  The Roadburn playlist is a monthly update from the Roadburn staff reflecting what we are spinning here in the head office. These are the records that get us through the day as we work on Roadburn Festival business and our much delayed review section. Much as you'd expect, our playlists feature heavy rock, psych, and space rock from the 60's to immediate present. We also will feature guest playlists from knowledgeable contributors like Jerry Kranitz from Aural-Innovations amongst others. The Roadburn playlist is waiting for you... Archive: Playlist February 2008 Playlist March 2008 Contact: Walter Roadburn on Last FM & Myspace. Roadburn Records on Myspace. Plus, instead of a Roadburn Forum, we created a Roadburn Yahoo Group! Please subscribe here. The website: Article Overview Audio Webcasts More Audio Webcasts Roadburn Records Homepage |
Main-editor Aural-Innovations.  
EARTHLING SOCIETY - "BEAUTY AND THE BEAST" [CD - 4 Zero Records] For their fourth album, Earthling Society have made the jump from Nasoni Records to Dave Weller's 4 Zero Records, a label that is still fledgling but quickly becoming one of the more exciting sources for adventurous psychedelic music. The promo sheet claims a change in direction for the band – A farewell to our more obvious space rock leanings, instead we have drunk deep from the well of visionaries such as Syd Barrett, Todd Rundren, Kevin Ayers and John Cale. Space rock is hardly left behind on the opening track, "Drowned World." It starts off like the theme to an old spooky 60s horror television show, with cheesy haunted organ, but also over-the-top whooshing electronics. But after nearly 2 minutes it launches into a prog-jazzy psychedelic song, with fuzzed guitar licks and a high pitched keyboard melody, all surrounded by an aggressive rumbling vibe. And at nearly 9 minutes there's lots of sonic exploration on this spaced out lysergic spook house dirge. A blistering, edge-of-your-seat acidic krautrocking space jam with an experimental edge. But Earthling Society really have been taking some stylistic twists and turns. Like the country tinged west coast psychedelia of "Candlemass." And the jangly, dreamy, melodic, 60s flavored trippy psychedelia of "Tenement Song", which also includes astronaut voice samples and freaky swirling electronics to throw you off any simple classification. "Sundropped" is a flower powery pop-psych song that is still in the 60s, but also has a Burt Bacharach feel. No shit! It's cool! And still mucho freaky! "The Boy With The X-Ray Eyes" is somewhat similar, being an accessible but psychedelicized alt-pop-rock song. Oriental themes meet screaming alien synths, intense drumming and experimental psychedelic mind-fuckedness on "Untitled." The Todd Rundgren influence is apparent on "A Modest Flower", sometimes sounding like an acid trip rendition of "Hello It's Me", though I also hear bits of the Beatles. The Moody Blues are another band mentioned in the promo sheet and "The Moonlit Road" is where I sensed their presence, though Earthling Society are only incorporating it into their own distinctive world. Psychedelia blends with Moody Bluesy orchestrations and trippy avant-Beat jazz to very cool effect. One of my favorites of the set is the 12+ minute "Valerie A Tyden Divu", which will sweep you straight into dreamland. The track opens with drugged tribal rhythms, choral chants, steady wailing drones, and jamming guitars, and after a few minutes launches into a rocking progressive acid-folk psych song. Strumming acoustic guitar, proggy keyboards, a solid rocking groove and gorgeous melodies make for a mesmerizing blend of classic progressive rock, psychedelic folk, and ther's even a cosmic southern rock feel during one of the instrumental jamming sections. Lots of thematic changes and a genuinely joyous ride. "A Playground Mystery" begins as a melodic cosmic trance pop song that goes into deep space. Just surrender yourself and float away. But after about 5 minutes the song ends and things go silent for a minute of so, until the band return for some freaky tripped out sound experimentations and oddball trance. The most exciting bands are the ones that travel different roads from one album to the next, always searching and exploring new possibilities, and indulging their various interests, without completely abandoning what drew you to them in the first place. Compositionally this is the most sophisticated Earthling Society album to date, though there's no shortage of wild psychedelic experimentation. An excellent blend of song and free-wheeling psychedelic buccaneer spirit. Earthling Society have come an impressively long way in just over four years. 
FARFLUNG - "A WOUND IN ETERNITY" [CD - Meteor City] Wow, this has got to be one of the most monstrous Farflung albums to date. And it's been quite a wait too. The album opens with "Unborn Planet", a space rock 'n roller that recalls the first Farflung album, "25,000 Feet Per Second." We've got killer molten guitars and space electronics and the trademark Grenas vocals. This leads directly into "Endless Drifting Wreck", one of my favorite tracks on the album. It rocks hard throughout, but also eases the pace at times for some dreamier floating segments, only to peak out for a high intensity finale. "Like It Has Never Been" features a mixture of electronics, a steady rhythmic pace and a bluesy space-slide guitar that sounds great. The music trips along for a while until launching into yet another classic Farflung sonic meltdown. "Stella Volo" is another rock 'n rolling song, with multiple amazing freaked out space guitars that jam away, and a cool tribal segment. "Ix" is a little different. It's as deep space as anything on the album, but has a dark and menacing vibe, plus an almost orchestral foundation that gives a very full sound and added intensity to the music. "Silver Shrooms" has been around for a while though never officially released. "Invincible" is another one of my favorites, starting off as a space-prog rocker, but later taking off into a mercury bursting manic space metallic rocking blast. This sucker will leave you battered and bruised. And "Precognition" features more high powered metal and prog fueled space rock that brings the album to a close. If had you to choose one album to play for someone that didn't know what space rock is this would be a hell of a good choice. Outstanding musicianship, tight as a knot band, excellent songwriting and production. I sure hope we get some live shows.  JET JAGUAR - "3rd MILLENNIUM POWER DRIVE" [CD - Overlord Records] Hot on the heels of their "Space Anthem" album, released not long ago by Black Widow Records, comes the fourth full-length Jet Jaguar album – "3rd Millennium Power Drive." Recorded in 2005, the album features the same lineup as "Space Anthem" - Charles Van de Kree on guitars, synths and vocals, Dave Scott on keyboards and synths, Ron Grissom on bass, audio generators and synths, and Roland Thoms on drums, percussion and wind instruments. "Commandos of the New Sun" opens the set, beginning with whooshing synths and a repetitive spaceship heartbeat. After a couple minutes the band launch into the trademark Jet Jaguar space rock 'n roll. A solid opening track, with a great mixture of heavy guitars, alien electronics and soaring keyboards. "Out in the Moondocks" has a similar intro section that serves as a cool countdown to the big blast off. It rocks hard but includes a nifty pounding techno interlude, accompanied by an eerie cosmic keyboard melody, before launching back into the space rock assault. "Cruise Mode" is a fun sci fi dance party in space tune [Hey Dick Clark... have I got a band for you!]. "Cities in Xenon" is a bit different, being a moody, atmospheric keyboard driven piece that would be the perfect soundtrack to a sci fi film. "Icehenge" is similar, though it's much darker and there's tension in the air throughout. "Burning Through the Dyson Sphere" is an easy paced, image inducing instrumental I enjoyed. The appropriately titled "Eyes of the Sphinx" opens with a Middle Eastern themed horn call. And after this spiritual intro the band take off into what it probably the most metallic song of the set. The album closes with the instrumental, "Will the Last Person to Leave the Planet Shut off the Sun", a live track recorded at the Astropad in Houston in 2005. The band members listed on the Jet Jaguar Myspace page indicate that Charles is the only remaining musician from the lineup that recorded this album. And given that this is the most varied Jet Jaguar album to date, and includes some of the best guitar and keyboard work I've heard from the band yet, I'll be very interested in hearing what the current lineup produces. In summary, if you like pure balls to the walls SPACE ROCK, crunchy guitars, lots of freaky electronics, well written songs with sci fi lyrics [often humorous], a good time rock 'n roll vibe, but also good thematic development, then you can't go wrong with Jet Jaguar. 
NICK RIFF'S FREAK ELEMENT - "THE WORLD'S ALIVE" [CD - Riffdisc] A veteran of the Cleveland, Ohio alternative music scene, Nick Riff is known for the two albums he recorded for the great Delerium label in the 1990's, as well as contributions to numerous compilations. Nick started getting active again a few years ago and in 2005 released "Magick Museum", a collection of limited edition and out of print material. And now we have "The World's Alive", by Nick Riff's Freak Element, an album that was recorded in 1999 but due to various issues was never released until now [Or as Nick says, has been in suspended animation for 9 years]. "The Hidden Path" kicks off the set, an intense rocking intro piece with chants, looped liquid guitar, and all around psychedelic swirl that builds momentum. This leads into "Calling You", a heavy spaced out psych rocker with wailing trip guitar licks and blasts of alien electronics. It's got a relentlessly pounding stoner-garage beat and I really dig the mixture of crashing guitar chords and tasty solo bits. "Into It" is an outstanding psych rocker and damn good song and features more luscious freak guitar and synth bits. Nick does a hell of a fine job of writing catchy songs while taking them deep into the psychedelic cosmos and working in lots of instrumental stretching out within the space of 5+ minute songs. "The World's Alive" is another excellent rocker with a pop-psych edge and a great 60s feel, both musically and lyrically. On "Hovering Just Overhead" we get deep into garage rocking SPACE. It's a pounding rocker with space guitar efx that remind me of Farflung, and voice samples from some 50s sci fi flicks. "Same Thing Twice" is an acidic space rocker with song elements and lots of totally stoned jamming. "Pre-Millennium Transmissions" features 9 minutes of pure instrumental space exploration. Great drumming really adds oomph and direction to this effects fest. And "Dream" is a peaceful, seductive, melodic psychedelic space rock song that's ends the album on a meditative note. I'm glad this album is finally seeing the light of day. Highly recommended! Nick has a solo album he recently completed so I hope that gets out soon.  SEVEN THAT SPELLS - "THE MEN FROM DYSTOPIA" [CD - Beta lactam Ring Records] The latest from Croatian psychedelic monsters Seven that Spells features a meeting of the freakout masters, with guitarist / bandleader Niko Potocnjak bringing in Acid Mothers Temple's Kawabata Makoto to contribute electric sitar, tambura and hurdy-gurdy. The album starts off with a trippy acoustic guitar melody accompanied by Halleys Comet electronics. Chanting vocals, heavier guitars, drones and percussion soon join in, the whole thing bubbling and brewing, intensity building, until the inevitable explosion, and now we're soaring through acid drenched space. And when track II hits it's like Amon Düül II - Yeti: The Lost Tapes. No shit, this is very Düül-ish indeed. And the duo of Niko on guitar and Kawabata on sitar will keep freakout fans busy draining their drool buckets. It's an extended Middle Eastern flavored lysergic space trip that is pure mindfuck [Are you getting the idea that this is psychedelic music?] The band jam on "Ad Blisseum" and do a stellar job of winding and weaving their way around their chosen themes in a way that is totally freeform yet masterfully controlled. When we get to track III the guitar takes front and center stage for some killer soloing, and now we're in Acid Mothers Temple territory with early Guru Guru influences at the beginning and the intensity catapults beyond the mercury bursting level. Track IV transitions to a tripped out drone and soundscapes jam [plenty of ripping guitar too], with what sounds like efx'd bagpipes blasting away. And track V goes even deeper into the demonic chant and drone zone. Focus your mantra on this and just when you think you've reached meditative nirvana... ZAP! You're lobotomized! Wow, nearly 80 minutes of continuous psychedelic mayhem and I was drained. I hope Kawabata's participation helps draw attention to Seven that Spells. Niko is a gifted musician and creates music that is unquestionably on par with Acid Mothers Temple. If you're an Acid Mothers Temple fan or anyone that appreciates stretched out psychedelic jams you are absolutely guaranteed to like Seven that Spells. Better hurry though because this is available in a limited numbered edition of only 500 copies.  STONE OAK COSMONAUT - "THE MEN FROM DYSTOPIA" [CD - Self-Released] Stone Oak Cosmonaut are a new Dutch trio who play a monster blend of Space Rock, Metal and Stoner Rock. The band consists of Fred Stack on "space guitar", Peter on drums and Von Trippenhof on bass, electronics and vocals. And if the name Von Trippenhof sounds familiar it's probably because he did some time in the late 1990s with The Legendary Pink Dots. The band burst out hot and heavy with "Keph-Tun", a pounding slab of Space-Metal. Swirling alien electronics, crunchy metallic guitar and cosmic space guitar. A solid opener. "A Circle Run" is next and we're now deep in Stoner Space Rock territory. These guys know how to incorporate the electronics into the music so that it all gels nicely. And Von Trippenhof's vocals sound a lot like Wino, so between that and the music this sounds like it could be Spirit Caravan gone Space Rock [I told him that and he had not previously heard of Wino or any of his bands]. And again we get a great mixture of heavy stoner and bubbly space guitar, which culminates in a mind-blowing spaced out stoner-psychedelic finale. "Away in the Laika", "The Gift of the Eyeless Merchant" and "Oh Yeah" are other solid stoner space metal tunes I enjoyed. "The Gift of the Eyeless Merchant" is probably the most intense song of the set. A genuine battlecry for war feel. And Fred really rips up the solos on "Oh Yeah." "A Light in the Dark" starts off dreamily ethereal and trips along like that for a couple minutes before launching into a heavy rocking stoner-metal-space rock blast. It's got some of Von Trippenhof's most potent vocals and a killer cosmic jam segment. "Reborn Again [Latter Day Beelzebub]" is a bit different, having a good time, though totally grungy, rock 'n roll edge to it. It's melodic, almost pop, on the one hand, but in no way dispenses with the powerful metallic flavor of the rest of the album. And interesting song with contrasting styles. But the highlight... the standout... the ultimate monster of the album, is the two part, 25 minute "Out of Orbit." "Earthless" is part 1, and starts off as an easy paced spacey song with both freaky electronics and proggy synth washes. Soon Von Trippenhof's bass starts to get a groove going, the drumming gets increasingly rocking, and when Fred's guitar kicks in we're in full power trio psych rock mode. Fred briefly plays in a Hendrix style until the band abruptly shift to the now trademark Stone Oak Cosmonaut metallic rocking vibe. And back and forth they go, between intense stoner metal and ripping spaced out psychedelic jamming. Lots going on here, and I really dig the hip shakin' psychedelic boogie-woogie bits. And when we get to part 2 - "Star Voyage" - its 14 blissful minutes of heavy, take no prisoners JAMMING! HEAVY duty metallic, rock 'n rolling SPACE ROCK! Absolutely fucking awesome. This is without a doubt one of the best albums I've heard this year. For fans of First Band From Outer Space, Earthless, Litmus, and of course Hawkwind. Highest as a kite recommendation! BACK TO TOP |
THE ROADBURN PLAYLIST
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