboards,” as someone once described them…
What ultimately made you decide it was time to bring back Samsara Blues Experiment?
Honestly, I went through a really rough time from 2015 on. I lost contact to this once really important person. It was pretty much the first time I thought I had this love-relationship-thing sorted out, but then it turned out I knew nothing at all. I spent a long time in despair, in a dark room with nobody but myself. I was almost crazy and at some point nearly suicidal and I am not saying this to show off or something but it was just one of the darkest periods of my life for sure.
Then I heard of Rutger [Smeets] from Sungrazer committing suicide and it was really like a shock. I barely knew the guy, but we occasionally met and all the guys in Sungrazer were like these happy dudes, always sharing a good story, a BBQ, a bottle of limoncello (I didn´t forget.), whatever… I have no idea why Rutger finally did it, but at this point I pretty much just thought: WHAT THE F**K?! THIS IS JUST WRONG!!
I had a series of other not-too-happy-moments but then really felt like I needed to put myself together and started to finally look at the good things that remained there with me, and as one of the main things, there is this band. Honestly, at that period I also pretty much left Hans and Thomas in the dark, which wasn´t very nice of me to do but I just couldn´t handle it otherwise. Again, I canceled rehearsals and I even went out to play with other guys, just to find out where I belong I guess.
And I still belong with SBE, the band that Thomas and Hans I have formed in these last years and even earlier on, for all the songs we wrote when Richard wasn’t with us, when he was working his sound technician job and we already rehearsed or played live as a three-piece (we played one show in Kiev, Ukraine, as a three-piece when Richard wasn’t allowed into the country because he forgot to bring his passport… one of the many stories).
So to sum it up, I basically had to learn to appreciate the band and to find again my place in the puzzle. I am a musician. Right now this is pretty much what I’d say to some stranger who’d ask me what I do in my life. I live music 24/7 now. Nothing else.
Oh, and at some point some of our fans helped as well to realize what we have here with this band. So, thank you there! We all are part of this picture.
Which came first, the album title or the song “One with the Universe” itself? Tell me about how that song came together, and how does it tie into the album (and, I suppose, the universe) as a whole?
Most times the music comes first, as it was also with this one. In 2016 we always did this one long jam session, based on two or three basslicks from Hans and a few parts from me, and it seemed almost impossible to bring all these pieces together to just one “proper song,” but after something like a half-year we miraculously did it. It was for sure among the hardest tasks in my almost 20-year-long career as a productive musician. I still refuse to learn too much about music theory, writing down notes or tabs or any of that. I know it’s maybe a bit stupid and limiting, but then I also often don’t have a lot of patience, nor a real interest for learning this to be honest.
The title “One with the Universe” just seemed to fit some of the overall topics that are connected with the album. In the first place maybe also that there is a new unity within the band. But also the idea that we all belong to a more “wholesome concept,” that no one really is nor should be isolated. That there is no “us versus them” as it is so often implied with the very cultivated society models we live in, and as it’s also projected even on artists, musicians and their work and recordings. Hey everybody: This is not a contest, you know?! And also, even while I am not a big philosopher or something, but also this man against woman thing, which seems to be part of “our culture.” To me all of this is just not right at all! Again, it’s also pretty much what Sadhguru says, and he is not my guru as more a person with whose thoughts I can partially identify myself.
How was it working with Richard as a producer/engineer as opposed to also having him in the band playing bass?
By now all or most the problems of the past seem pretty much solved. Richard seems to be very happy with his new role, and we are happy with the “new band.” It’s pretty much of a karmic relationship, but if you let all the ego-stuff aside, there´s a lot of great memories to share and a lot of good memories to be made for us still, if we want. You know, I could be angry for a whole lot of stupid reasons that lie back in the past, and so could be Richard or anybody else, but at some point you realize that you made a deep connection as friends and you either cherish that, or you go on bumping into the next karmic relationship. Simple as that, complicated as that.
You came to the US to support Waiting for the Flood. Tell me about that experience, what you learned from it and how you’ve been able to take that and move forward with this record. Will you be back at any point?
Well, this is the question I have been waiting for and it’s a tricky one to answer indeed. As you know we have been in the States as early as we had our first demo recordings, which back then seemed very naive and maybe a bit stupid, but the more the bravest thing a young band could do. Since my childhood I have been heavily influenced by the American way of life. I played baseball with a wooden stick when kids around me thought I’d gone crazy. I even fantasized of once going to US high school and college and becoming a professional in either baseball or basketball, or maybe the funniest: American football! I introduced all my friends to all these “cool things” from America, as in the GDR or the young reunited Germany we did not really have an idea what the real life in the USA would be like: All of it just seemed to be magical. So it was the first and greatest dream to come to the USA, and I made it not earlier than 2009 with the first long tour SBE ever did. It seemed all to be dreamlike still. We slept on dirty floors, we played for a few bucks for even fewer enthusiasts or music nerds or people who just came to the shows because they had some ancestor from Germany, I don’t know… it was okay back then, when most of us were like big kids in a candy store, basically.
Change of scenery, the band now has played a bunch of festivals and longer tours in Europe. We have grown up to adults in our early-to-mid 30s. Some of us have families and jobs and need to compromise on all the things that life brings along when you realize that not all of it is happening in candy stores anymore. Following the call of our not-so-few fans in the USA — as we had recorded three studio albums in the meantime since our first US tour — we found people to help organizing this return, as we thought, until a few weeks before this tour was supposed to happen all crashed down like a castle made of sand. I still have a lot of reason to be angry and frustrated here and I could name a few names, but there is no reason for that as more to say; we do not have very good and trustworthy contacts in your country. People whom we can rely on and who do this for the sake of the music and not because they need to earn their living from this, which just won’t work at all.
We are not a commercial act. We do not think very much in commercialist patterns. We are just not like most of the bands you know, we really basically play for the sake of expressing feelings though music, but when we travel we also expect to be treated with respect and honesty. We would love to return to the USA, but at this point it does not seem much practical or even possible. I am sorry for our fans there, but we will see what the future will bring, and not give up on trying to make “deeper connections.”
I hope this wasn’t confusing.
In the meantime, Samsara Blues Experiment toured South America already this year for the first time. How were those shows and how was that experience overall for you?
In one word: incredible!! People in South America seem to be starving for a good live show, even while we in particular always had quite many fans there, thanks to the miracles of the internet. I am just so grateful for having met Felipe [Toscano] of Abraxas booking, who started out as a fan of our music and now runs this amazing organization, in his free time from work and private life. What an amazing guy, really. What an overwhelming positive vibe on all shows on that continent. I still may be under the illusion of a first naive impact now, but I have rarely felt as welcome as there. It was just amazing, incredible, lovely.
You’ve now made four albums with Samsara Blues Experiment and it’s almost a decade since the first demo surfaced. How do you feel about what you’ve accomplished in that time? Where do you see the progression continuing to go?
I think we’ll just go with the flow, more or less. I am pretty much happy as it is now. I only would like to see us more widely exposed, like playing on more different occasions than just mostly stoner festivals, which isn’t wrong at all but I think we are much more than just another stoner group that likes Black Sabbath. Don’t get me wrong or so, I know where we belong the most, but then we also belong to the universe, and the universe is big. I would like to get things solved with the USA really, also in terms of distribution, but we are working on it and hopefully solving some of these issues.
You’ve just done Desertfest and have other festival dates coming up as well. Any plans yet for the Fall or anything else you want to mention?
Maybe we will be doing new songs then, maybe we will travel, or just be with the ones we love the most. Who knows? I think we’ll really try and go with the flow for a bit.
Samsara Blues Experiment, One with the Universe (2017)
With the release of their ambitiously-titled fourth album, One with the Universe, Berlin-based heavy psych rockers Samsara Blues Experiment provide the keystone of a resurgence that began late last year with a return to playing shows. Their last outing was 2013’s Waiting for the Flood (review here), and it was the most vivid realization to-date of their blend of progressive rock and psychedelic jamming, while continuing the momentum they’d built throughout their prior outings, 2011’s Revelation and Mystery(review here) and 2009’s Long Distance Trip(review here) debut, and with that behind them, it was easy to expect them to roll forward as they had for the half-decade since their demo (review here) surfaced in 2008. They didn’t.
By 2015, what had been a four-piece parted ways with bassist Richard Behrens (now of Heat), and after an increasing profile of tours and festival appearances, shows pretty much stopped as guitarist/vocalist Christian Peters embarked on a succession of solo outings exploring textures of synth and classic krautrock influences. In hindsight, the break makes some sense, particularly given the work Peters did in the interim, and really it hasn’t been egregiously long since the last Samsara Blues Experiment came out — four years isn’t eight, mathematically speaking — but as a fan of the band’s work, it’s hard to note the arrival of One with the Universe via Peters‘ own Electric Magic Records imprint with anything other than a sense of relief. Even before one digs into the five-track/43-minute outing rife with winding instrumental explorations, Eastern-minded inflections of theme and arrangement, and an overarching sense of celebration resonant from driving opener “Vipassana” (premiered here) through the swinging, pushing-outward finale of “Eastern Sun and Western Moon,” it’s awfully good to have Samsara Blues Experiment active again.
That’s about the least impartial statement one could make about the record beyond “duh, I like it,” so maybe take this review with the appropriate grain of salt, but the truth is that from their beginnings in the post-Colour Haze sphere of warm-toned heavy psych, Samsara Blues Experiment — now Peters, drummer Thomas Vedder and bassist Hans Eiselt — have become one of Europe’s leading underground presences in terms of the individualism they bring to their approach. One can hear it as rolling waves lead the way into “Vipassana,” a track that takes its name from the Buddhist concept of insight into reality’s true nature, Vedder‘s drums providing the transition into a progression marked by what ends up as an instrumental theme throughout: the use of keys and synth alongside the guitar, bass and drums.
With a recording job by ex-member Behrens and a wide-sounding mix that allows for shifts in volume and tone in “Vipassana” as much as for flourish of sitar on the centerpiece “Glorious Daze” and the bouncing ’70s organ work on the 15-minute penultimate title-track, Samsara Blues Experiment sound free to explore these spaces and well beyond, such that the earlier “Sad Guru Returns” — instrumental save for some samples at the beginning and end — and the trade between the push and crash of its hook and the sense of jammy-but-purposeful meandering in “Vipassana” set an immersive vibe more interactive than it is hypnotic.
That is to say, as “Glorious Daze” comes on to chill out the end of side A — not that it doesn’t build to its own crescendo around the aforementioned sitar and keys, because it most definitely does — One with the Universe sounds less about trying to draw listeners into an unconscious state than encouraging them to actively engage with what they’re hearing. Maybe “get up and dance” would be a too-strong interpretation, but at very least, Samsara Blues Experiment are asking those hearing these songs to remain present in the moment with them, whether that’s expressed through the thrust of “Vipassana,” the drift into swirl of “Sad Guru Returns” or the move from serenity to serenity in “Glorious Daze.”
Of course, one can still get plenty lost in One with the Universe if so desired, and that’s especially true of the title-track. Starting out with a somewhat foreboding keyboard movement from Peters and bassline from Eiselt, the extended stretch is immediate in signaling its own patience and adjusting the expectation of the listener accordingly. Thus far, Samsara Blues Experiment have been fairly energetic in their delivery and they’ll be again as they move through this and “Eastern Sun and Western Moon” still to come, but the opening minutes of “One with the Universe” itself are given over to a languid unfolding that eases through the first half so subtly and fluidly that by the time vocals show up amid all the synth swirl, double-timed hi-hat, spacious guitar strum that turns to starts and stops, they’re more than nine minutes deep and one has all but stopped anticipating their arrival.
From that point on, the trio hit into a boogie-fied section that feels written for the stage and is the most prevalent example of the album’s celebratory mood — the lines, “Hey hey, want to be with you every day/Hey hey, think of all the promises we made,” defining the good-times atmosphere Samsara Blues Experiment are inhabiting in the back half of the song. Peters moves to layer keys and guitar (and vocals) as a verse takes hold, and a joyous, righteous jam ensues that’s as much fun to hear as it is an expression of the organic power trio construction between him, Vedder and Eiselt, vocals locking in note for note on a quick guitar lead before the song moves into its next verse playing off the “Hey hey, want to be with you every day/Hey hey, think of all the groovy times we’ve had,” lyrical foundation with added percussion behind.
They’re in full swing at this point, and at 14 minutes flat, they align to push “One with the Universe” to its conclusion, Vedder‘s crash becoming a wash in the process. That would seem to leave “Eastern Sun and Western Moon” as something of an epilogue, but in its lyrical theme and seven-minute linear build, it proves essential in tying One with the Universe together from start to finish, finding a place for itself between the thrust of “Vipassana” and the patience of the title-cut, bringing back the interplay of organ and guitar, and offering listeners a last chance to travel along with the band as they make their way toward a late-arriving peak in the song’s second half and close out the record with a bit of residual hum — sound waves rather than the ocean waves that started out the opener, but still undulating.
In addition to signaling their return after this four-year stretch, One with the Universe also marks a decade since Samsara Blues Experiment first got together in 2007. If one looks at the scope of what they’ve been able to accomplish over their tenure, the context in which this new collection arises is even broader and all the more worthy of appreciation. It’s been a significant creative journey up to this point, and whatever their future might hold in terms of releases, touring, etc., their fourth full-length confirms that no matter what might change for them or how their aesthetic might shift in the process of their continued becoming, their commitment to growth is unwavering and a crucial, defining aspect of who they are as a unit. Yet one more reason to be glad to have them back.
Samsara Blues Experiment, One with the Universe (2017)
Posted in audiObelisk on March 20th, 2017 by JJ Koczan
As they returned home to Germany this past week from a South American tour and made ready to head out over the next month on a slew of European dates including festival stops at Under the Black Moon, Riff Ritual, and Desertfest in London and their native Berlin, Samsara Blues Experiment came one step closer to the release of their fourth full-length, One with the Universe. The album — confirmed for a May 12 release through Electric Magic Records with cover art by Michel Bassot newly unveiled below — arrives four years after the third Samsara Blues Experiment outing, Waiting for the Flood (review here), and finds the band pared down to a trio for the first time on a studio offering, returning to activity after several years away following a prolific run between 2009 and 2013, and embarking on some of their boldest and most progressive arrangements to date.
I haven’t heard One with the Universe in its entirety yet — as of this weekend, the master was still being finalized — but today I have the extreme pleasure of hosting the premiere of the 10-minute opening track, “Vipassana,” for your (and my) streaming enjoyment. Obviously, its my basis for the assessment above about the arrangements, and as the song plays through its jam-based course, one can hear that coming through in the synth provided by guitarist/vocalist Christian Peters, joined in the three-piece by drummer Thomas Vedder and bassist Hans Eiselt. At the same time, to go along with the core warmth of low end and natural push of the toms at the start and the airy guitar and echoing vocals that accompany, there also emerges some weightier tonality in the chorus that hits with a more aggressive underlying vibe. Dare I say “doomly?” I won’t guess how it plays out across the span of One with the Universe, which runs just under 47 minutes, but along with the synth sprawl that starts at about the halfway point, it’s something that turned my head listening to “Vipassana.”
I’ll hope to have a review up sometime between now and the May 12 release date, so I’ll save some of the rambling for that, but the name of the song, if you’re wondering, refers to the Buddhist notion of insight into the true nature of reality. Not exactly a toss-off scale on which to begin an album. Such purposes are welcome from Samsara Blues Experiment, who recorded the likewise ambitiously-titled One with the Universe with former bassist Richard Behrens (also of Heat), who also helmed the last outing. One looks forward to hearing how this spiritual searching resolves itself, or if it does at all, throughout the rest of the tracks.
Peters was kind enough to give some background on the making of “Vipassana,” and you’ll find his words, the complete album tracklisting, upcoming tour dates and more info under the player below.
Please enjoy:
Christian Peters on “Vipassana”:
‘Vipassana’ is the first song we did after Richard had left the band. It came out from a series of jam sessions. Pretty much this is all we did in the first rehearsals after Richard left: jamming, jamming and even more jamming. The song topic seems to be about growing up, or maybe growing up responsibly. Kind of a coming of age thing wrapped in heavy riffs and Pink Floydish-psychedelia, plus some kind of Indian raga theme. It’s pretty much what one can consider as ‘classic SBE’-material already, I think.
It may be interesting to know that Richard, who did not play any instruments, but again recorded the album, also contributed some nice ideas in the process, like having me play the backward solo or putting in some vintage tape-effects. we are all very happy with the outcome of this song in particular and hope you will enjoy. there is much more on the album.
SAMSARA BLUES EXPERIMENT’s fourth ‘full piece of wax’ “One with the Universe“ is a culmination of all their works and truly a hard hitting cosmic invitation for floating into their universe of spiritual progression. The most evolutionary development compared to previous albums is the cosmic usage of analog synthesizers, keyboards and effects, while not losing focus on catchiness and well-rendered songwriting.
These five new epics subtly integrate flashes from Jimi Hendrix´ “Electric Ladyland“, Pink Floyd and Black Sabbath, with Canterbury Prog elements à la Caravan and the fuzzed-out riffs of Kyuss. “One with the Universe“ can not be put just into one genre: it is a multifaceted heavy rock album with tons of soul, courage and originality!
The album will be released on May 12th through Electric Magic Records.
TRACK LISTING: 1. Vipassana (10:43) 2. Sad Guru Returns (7:55) 3. Glorious Daze (6:01) 4. One with the Universe (15:03) 5. Eastern Sun & Western Moon (7:09)
– ARTWORK FROM MICHEL BASSOT –
EUROPEAN SHOWS: 25.03. Roma (IT), Defrag 31.03. Osnabrück, Westwerk 01.04. München, Under The Black Moon Festival 02.04. Leipzig, Werk 2 22.04. Barcelona, Riff Ritual Festival 29.04. Berlin, Desertfest 30.04. London (UK), Desertfest 12.05. Berlin, Zukunft am Ostkreuz (Stummfilm-Special) 13.05. Berlin, Zukunft am Ostkreuz (Albumrelease Parteeey) 14.05. Hamburg, Hafenklang 15.05. Wiesbaden, Schlachthof 16.05. Bielefeld, Forum 17.05. Nijmegen (NL), Doornroosje 18.05. Nantes (FR), Le Ferrailleur 19.05. Paris (FR), Backstage 20.05. Köln, Underground 11.08. Finkenbach, Finki Festival
Posted in Bootleg Theater on February 24th, 2017 by JJ Koczan
It’s only a minute-long teaser clip, but there are still some things to learn from the first actual glimpse at the new and much-awaited fourth album from Berlin heavy psych trio Samsara Blues Experiment. For one thing, the title. They’ve given the record the ambitious name One with the Universe, and in unfurling that alone, the band speak to their spiritual and cosmic leanings that have been at their root since the days of their 2008 demo (review here), which they’ve continued to refine ever since, and are among the defining features of their approach.
Then we get to the actual audio of the thing itself. I haven’t heard any full songs from the record or gotten word of titles, but we’re treated to a moment of key-laced jamming, a laid back rhythmic bounce given bluesy flavor that makes a comfortable-seeming bed for a few vocal lines. The first burst of guitar tone is raw, and the drums and bass also feel suitably natural in a way that has me wondering just how much improvisation is going to be a factor across One with the Universe. That’s not to say there isn’t a sense of direction — unless I’m mistaken, it’s Christian Peters handling guitar and keys, and since they’re both going at the same time, some layering must’ve taken place at some point — but Hans Eiselt‘s bass fills feel remarkably organic in how it adds to the overall fluidity and Thomas Vedder‘s drumming accents the guitar and keys with classic-style dynamics.
Bottom line? I was looking forward to hearing the new Samsara Blues Experiment. A lot. I still am. A lot.
Check out the teaser below, followed by the three-piece’s upcoming tour dates in South America and Europe. One with the Universe will be out this May on Electric Magic Records.
Enjoy:
Samsara Blues Experiment, One with the Universe teaser
4th SBE-album is coming…
Movie scenes from “The Blue Bird” (1918).
SAMSARA BLUES EXPERIMENT LIVE DATES: SOUTH AMERICA TOUR – MARCH 2017: 03/02 – Santiago, CL @ La Capilla 03/03 – Buenos Aires, AR @ The Roxy Live 03/04 – Montevideo, UR @ Bluzz Live 03/05 – Córdoba, AR @ Refugio Guernica 03/08 – Porto Alegre, BR @ RIFF.E Bar 03/09 – Florianópolis, BR @ Célula Showcase 03/10 – Belo Horizonte, BR @ Stonehenge Rock Bar 03/11 – São Paulo, BR @ Inferno Club 03/12 – Rio de Janeiro, BR @ Hocus Pocus Fest
EUROPEAN SHOWS: 25.03. Roma (IT), Defrag 31.03. Osnabrück, Westwerk 01.04. München, Under The Black Moon Festival 02.04. Leipzig, Werk 2 22.04. Barcelona, Riff Ritual Festival 29.04. Berlin, Desertfest 30.04. London (UK), Desertfest 12.05. Berlin, Zukunft am Ostkreuz (Stummfilm-Special) 13.05. Berlin, Zukunft am Ostkreuz (Albumrelease Parteeey) 14.05. Hamburg, Hafenklang 15.05. Wiesbaden, Schlachthof 16.05. Bielefeld, Forum 17.05. Nijmegen (NL), Doornroosje 18.05. Nantes (FR), Le Ferrailleur 19.05. Paris (FR), Backstage 20.05. Köln, Underground 11.08. Finkenbach, Finki Festival
