SpaceFest! 2018 – 7 December 2018

SpaceFest! 2018 to launch, Pure Phase Ensemble 8 led by Will Carruthers (Spacemen 3, Spiritualized, Spectrum, The Brian Jonestown Massacre, Dead Skeletons)

On December 7–8, the city of Gdańsk will again be the East European hub of psychedelic sounds, celebrating guitar distortions, noise drones and other mysterious sounds created under the influence of cosmic energy: ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the eighth SpaceFest!

This year’s edition will include even more concerts, taking place not on one, but two stages of Klub B90. The lineup includes a mouth-watering, transcontinental selection of music for fans of the heavier side of rock, new psychedelia, space-rock and shoegaze, as well as electronic and experimental music. SpaceFest is offering concert-goers a one-way ticket to discover new psych sounds and bands (without having to go to the moon).

This year’s selection of artists includes Brazil’s very own RAKTA will immerse you in their garage psychedelic music, strongly inspired by tribal rites, occultism and trance rhythms. These girls rock and don’t take no prisoners!

Hailing from Cape Town, South Africa is MEDICINE BOY. This duo will enchant you with their oneiric female vocals and downtempo, unsettling, heroin-fuelled sounds, only to explode in solid, noise drones when you’re least expecting it.

Italians SONIC JESUS are no strangers to guitar distortion, trance electronic beats or anything gothic. Their concerts promise a blast of pure energy. EYRE LLEW are an ambient-rock trio from Notthingam UK, who are making waves with their beautiful, ethereal sounds. If you’re fans of Sigur Rós or Mogwai, this concert is a must.

THE LUCID DREAM represent the UK’s young alternative scene and do not shy away from experimenting with various genres. Their set will combine psychedelic rock with elements of acid house, dub and kosmische Musik.

PIN PARK’s music is strongly inspired by German experimental electronica from the 1970s. Using original instruments from that time, they create a broad spectrum of analogue sounds, generating music that is soothing, melancholy, structured based on looped, developing motifs, and punctuated with crafty details and nuances.

NEST EGG, a heady trio from North Carolina (US), like to call their heavy, motoric, rock sound “mood music for nihilists”. SPOIWOcombine post-rock, shoegaze, modern classical and film music. This will be the band’s first concert in Gdańsk after a long break. This shoud be a real treat for faithful fans, as the band will be presenting some tracks from their upcoming album.

Gdańsk-based trio POPSYSZE also promise to debut some new tracks. Perhaps the strongest psychedelic, space-rock representation in northern Poland, they are strongly inspired by the wild nature of the Kashubian region and ethnic music from various corners of the world.

The SpaceFest! 2018 line-up is would not be complete without two winners of our competition for interesting psychedelic acts: COLUMBUS DUO from Gdańsk (noise/ drone / ambient /improv) and XDZVØNX from Wrocław (sacral noize/dark electro – a surprising mix of broken beats, Orthodox music, hip-hop and hypnotising visuals).

Mexico’s SUNSET IMAGES also merit particular attention with their pure-blooded guitar psych, peppered with elements of experimental noise and shoegaze.

As every year, one of the main highlights of the festival is PURE PHASE ENSEMBLE 8 – an international formation created specially for SpaceFest! Throughout the week before the festival, a group of 10 musicians will meet to jam at Łaźnia CCA, composing and playing material that will later be presented live at SpaceFest. PPE 8 will be curated by WILL CARRUTHERS, a legendary musician who has spent the last 30 years playing in 33 bands, including Spacemen 3, Spiritualized, SPECTRUM, The Brian Jonestown Massacre and Dead Skeletons.

In past incarnations of Pure Phase Ensemble, the group was curated by Mark Gardener (Ride), Anton Newcombe (The Brian Jonestown Massacre, Laetitia Sadier (Stereolab), Ray Dickaty (Spiritualized), Steve Hewitt (Placebo), Jaime Harding (Marion), Chris Olley (Six By Seven), and Hugo Race (The Bad Seeds, The True Spirit).

Last but not least, is SpaceFest regular DR SWITCHOFF (RU), whose crazy Finders Keepers-inspired DJ sets and absurd visuals will wrap up the festival.

Organized by the Nasiono Association
, this event is co-funded annually by the City of Gdańsk in partnership with Łaźnia Centre for Contemporary Art, Metropolitalna Karta do Kultury, B90, Saltus Ubezpieczenia
. Media patrons include Shameless Promotion PR, Drowned in Sound, Last Day Deaf, Radio Gdańsk S.A., Trojmiasto.pl, Gazeta Wyborcza, Co Jest Grane24, Full Moon Magazine and GoOut.pl.

The years go by, but one thing stays the same: SpaceFest stands for great music, zero gravity and maximum psych factor! Tickets cost between PLN 25-75 (discount for students and CARD TO CULTURE holders) and may be purchased at http://spacefest.pl/bilety or via GoOut, Soundrive Tickets and KupBilecik.pl.

CONCERT LINE-UP
7 December 2018 | doors: 6:30 p.m.
Nest Egg (US)
Medicine Boy (ZA)
Pin Park (PL)
Sonic Jesus (IT)
Sunset Images (MX)
Rakta (BR)
Dr Switchoff (RU)

8 December 2018 | doors: 6:30 p.m.
Eyre Llew (UK)
Popsysze (PL)
The Lucid Dream (UK)
Columbus Duo (PL)
Pure Phase Ensemble ft. Will Carruthers (PL/UK)
XDZVØNX (PL)
Spoiwo (PL)
Dr Switchoff (RU)

Keep up with Pure Phase Ensemble / Nasiono Records
Website | Facebook | Bandcamp | Twitter | YouTube | Soundcloud

Keep up with SpaceFest
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Soundcloud

 

New vinyl from The Chemistry Set, nick nicely, Touch and Elfin Bow – on Fruits de Mer Records

THE CHEMISTRY SET – ‘FIREFLY’
30 years after their first release (a cassette!), The Chemistry Set celebrate by recording two new psychedelic rock tracks that ooze class.
Phasing, Farfisas,  Rickenbackers and Mellotrons – they’re all in there, with probably the best production job the band have ever achieved. What a way to celebrate 30 years!
Oh, and if that wasn’t enough, we’re adding in a free bonus CD that includes two extended remixes by Astralasia of The Chemistry Set’s cover of The Moody Blues’ ‘Legend Of A Mind‘  – we must be mad.

nick nicely – ‘ALL ALONG THE WATCHTOWER’
Nick (best known for his legendary  ‘Hilly Fields‘ and ‘49 Cigars‘  singles) continues to redefine psychedelia for the 21st century; he has recorded two new tracks exclusively for FdM, creating an electronic wall-of-sound and then building Dylan’s ‘Watchtower‘ behind it.  And he presents a new song – ‘The Doors Of Perception‘ for the other side that’s equally epic and jaw-dropping.

TOUCH – ‘WE FEEL FINE’
a three-track 7″EP from a US band that released one remarkable LP in 1969 and then split up. Their music was somewhere between (and occasionally beyond!) psychedelia and progressive rock, with touches of Zappa and a whole lot of other things thrown in. Hendrix called in on the studio sessions and was apparently suitably impressed. Mojo called the album a “buried treasure”.
Our single includes two outstanding tracks from the album and a third from an unreleased 1968 single that’s never been released on vinyl before. Includes a mini fold-out poster

ELFIN BOW & GARY LLOYD – ‘WHO KNOWS WHERE THE TIME GOES’
Elfin Bow entranced the audience at this year’s Dr. Sardonicus festival with a solo rendition of the Sandy Denny classic. But here she is joined by Gary Lloyd and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra for a beautifully rich version.
The b-side is also backed by the orchestra as she revisits her own song, ‘The Wisdom‘.
If the charts still meant anything, this would be in there.
Comes is a rather lovely gatefold sleeve.

 

October releases from Fruits de Mer Records – including The Electric Prunes, The Pretty Things and The Yardbirds

 

1966-1968 : arguably the golden era for music. ‘The Three Seasons‘ is a bit of a tribute to the psychedelic era – the first buds forming in ’66, the summer of love and the comedown in ’68.

Some of Fruits de Mer‘s best-known artists are joined by some new faces and a few who were actually there at the time and were personally responsible for some of the amazing sounds that we’re celebrating in this vinyl love-in.

The Three Seasons has taken rather a long time to grow into the 3 LP set that will be presented for your consideration in early October – although, in the end, some heavy pruning was necessary to fit everything onto six sides (it could so easily have been a 4LP set, but someone had already knicked the ‘four seasons’ title).

The music ranges from pop-psych to acid-folk, heavy rock to prog, from classic songs to the long-lost – the kind of thing Fruits de Mer was designed for.

So, who is responsible for the two hours+ of music between the grooves? Step forward:

side 1

1. The Past Tense – Magic In The Air (originally by The Attack : recorded in 1967)
2. LoveyDove – Bedazzled (originally by Drimble Wedge and the Vegetations : 1967)
3. Campbell Stokes Sunshine Recorder – Amelia Jane (originally by Made In Sheffield : 1967)
4. Jack Ellister – Aquarius (originally by The Zodiac:Cosmic Sounds : 1967)
5. Rob Gould – Granny Takes A Trip (originally by The Purple Gang : 1967)

side 2

1. Mark McDowell and Friends – Up The Wooden Hills To Bedfordshire (originally by The Small Faces : 1966)
2. Anton Barbeau – Sunshine Superman (originally by Donovan : 1965)
3. The Electric Prunes – 7 and 7 is (originally by Love : 1966)
4. Moonweevil – Child Of The Sky (originally by The Deviants : 1967)
5. Kris Gietkowski – A-Minor Explosion (originally by Don Shinn : 1966)
6. The Yardbirds – Think About It (live in 2016) (originally by The Yardbirds : 1968)

side 3

1. The Locker Room Cowboys – We Love You (originally by The Rolling Stones : 1967)
2. King Penguin – White Bird (written : 1967, released by It’s A Beautiful Day : 1969)
3. Aunt Cynthia’s Cabin – Solitary Man (originally by Neil Diamond : 1966)
4. The Luck Of Eden Hall – Reflected (originally by Alice Cooper : 1968)

side 4

1. The Honey Pot – Kites (written by Hackaday/Pockriss; recorded by The Rooftop Singers / Simon Dupree and the Big Sound : 1967)
2. Cary Grace – 1983 (A Merman I Should Be…) (originally by the Jimi Hendrix Experience : 1968)

side 5

1. Sidewalk Society – A Saying For Today (originally by The Action : 1968)
2. Jay Tausig – Let No Man Steal Your Thyme (trad. recorded by Anne Briggs : 1963 / Pentangle : 1968)
3. Magic Bus – Tribal Gathering (originally by The Byrds : 1967)
4. Proud Peasant – Down At Circe’s Place (originally by Touch : 1968)
5. Icarus Peel – Beck’s Bolero (originally by Jeff Beck Group : 1966)

side 6

1. The Green Ray – Dusty (originally by John Martyn : 1968)
2. Ex-Norwegian – Winter (originally by Family : 1968)
3. Consterdine – Fly (originally by J.K. & Co : 1968)
4. The Gold Needles – The Smell of Incense (originally by West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band : 1967)
5. The Pretty Things – Loneliest Person (live at the Half Moon, 2010) (originally by The Pretty Things : 1968)

The other new vinyl release comes from Kris Gietkowski, who created the wonderfully-mad solo instrumental version of Egg‘s first album last year from FdM. He’s back and it’s as if Egg have never been away – on ‘Symmetric Communication‘, he moves onto their second album with a cover of ‘A Visit To Newport Hospital‘ and then creates two new compositions that are heavily influenced by the band – again it’s all instrumental and the work of one man – and I think it’s damn good (he said modestly).

 

Sendelica – Cromlech Chronicles III (Fruits de Mer Records, July 30)

Sendelica will be back on Fruits de Mer just in time for their 16th Dream of Dr. Sardonicus summer festival, and with something of a harder edge for this latest installment in their Welsh chronicles. As it’s Part 3, it’ll have a 3D front cover (& 3D glasses) and come as a set of three 10″ records – all just for the hell of it. Pressed on colour vinyl, naturally.

Here’s a little context to the new recordings:

Back in 2006 Sendelica recorded their debut album, “Entering The Rainbow Light“. at Mwnci Studios in the magical landscape of West Wales.

It was to be almost another decade  before the band returned to that studio in what is turning into a regular gathering of like-minded musical souls in search of new musical paths that have become known as the “Cromlech Chronicle” sessions.

An annual two days of simply playing, improvising and recording to see where the musical muse leads the group members. August 2017 saw the regular Sendelica line-up swell its ranks to a six piece band with the addition of a second drummer Gregory Curvey (from The Luck of Eden Hall) and keyboardist Roger Morgan.

After 2016’s recordings of cerebral ambiance (“Cromlech II“) the new line up explored both pastoral pastures in “Teifi Marshes“, “12 Shades Revisited” and “Star Flower Blossom” alongside searing psychedelic prog workouts “Slow Burner“, “BS“, and “Lost Citi of Cardiza“.

The 3×10” set contains:

1. BS (6:39)
2. Slow Burner (12:41)
3. 12 Shades Revisited (10:58)
4. Teifi Marshes (9:14)
5. Star Flower Blossom (14:40)
6. Lost City of Cardiza (8:43)

Keep up with Sendelica 

Facebook | Bandacmp

 

 

Dirtmusic ‎– Bu Bir Ruya (Glitterbeat 28 January 2018)

There are so many artists and so many releases around us that I am missing lots of them. Luckily enough, I didn’t miss this one…

Dirtmusic is the project that Chris Eckman (The Walkabouts) and Hugo Race (Bad Seeds) founded in 2007.

Their fifth full length album Bu Bir Ruya (“This is a Dream” in Turkish) was recorded in Istanbul and came out in January.

Here they work as a trio with Turkish musician Murat Ertel from the psychedelic Turkish group Baba Zula.

The title of the album describes perfectly the whole thing.

With the opening track, Bi De Sen Soyle, starts a journey into a dreamworld of Eastern psychedelia.

Seven tracks of slow, mesmerizing rhythms, and guiding wispers, ethnic, electronic, and folk merged.

I have a special place in my collection, where I keep some my favorite “different” albums shuch as:
Bill Laswell ‎– Hashisheen : The End Of Law, Hector Zazou ‎– Sahara Blue, Brian Eno – David Byrne ‎– My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts, David Sylvian – Gone to Earth, Bob Marley ‎– Dreams Of Freedom (Ambient Translations Of Bob Marley In Dub) and this is where I’ll put Dirtmusic ‎– Bu Bir Ruya.

Thanks guys, you gave us an excellent album.

Dirtmusic are hitting the road in a few weeks.

17.05. – BG – Sofia – Mixtape 5 / A-Side
18.05. – RS – Belgrade – Kulturni Centar Grad (w/ Igralom)
19.05. – RS – Novi Sad – Novosadsko Pozorište
21.05. – CR – Zagreb – Močvara
24.05. – SI – Piran – Druga Godba Festival
01.06. – MK – Skopje – OFFest
28.06. – PL – Lublin – Different Sounds
30.06 – IT – Florence – San Salvi
01.07 – IT – Pescara – IndieRocket Festival
18.07 – CZ – Ostrava – Colours of Ostrava

 

Magic Shoppe – Triangulum Australe (Vinyl edition, Little Cloud Records 2018)

Magic Shoppe’s four song EP Triangulum Australe was originally released “digital only” back in 2012. One of the group’s more obscure records, it has never been available on vinyl…. until now! Little Cloud Records is beyond stoked to finally get this dark, reverberated gem pressed on vinyl.

The EP’s opener, Trip Inside This House displays an overpowering psychedelic atmosphere – it’s heavy and swallows the song in one sweeping bite, but at the same time it offers an unsettling quality that drives the song into menacing oblivion. Josiah Webb weaves catchy vocal hooks through the mystifying haze, which eventually becomes the pattern of the EP.

Shangri-La in Reverse is another snapshot of this troubling psych sound, driven by a sweltering haze and a creepy, slithering beat that drags underneath. Webb’s fuzzed-out vocals are masked by a thick veil of quivering reverb, which already has to cut through that smokey guitar haze to make it to your ears. This track just goes to show the heavily characteristic nature this music has with its broad range of effects, which always makes for an immersing listening session. This is some hypnotizing psych rock.

(Description by Zac Camagna – styrofoamdrone.com)

 

Goldfish: 10 Years of Fruits de Mer Records (Fruits de Mer Records, 30 April 2018)

As a kid I used to turn on the radio, lie down, close my eyes and lose myself to the sounds of music…

It happened again the other day when I started listening to the compilation “Goldfish: 10 years of Fruits de Mer Records”.

Fruits de Mer is an indie record label from Surrey, UK specializing on psychedelia, progressive rock, acid-folk, krautrock and spacerock riding on the back of the vinyl revival, even if there wasn’t one when they started out back in 2008…

In Keith’s own words:

“Established way back in 1715 (that’s a quarter past five in the evening) by Andy and Keith, we started out with the carefully laid-out plan to unearth and reissue long-lost, classic tracks from the sixties and early seventies – but the record companies with the rights to the back-catalogues simply didn’t want to know us. After several weeks of crying into our beer, we thought, “sod it, we’ll do it ourselves”…and we have. Andy decided it was time to do something different a few years ago, so FdM now consists of me (Keith) and whoever else I can rope in, usually my lovely missus, Liz.
FdM releases are a right old mix of classic and obscure tracks, reinterpreted by artists who love them, respect them but want to breathe new life into them…and new songs by bands that have their roots in the 60s/70s.
Go on, put on your diving gear, join the Fruits de Mer deep-sea fishing trip as we dredge up whoppers by the likes of The Small Faces, Nick Drake, Can, HP Lovecraft, The Moody Blues, Egg, Arthur Brown and Strawberry Alarm Clock…even little-known names such as The Beatles, Pink Floyd and Miles Davis get a look-in with us. Then we let new or cult artists such as The Bevis Frond, Soft Hearted Scientists, nick nicely, The Chemistry Set, Cranium Pie, Tir na nOg, Vibravoid and the mighty Pretty Things get to work in making the tracks their own. Running a vinyl record label is a sure-fire way of losing money but I’m in it for the love of it and, if you’ve read this far, you probably are too – you can find out more about FdM at www.fruitsdemerrecords.com call in for a cuppa, drop me a line any time.
In the words of Schizo Fun Addict, who put together our first single, “Be brave…and keep faith”.”

Every Fruits De Mer Records release is limited and all on colour vinyl…

The catalogue numbers of this 3LP set and the bonus 7” single that comes with it (and they call “the little goldfish”) are crustacean 84 and 85 so as you realize these people managed to put a lot of releases out there…

“Goldfish: 10 years of Fruits de Mer Records” comes with tracks from The Pretty Things, nick nicely, Tir n nOg, The Chemistry Set, Stay , Beautify Junkyards, Cranium Pie, Astralasia, Sendelica, Vibravoid, Superfjord, Soft Hearted Scientists, The Honey Pot and a whole lot of other artists who really should have known better…

Goldfish focuses mainly on what Fruits de Mer originally set out to deliver – classic and willfully-obscure songs taken from, or heavily influenced by the 60s and early 70s…

• Side one

Tor Peders – Theme One (Martin) from Tor Peders ‘Brev Fran Ederstorp‘ LP+7″ winkle 17

Sendelica – Venus In Furs (Reed) from Sendelica ‘A Nice Pear‘ 7″ crustacean 13

Us and Them – Willow’s Song (Giovanni) from Us and Them 7″ ‘Summerisle‘ 7″ crustacean 20

Stay – 2,000 Light Years From Home (Jagger/Richards) from the Stay 7″ crustacean 3

Tir na nOg – I Pick Up Birds At Funerals (O’Kelly) from Tir na nOg ‘I Have known Love‘ 7″ crustacean 49

• Side two

The Chemistry Set – Come Kiss Me, Vibrate and Smile (McLean) from the Chemistry Set 7″ winkle 8

Hills Have Riffs – Down By The River (McCarthy) from the ‘Keep Off The Grass‘ double LP crustacean 21

White Sails – Fluff (Iommi) from the White Sails 7″ winkle 11

Soft Hearted Scientists – Caterpillar Song (Soft Hearted Scientists) from ‘Whatever Happened To The Soft Hearted Scientists‘ double LP+7″ crustacean 38

• Side three

Vibravoid – Eye Shaking King (Karrer/Rogner) from Vibravoid ‘Krautrock Sensation‘ 7″ crustacean 7 (previously unreleased, extended mix)

Claudio Cataldi – Here She Comes Now (Reed/Cale/Morrison) from Claudio Cataldi ‘Here She Comes Now‘ 7″ winkle 22

King Penguin – She Don’t Care About Time (Clark) from the ‘7 and 7 is‘ box-set crustacean 51-57

Beautify Junkyards – From The Morning (Drake) from the Beautify Junkyards 7″ crustacean 30

nick nicely – Hilly Fields – The Mourning (nicely) from nick nicely ‘Hilly Fields‘ 7″ crustacean 27

• Side four

Blue Zeta Giant Puppies – Journey Of The Sorcerer (Leadon) from ‘The Fruits de Mer Records Guide To The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy‘ 7″+CD crustacean 74

Cranium Pie – Baby You’re A Rich Man (Lennon/McCartney) from the Cranium Pie 7″ crustacean 8

Crystal Jacqueline – Cousin Jane (Page/Matthews) from the Crystal Jacqueline 7″ crustacean 39

Mark McDowell – Girls Of Belvoir (McDowell) from the Regal Crabomophone Annual 2014 7″ winkle 13

The Pretty Things – Helter Skelter (Lennon/McCartney) from ‘The White EP‘ (double 7″) crustacean 33

• Side five

The Honey Pot – Dr. Crippen’s Waiting Room (Crowley/Greeley) from The Honey Pot ‘Ascending Scales‘ double LP winkle 25

Permanent Clear Light – Wherewithal (Ward) from the FdM 2011 Annual 7″ crustacean 16

Frobisher Neck – Isi (Dinger/Rother) from ‘Roqueting Through Space‘ (LP+7″) crustacean 13

Kris Gietkowski – I Will Be Absorbed (Brooks/Campbell/Stewart) from Kris Gietkowski ‘Music from Egg’s first LP‘ LP strange fish eight

Jack Ellister – The Man With The Biochopper (Ellister) from the Jack Ellister 7″ winkle 6

• Side six

Sidewalk Society – Strange Roads (King/King) from Sidewalk Society ‘Strange Roads‘ LP crustacean 81

Astralasia – The Desert (Boulton/Swordfish) from Astralasia ‘Wind On Water‘ LP+7″ winkle 17

Superfjord – A Love Supreme (Coltrane) from the ‘Coltrane‘ 7″ crustacean 59

Schizo Fun Addict – Ogdens Nut Gone Flake (Marriott/Lane/McLagan/Jones) from the Schizo Fun Addict 7″ crustacean 1 (flake mix – previously unreleased)

…and all copies will include a bonus 7″ – the little goldfish (crustacean 85)

1. Saturn’s Ambush – White Horses (Carr/Nisbet) from the ‘Do Not Adjust Your Set‘ 7″ crustacean 22
2. Johnny Vines – Waterfall (Hess/Panka/Nadolny/Krantz) from the ‘Head Music‘ double LP crustacean 26

If you are into psychedelic rock/kraut/prog/spacerock/acid-folk this is a MUST for you…

Keep up with Fruits de Mer Records

Website | Facebook