ALIEN DREAM: Hawkfest 2003-StudioSet Ltd Edition CD
Numbering just 100 copies only, from which we have the last batch, this is a phenomenal studio performance of the set that the band played at the 2003 "Hawkfest" and,in terms of the project's output to date, is an absolute corker of an album. With a running time of 49 minutes, you'll find instrumental acid-,psych- and space-rock that will blow you away track after track. The album opens with 'Brainscan(Festival Mix)' and is just THE most incredible track with some surging electric guitar work over space synth swoops, wicked synth and electric bass, crisp and solid electronic drums, while the lead guitar just soars - superb stuff. Then, heralded by string synth and more stinging lead guitar work, we're into the slightly slower 'Alien Dreamscape' with more depth to it, deep rivers of synth and bass, chunky electro-percussives, yet more astounding guitar work, but above all, music that sounds solid, cohesive and composed, melodic and powerful with plenty of feeling and strength. From track to glorious track, this is something to which you are absolutely riveted for the complete duration. A magnificent album so grab it before it disappears - there won't be a repress!

ALIEN PLANETSCAPES: Spacerock USA CD
Recorded live in the studio on 20th July 1986, this is a quintet comprising of the ever present Doug Walker on synths, sequencer, electronic flute, tapes, glissando guitar and effects, plus Larry Olsen on guitar and effects, Al Margolis on bass guitar and effects, Carl Howard on synthesizers and e-drums and Cheryl Sobas on oboe, e-drums and voice. The result is a superb quality 63 minute track that is one of the finest space-(rock)-meets-Krautrock-meets-electronic styled jams that you'll come across. The opening ten minutes set the scene with layer upon layer of electrics and electronics, before the drums enter and the piece takes on some semblance of rhythm as the e-drums echo all around the mix, swooshing synths, rumbling bass and effects all around, all seriously spacey and "out there" - and it this sonic soup approach to layering, texturing and soundscaping that occupies the rest of the CD, as the music swirls and soars in a sort of structured amorphous nature, the instruments all merging into a bubbling cauldron that is absolutely wonderful.

ALIEN PLANETSCAPES: Official Bootleg Vols 3+4 DBLCDR
Two long studio tracks from 2001 by a sextet playing drums & percussion, bass guitar, guitars, devices, effects, synths and keyboards, plus two long tracks from 2002 by the same line-up minus one of the three guitarists. The opening track, 'Close The Stargate Or The Dog Will Run Out' is 32 minutes long and is much more in keeping with what most people would describe as instrumental space- or psychedelic-rock with a decidedly electronic/Krautrock atmosphere, only this time the instruments are clearly heard for what they are as guitars just drive, soar and flow surrounded by this sea of synths and effects, driven on by strong yet mid-paced drums and pounding electric bass. In many ways, very "early seventies" sounding in style and feel, the track nevertheless is absolutely mesmerizing, a little like a more space-rock version of early guitar-driven Ash Ra Tempel but with a much fuller sound. The 20 minute 'Scramble Suits And Matching Ties' is a similarly structured thing only if anything, with the guitars even more to the fore, some great mellotron-sounding passages and the complete seventies sound and atmosphere down to an amazing sounding tee. Two further tracks, the 26 minute Little Heroes' and the 17 minute 'Autofae' continue this heady brew of psychedelic jamming, driving guitar-led Krautrock and soaring space-rock to perfection and the two CD's together feature some truly mind-blowing music - absolutely superb.

ARTHUR LOVES PLASTIC: Savage Bliss CD
Brand new and entirely unexpected but so welcome. Our fave musical chef of the hour, Bev Stanton, has, this time concocted one heady brew of electronics, rhythms and samples, but also this time a few songs and the result is as riveting a 39 minutes as you'll find on any modern dance-ambient-industrial crossover album around to day. I mean, there is just SOOOOO much going on in this album, you'd need the equivalent of "War & Peace" to dissect it all in review. There's hard-hitting industrial dancefloor, driving drum 'n' bass glimpses, rap, sampledelica over thunderous drum rhythms, massive blasts of electronic bass and electronics galore. What makes every track so spectacular is the way she puts all the ingredients together - it's not been done like this for years, and certainly not as well. The rhythms throughout are just awesome with wickedly heavy drum programming, sequencers, all manner of bass depths, driving beats and thunderous grooves. Above this an army of synths, samples, occasional vocalists and more are heard as the tracks just fly. Then you get a song like 'Monuments' that slows things down but is no less passionate, instead building more like some gorgeously strong industrial-AOR hybrid, with a fantastic vocal, impassioned lyrics and this swirling brew of melodic electronics as background, with searing bass, space synth swooshes and driving electronic drums filling out the sound to perfection - and a song that is just to die for, something that you will want to play and play and play. 'Queen Of The World' features a female vocal and could almost be a cross between Propaganda & Grace Jones with disco-like grooves and feel, driving rhythms, soaring strings, heavy duty beats and a high-flying vocal that sets your heart alight in a blaze of sheer magic with synths, keys, bass, electronic drums and electronics, again making up a seriously full backdrop to the vocals and even instrumental space along the way too - brilliant stuff. From there on, it's one more great song, one with a fantastic female voice, all sultry with synths accompaniment but again so huge-sounding and forceful, and a clutch of fantastic, strong, warm-hearted, powerful, driving, synths/electronics-dominated multi-layered, multi-faceted instrumentals with smokin' beats and scorching rhythms, all so addictive and enjoyable. The one thing you want to do when you've heard this album, is hear it again - it's that hot. Simply irresistible!!!!!

ROBERT CAREY: Hollow CD-EP
New name on the indie scene with an EP on which he did everything except play the drums and five tracks that reveal a new talent beginning to blossom. The opening track of five has a loping drum rhythm, cloud guitars that echo Cocteau Twins only more distant while the vocal has the feel and to a degree sound of the Cure's Robert Smith, the hook line/chorus being quite infectious after a few plays as the slowly unfolding angst and yearning of the track takes hold. Kept simple, it's essentially an impassioned love song with optimisim and feel that ripples out of the airwaves and becomes more addictive the more you play it. Track two begins with ringing guitar cascades, strummed bass and a vocal that has a distinct 'Beat'-era King Crimson/Adrian Belew twang to it, and as the guitars shimmer and soar the feel of a more laid-back version of that era band is not a million miles away, and you almost expect the rest of the band to come crashing in as they did in the track that I'm thinking of, but for which the life of me I can't recall the title. But instead the guitars swirl and cascade, the vocal soars in that impassioned manner, very Belew-ish and the whole track is just magical stuff, one I could play and play and play, even better if one day the band that he has now, does expand it and "do a Crimson" and allow the thing to really break loose. Track three calms things down with lone guitar, backdrop of distant organ-like sounds but which is actually bass and guitar, I think, while the vocal cruises effortlessly on top, the change to acoustic guitars giving the effect of modern love-song Pink Floyd, albeit stripped down to barest essentials, as the whole delivery sounds so effortless, the stark nature of the song somehow so warm sounding and luscious, as the passions mount, lyrically keeping you transfixed and one of the finest indie songs of its style that you'll hear.
For track four, he proves that he does have a rock bone in his body as the last track doesn't even bother to catch breath as he fires up the guitars, bass and drums to deliver this slice of shoegazing-rock melange where the guitars drive all over the mix as the rhythms drive forward and the multi-tracked vocal intones the song to perfection on top, the sound of the whole greater than the sum of its parts, as the guitar and vocals do battle, and the guitars come out winning with a sound that will just blow you away, almost like a more expansive Television, Cure or Stone Roses as the sonic shower that is the guitar-dominated finale of the song ensues, vocals just soaring over the top of this titanium-strength but structured indie slice of deep and meaningful electric magic, a truly stunning track.
The final track continues in this feel only here with more of a lurching, shuddering rhythm from the crunchy drums and pounding bass, the guitars chiming, cascading, raining down and driving all around the mix as the lead vocal and its so aware lyrics really sound so impassioned and meaningful, delivered with angst and force but sung superbly, the gritty nature of his rock voice sounding quite in context with the solid driving indie arrangements. When you return to it after the first play, more familiar with it, you might be surprised that, far from losing anything, it invites you further in and ends up being something that you genuinely want to hear, a pointer to a future that, in my opinion, needs a bit more depth, a bit more power, but something that is surely going to appeal to a wide-ranging indie market if only it could get heard.

JON DURANT: Anatomy Of A Wish CD
Featuring Durant on guitar, cloud guitar and sonic manipulations, Vinny Sabatino on drums and perc, Tony Levin on Bass, stick and electric upright bass, plus a guest appearance from bassist Michael Manring on the four minute 'Driving North', this is an instrumental album that has a very reflective yet solid quality to it, a bit like much of the classic work from Steve Tibbetts and it's fair to say that any fan of Tibbetts would do well to check this album out. There's a touch of Robert Fripp in some of the guitar work, while much of the drum work is of a resonant, deep sounding African flavour, and the bass work throughout is quite superb. The tracks range from four to seven minutes long and the mood is predominantly languid as the slowly unfolding melodies and atmospheres appear with strong subdued but firm work from the bass and drums, while Durant keeps his guitar work to an economical level making every appearance even more of a dynamic experience. This really is an album to be treasured to be consumed slowly like a fine wine and every facet of it savoured until the last taste disappears and you are ready for the next time. Gorgeous, slightly dark and a gem.

FIRECLAN: Fireclan CD
Now, it's not often in the field of electronic music that someone does something genuinely new with it, but here is a prime example - and it works!! Fireclan started out as a synths and drums duo, then Spirits Burning/Spaceship Eyes musician Don Falcone got involved and the result is a first album (eight tracks over 75 minutes) which revolves largely around synths, drums/percussion and electric bass. Now at this point, anyone from a seventies background is thinking "prog-rock" - well, no it isn't. If anything, it's "synth-prog", or maybe "synth-rock" or maybe some term that hasn't been coined yet - you see the dilemma? For the most part it's multi-layered synth soundscapes with lush backdrops, melodies, rhythms and full-sounding expansive textures, but with this amazing rhythmic propulsion from the bass and drums, all so accessible and atmospheric, melodic and solid at the same time, but it's like no-one else around, yet just fantastic music.
The melodies from the synths soar and dive, flying high as endless horizons of synths weave webs of sonic delight that will take your breath away, while the rhythm section provide this wondrous crisp, strong and chunky sea of drum rhythms and bass lines that throb and pound to perfection. A couple of tracks have extra textures added courtesy of the glissando guitar magic of Gong's guitarist, Daevid Allen, to give even more of a warm feel to the music than already exists elsewhere, and just a magical combination with the synths and rhythm section. The rhythm section tends to conform more to the rules of synth music than the rules of prog-rock, so you'll hear bass and drum tracks that fit with synth music more expertly than most synth musicians or groups have ever managed in the past, almost taking to task bands such as Ash Ra and the like, as the whole crystal clear yet solid as a rock and so atmospheric sea of sonic delights unfolds. Extra use of string synth and sequenced rhythms on occasion merely add to the already spellbinding effect, and every track is just fantastic as the combination flares into existence and burns very brightly throughout.
It's one of those albums that is intriguing and fascinating on first hearing, then you really start to get into it on second play so that by the time the third play is almost demanded, you are just so into the heady magnificence and strong drive of this rich and uniquely arranged set of compositions, synth music sounding stronger than it's sounded in years, in fact more than mere "synth" - but then we're back to my opening statement, once more. By anyone's standards, this is one superb album, timeless, accessible, strong and confident, produced to perfection and simply amazing music - essential listening and then some.

FLESH RESONANCE: The Feast Of Shadows CD
Fifteen tracks and seventy-three minutes of darkest, song-based electronic industrial rock with this huge artillery of electronic drums, electronics, synths, guitars, bass and keyboards. From industrial rock to EBM, decelerated darkwave to huge-sounding, panoramic Gothic electro-rock, this is one incredible album where the playing, production, vocals and arrangements all keep you hooked in this sonic soup of a sound although the album does have great dynamics, dual male-female vocals, and a splendid sense of structure.
The opening strains of 'Reflections And Shadows' with its chiming guitars and soaring heavenly female vocals is simply sublime as the vocals are multi-tracked and this big river of rumbling bass is heard underneath, all arranged to magnificent effect and a stunning track. 'In The Wake Of Eternity' is more EBM with a solid layer of electronics and synths leading the way on a track that marries power and atmosphere to eye-opening effect as this massive blast of rhythms and programming ties in with half buried vocals, sequencers, synth surrounds and churning guitar riffs - quite awesome.
The whole album is one series of peaks, searing songs and magical moods, with such a depth of sound that you'll be hearing new things going on, play after play. The production is immaculate, bringing out the best in the band's music, while the compositions are simply incredible, mixing emotion, strength and passion with rage and determination. All in all, one stirring, steaming and stunning album that puts this band at the heart of the industrial electro-rock fraternity. This is as good as it gets.

FLOYDIAN PROPULSION PROJECT: Pink Floyd CD
You will just not believe this album..I mean, you just won't believe it!!!!.
It's not very often in my life these days that I will get a CD in here, put it on the machine, and spend 78 minutes listening to it, in absolute awe, open-mouthed, with my jaw bouncing up and down off the floor in sheer disbelief while there's a mile-wide grin on my face at the same time. Welcome to the machine.
The production on this thing is flawless, the mixing awesome and the execution, frankly mind-blowing, as one utterly incredible album unfolds.
So, what is it that merits this accolade - well, in short, someone has taken twenty (or less- you'll see when you hear it) Pink Floyd tracks, and converted them into electronic remixes. Now, you may say (if you are a Floyd fan of long-standing) "so what's new about that - there were the bootleg trance mixes and the Out Of Phase remix albums". The simple answer is that never before has this idea been so brilliantly conceived and delivered as it is here. Taking all sorts of excerpts from a wide range of Pink Floyd tracks, the Project have converted them into multi-layered, multi-textured, crisp and crystalline sounding, essentially ambient electronic tracks.
But that's by no means the whole story - in there too are a huge wealth of samples taken from a myriad sources - some from Floyd film soundtracks, some from classic films, some from classic science fiction films and scientists - all combining with the electronics, the Floyd templates and more to provide a set of tracks that is mind-bending in its presentation, sound and, above all, ideas - I mean, this mob must have been smoking some quite incredible substances to have come up with something like this.
Sometimes the Floyd template will run around, alongside or underneath the original music, while at others the music will veer off at a tangent or do some quite frankly wondrous things, the trance mix of 'Keep Talking', a perfect example of the latter, while the end (I won't spoil it) of 'Signs Of Life' will have you spluttering your beverage out with amazement. It's wild, it's ambient, it's trancey, it's so musically satisfying with huge depth, amazing bass and electronic/electro-percussive rhythms, plenty of Floyd guitar licks in there too, and loads more synths setting the controls for the heart of your brain, samples galore and just the most unreal thing I've heard in years. Essential listening.

46,000 FIBRES: Cyte Pacific DBLCD
Oh lord - where do you start with this lot - well, it's a history of the band (as opposed to any normal "best of" with mostly previously unreleased or rare tracks, and a hulking great twenty-eight of them spread over two CD's. It details recordings from the earliest recording in 1993 right up to 2003, and celebrates ten years of existence for a band that remained throughout, on this showing anyway, as a band you simply could not "pigeon-hole".
Take a track such as 'Glenbrook/Outsiders' from the mid-'90's (presumably) with its thunderously metronomic Liebezeit-esque drumming, shimmering keys and searing guitar/flute/sax - you could be listening to an instrumental early Can and it's just sensational, at just short of ten fantastic minutes. The four minute 'Psircus' from '95 has a more "French" feel to it with stuttering guitar, loping bass and drums, cascading shards of space guitar and warm flowing melodic sax backdrop, sounding more seventies than nineties and way too short for such a wonderful composition - could have done with much more of this.
This album isn't so much influenced by the seventies German and French pioneers, more that it just sounds like them, right down to the rustic production (not poor - clear as a bell actually - but somehow sounding from that era) on some of the earlier tracks, where the bass and drums, lead guitars, electronics and occasional sax, all give the feel of a mix of classic Can & Lard Free - and you can't argue with that. Some tracks start with a more Faust-like feel and air of experimentation, or sometimes things that conform more to Can's 'E.F.S.' series, but they are either short or develop into the aforementioned areas.
Towards the late nineties, things started getting a bit spacier, and a track like 'Tantramanic', with ex-Hawkwind member Nik Turner on flute, shows that the mix of space and experimentation could seriously warp your brain as 6 mind-melting minutes testify - and all that's just the first CD!! Between the two sets there's over 2 and a half hours of the stuff, with the band and assorted guests becoming ever more "out on a limb" as CD2 progresses, embracing electronic and experimentation, as well as the more "Krautrock" styles of the first disc, but no less satisfying as a whole. So, if you are adventurous in the field of "out-rock" or "avant-progressive" or whatever tag you car to attach to this unique band, then this CD has to be for you.

46,000 FIBRES: The Freedom Offensive CD
A document of their live concert in London in Sept 2002, this sees a sextet of bass, drums, guitars, keyboards, alto sax and trumpet/piano play a searing set that mixes Faust with Soft Machine, Can with Zappa (jazz) and comes out with a set of improvs that go into orbit, hit the outer reaches of the galaxy then come tearing back down to earth with a vengeance, featuring some fiery and cosmic playing from all concerned.

GROBSCHNITT: History Of Solar Music Vol 3 DBLCD
GROBSCHNITT: History Of Solar Music Vol 4 DBLCD
In my rather surreal, although admittedly, well-received review of the first two volumes in this series, I really didn't describe the music. So, here let me redress the balance. First, the 'Vol 3' features more non-'Solar Music' music (if you see what I mean), including a track from Hagen in '69, but still has two versions of the title track from '75 and '81, while the 'Vol 4' has two epic, hour-long, versions of the track from '77 and '78 that are just incredible.
Essentially, 'Solar Music' started life out as a studio track on the second album 'Ballermann' at 33 minutes, then became a stage favourite with a spectacular stage-show to boot, and from there on just blossomed as THE track that the band just had to do in concert. The track, predominantly instrumental, remains THE supreme example of what is a mix of prog-rock, Krautrock and structured jamming, with a sense of dynamics that means it starts at a high, drops down, builds, achieves peak after peak after peak along its epic length, often lasting up to an hour, with guitars, synths, drums and bass achieving nirvana on many occasions along the way. Really, it's one of those classic timeless tracks that you put on the same pedestal as things like 'Supper's Ready', 'Gates Of Delerium' and 'God Of Light', but for far too long ignored by people out there who'd love it to death but never realized what it was. If you like fantastic music with superb dynamics and playing, you just owe it to yourself to get any one of these four albums, or dip your toe in the water with the original single CD issue of the track, now remastered. Either way, don't ignore it - open your mind and prepare to be dazzled.

TODD GRUBBS: Beautiful Device CD
Back when I first began reviewing CD's for CD Services' "Guitar Music" portion of the mail-order, one of the first few unsigned musicians in the field of instrumental rock guitar, was this guy with a rather exciting CD called 'Combination'. Now, several years on, he's come back to wanting to produce a new album and this is the result.
Right from the opening two tracks everything is just spot-on, as this huge-sounding blend of lurching rhythms, throbbing electric bass, swirling clavinet-like keys and rolling electric guitar work start to flow, and almost immediately, Grubbs launches a solo over the top that is melodic, double tracked (or is it split-stereo - well, I'm no technophile) but sounds just superb as this lead guitar soars then reverts back to a more riffing lead role as the track drives forward, the playing, production and arrangements all sounding crisp, clean, solid and expansive, as the musicians pack a lot into the composition.
'Time Phazer' gets even more fired up, this time with an express train rhythm that features some searing lead guitar on top, but just as it gets up a head of steam, it quickly fades into the metalli-funk of 'Inky Goes To Tampa' where, as on the whole album, the bass and drums sound just sensational up in the mix as keys fill in the distant backdrop and the guitar work is positively jaw-dropping, climbing higher and higher as the solos progress, the presence of an acoustic guitar chording in the right speaker adding that extra dimension to the sound, the track slowing down then becoming more anthemic as the organ texture adds to the fluid electric guitar lines on top of a strident rhythm section, the perfect mix of melody and atmosphere in a rock guitar instrumental setting.
'Ma La Vo Day' is altogether slower but no less a force to be reckoned with as the band once again sound so crisp, clean and solid, but full of latent power and dynamics, the fluid and passionate playing revealing a set of musicians who are clearly loving every note. This time for the first section the organ and guitars spar together before a red hot electric lead comes to the fore and the tracks rolls on.
'I Am Frebis' returns to rock with a vengeance as this magnificent sounding trio of electric guitar, bass and drums just powers in and the whole thing takes off like Jeff Beck on steroids, this massive combination of rhythm section and guitar, with an electrifying lead break, that literally makes the windows rattle if you turn it up loud enough - just sensational stuff. Six equally fine and class tracks show off the full quality of this ensemble and the sheer passion that they exude in their playing. It's quality rock rather than out and out metal, with plenty of melody, varied paces, changing arrangements as well as dynamic sensibility to the max, and rocking out, a bonus. Overall, nothing less than enjoyable and a fine, fine album.

INTERSTELLAR CEMENTMIXERS: Dimension Y CD
Brand new 74 minute studio CD and it's another triumph. Featuring three lengthy and five shorter tracks, it is the most varied and most satisfying of their albums to date. Starts with this five minute track, 'Blue Brick', where a huge swirling electronic drone weaves all around the soundscape as echoed drums and percussives, squalls of electronics and layers of drones all combine to produce a setting that is pure early Cluster, circa the legendary 'Cluster II' on the Brain label, and this whole album can rightly be viewed as equal to anything on that album, similar in feel, fuller in sound, greater on ideas and just as fantastic to hear.
'Underwater Inferno' provides us with a multitude of deep, resonant, excellently produced drones and electronic textures where nothing stands still, and extra layers are constantly coming in and out, as the heart of the composition drives on, no rhythm, no melody, no tunes, buty way more than mere "space" or "cosmic" music, although this sums up the essence that was the highly regarded "Kosmische Musik" movement that came out of the seventies German underground, in all, eight minutes of strong soundscapes that are dark, Kraut and Kosmik in nature - just superb.
The 18 minute 'Methane Collision' is a giant among soundscapes, conjuring the very essence of the early seventies electronic pioneers such as Cluster & Tangerine Dream, with a myriad shifting soundscapes, drones, layers, textures and more, in a dense, incredibly sounding multi-electronic environment. All the other tracks are up to this standard of composition and playing, each with its own unique set of sounds, layers and drones, each a sea of "real" exploratory, inventive and strong-sounding Kosmik Musik, and every one utterly engaging. As I said, a gem of an album from a band who can do no wrong.