Author: earthless

The Viola Crayola – Music: Breathing Of Statues (1974)

“You know, there are great guitar trio albums and then there’s San Antonio’s Viola Crayola. This jazzy psych freakout jam album is just remarkable and sounds about 15 years ahead of its time in technique. And fortunately it IS of its era sound-wise. This thing just rips and shreds and wah-wah’s until you collapse from exhaustion. The last 2 minute goofball track allows us to see Viola’s mentor – Mr. Zappa. If these guys released this in 1991, there would be a monthly feature in Guitar Player for him. Unfortunately, Tony Viola died tragically later in 1974. Album is only about 29 minutes long. A bootleg exists.”

El Amor – En Vivo (1971)

“Rock band formed in the late 60’s, first as “Los Pajaros”, and led by Miguel Cardenas. The band was originally from Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, and participated the Youth Festival which was conducted the March 13, 1970 in that city, after receiving outstanding reviews from critics, they decided to try their luck in Mexico City, where they recorded their first LP, which included covers of popular songs at that time.The group renamed as “El Amor” in August 1971 and appear in the popular in a TV show on Sunday in which it was not common invite rock bands. “El Vivo” is their second album, released 1971. The band really crank it up here, with loads of wigged-out fuzz guitar heavily featured on six lengthy tracks of high energy acid rock.”

Siglo Cero – Latinoamerica (1970)

“After The Speakers split in 1969, Humberto Monroy co-founded Siglo cero with Jaime Rodriguez, Mario Renee, Ferdie Fernández and Speaker’s drummer Roberto Fiorilli. Siglo cero was a progressive rock outfit, with major jazz influences. In 1970 they released Festival de la Vida, which was recorded live the 27th of June of the same year at a performance in Bogotá’s Parque Nacional, before 10,000 people.”

Joy – Joy (2012)

“Joy is the newest, loudest tune meltin’ power-trio-trip band to come screaming outta Southern California. Since their formation in 2010 Zachary Oakley (vox, g), Trevor Mast (b), and Taylor Charter (dr) have dialed in a spaced-out-sonic-groove-ride all their own. Their live shows conjure musical spirits of the past in the form of improv-jams and unapologetic volumes and wild stage energy. Fans of Blue Cheer, Cream, Jimi, acid and freestyle-psych take note.”

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Camera – Radiate! (2012)

“Camera are a current krautrock outfit, apparently with predilection for performing impromptu shows in public locations, and this is their debut. A 3-piece based in Berlin, Camera are modern-day upholders of the krautrock aesthetic, heavily influenced by both Neu! and Harmonia especially. And in fact, they’ve earned the blessing of their heroes, having played live in collaboration with Michael Rother (Neu!, Harmonia, etc.) and Dieter Moebius (Cluster, Harmonia, etc.). This debut recording features eight tracks of live-in-the-studio, semi-improvised, mostly instrumental jams that indeed “radiate” the classic krautrock vibe. Krautrock fans will for sure hear echoes of a lot of the greats: Neu!, Can, Cluster, Tangerine Dream, Harmonia, Agitation Free, La Dusseldorf, etc. And anyone into other kraut-loving bands of today, like Circle, Cave, Wooden Shjips, and Hills among ’em, should check this out forthwith.”

Mantric Muse – Mantric Muse (2012)

“If you are into music based on a totally free and non-restrictive approach you could choose to spend a few hours with the new untitled CD from the Danish band Mantric Muse. All the songs on the CD are made from a large catalogue of jams, which have been mapped, dissected and then re-created into parts. The different parts have afterwards been rearranged towards whole songs. Hereby, the base and the structures of the songs avoid most formal rules and fixed concepts (except the overall concept of organizing jams). The band tries to maintain the special freshness – the here and now – of the jams in the songs, so listeners can sense the present vibe of the original jams in the songs. Normally Mantric Muse describes their music as music for neural travelling, and potentially the songs, which are all instrumental and also quite long, crafts a short break from the everyday life. Recommended för fans of ÖRESUND SPACE COLLECTIVE, OZRIC TENTACLES, VESPERO.”

Troldmand – 21.10.11 (2012)

“Picking up where 1970s psychedelic warlords Hawkwind left off and taking their cues from both the speed gurus of the noisy Tokyo underground and the endless groovy jams of the German krautrock scene, Troldmand navigate the field of doomy riffs, frantic guitar solos and psychedelic sounds. This five-piece orchestra is on a never-ending journey to challenge your perception of the cosmic infinite… Recorded live at Loppen, Christiania in Copenhagen, Denmark on 21 October 2011.”

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Yatha Sidhra – A Meditation Mass (1974)

“The first intention was to create a dreamy musical landscape where the Moog synth, the flute & traditional “percussive” instruments play an important part. Seen as a concept album, “A Meditation Mass” is almost exclusively instrumental. A long suite divided in two themes with two variations for each one. A beautiful and ecstatic musical journey. Their sound oscillates between “pastoral” folk music, spacey rock with the addition of discreet jazzy accents.”

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