IN THE LABYRINTH – One Trail To Heaven (2011)

IN THE LABYRINTH – One Trail To Heaven

2011 (CD Trail Records)
www.inthelabyrinth.com

For sure this is one splendid appetizer. It will definitely make you wanna search, find and buy all the other “works” of this Swedish progressive psychedelic band. It’s like a ‘Best Of’ including songs from their 3 CDs so far (1994’s The Garden Of Mysteries, 1999’s Walking On Clouds and 2002’s Dryad) plus some unreleased original material including a Moody Blues cover (“Cities”). One hour of fine-old-sweet-progressive-folk-eastern influenced-psychedelic instrumental (mostly) music. Mastermind of the band is multi-instrumentalist Peter Lindhal who plays a serious amount of instruments in order to achieve his purposes. Mellotron, viola,guitar, bass, saz, zither, mandolin, baroque travers-flute, quena, synths, piano, melodeon, darbouka, daf to name a few… It’s hard to pick favorites. He deals with so many branches of well-played progressive music. Like a huge Labyrinth with numerous corridors. Each corridor, a different musical inspiration, a separate musical approach. The whole album is overwhelmed by a continuous flow of musical sounds and timeless tales that were put in the right order by the right person. Peter, a modern Thiseas, opened a trail to Heaven, in which, All of Us are Free to follow! TimeLord Michalis

grab it here: trailrecords.net 

BEYOND-O-MATIC – Time To Get Up (2010)

BEYOND-O-MATIC – Time To Get Up

2010 (CD Trail Records)

www.myspace.com/beyondomatic

I’d like to thank Alexander from Trail Records who kindly sent me a few of their releases for reviewing. Alexander put me on an underground ‘trip’ and I suggest all of you follow the steps I made. Well, Beyond-o-matic was a band (hailed from San Francisco) who released 3 albums back in the 90s. They reformed in 2003 and recorded an album that was never released till 2010. “Time To Get Up” consists of 7 tracks moving into 70s psychedelic space rock using sounds from instruments like Croos5 bariguitar, long stiff finger of doom, synthesizers, table, accordion, flute creating a unique ambient idiosyncratic  atmosphere. “Plague Of Bliss” (6:12min) opens the album, a slow spacey number combining heavenly inspirational vocals and harmonies. “Hawaiian Lady” (the longest track, 14:18min) is a magical epic anthem with wah-wah guitars, spacey synth effects becoming really progressively trippy at times with a groovy funky feeling. “Starbong” welcomes Early 70s Floyd, mid 70s Gong and Hawkwind, a psychedelic cosmic tune infused with various effects and a flute coming straight from the Canterbury scene. “Trying To Find You” (12:09min) is a far-out space-rocker, a mind-expanding psychedelic space trip. The self titled “Time To Get Up” (11:09min) follows. A floating-around-the-stars kosmique piece of stardust! “The Liquid Midnight” (1:16min) acts like a vocal interlude (an intermission - I don’t really know from what) and album closes with “Child Of Fog”, a space-pop number reminding of late 70s Floyd. A Space Journey worth tripping to! TimeLord Michalis

get it from here: .trailrecords.net 

BARRETT ELMORE – Woodlands (2012)

BARRETT ELMORE – Woodlands
2012 (CD Trail Records) 
www.soundcloud.com/barrettelmore

Barrett Elmore is not a person. Barrett Elmore is a 4piece creative unit hailing from somewhere in Sweden, formed in 2008. It’s Claes Mikael Svensson on drums, percussion and backing vocals, Max Karlstrom on bass, vocals, organ, harmonica, syntheziser, Mikaela Eriksson on vocals, William Friman on guitar, piano, organ and THEY Love to Play Psychedelic music, to “clear your mind” as they state. This is their debut album, an album dipped deeply inside the early progressive 70s, the psychedelic side of Pink Floyd, the experimental side of Morrison’s Doors, the Swedish folklore. It’s quite impressive how much creativity and musicianship the Swedish Woods are hiding! Prog Acid Folk in a natural mystical psychedelic vein! Melancholic but Optimistic. Dark but Lightly Clear. Old-fashioned but Newly Fresh. Wonderful! Album consists of 10 songs in a flowing continuous order plus an eleventh, a 12min bonus track. It takes off with “Entrance” (1:55min), which despite its length is an ideal instrumental beginning that captivates all the woods’ sounds under a haunted organ sound and a distinctive drumming. “The Creek” (3:16min) is a folkie acoustic dreamy ballad with female fairy vocals. “I See A Man” (1:30min) gets us deeper into the forest with a steady – but creepy - rhythm piano sound. Without even noticing we've moved to “The Nixie” (4:01min), a mystical journey into consciousness with male whispering vocals starting eerie and transitioning into a trippy heavy guitar sounding masterpiece. “Drowning” (3:58min) is an acid guitar driven track with much distorted ala Jim Morrison vocals. “Storm” (4:24min) hits you like a summer rain inside a forest. It’s an instrumental prog tune starting with backward sounds adding tremolo fuzzy guitars and a beautiful organ sound. “The Brook Horse” is another acid-psych tune with really incomprehensible male vocals. “Lost In A Swamp” (2:25min) is an imaginary little piece of music with Calliope sounding keyboards that gives you the feeling of another age, maybe Renaissance. “Dusk (Dance Of The Pixies)” (4:21min) is another cool gentle ballad, a little more hallucinogenic this time. Oh those Mushrooms! They’re hiding deep in the woods. But once you find them… “Woodlands” (3:29min) has wondrous female harmony vocals with a real moody psychedelic guitar passage that sets you right there, in the middle of the forest, in a glade that no one else can see, except the listener/traveller. Album closes with the bonus track “Psilocybe Semilanceata” (12:06min). A mystical - becoming either hauntingly scary either tranquil at times - epos! Just imagine the Masters, playing the entire Ummagumma Live at the Pompeii! Wood-e-licious! TimeLord Michalis

grab it here: Trail Records 

 

VARIOUS ARTISTS – Psychedelic World Music – Discovery 2012

VARIOUS ARTISTS – Psychedelic World
Music – Discovery 2012 (CD Trail Records)
www.trailrecords.net

I must admit that Trail Records from New York is doing a tremendous job in discovering and promoting artists from around the globe who have as their mission to perform original music inspired by the Unknown Glorious Paths of the 60s and the 70s. This is a compilation of new recordings (2005-2012) by young and relatively unknown artists hailing from different parts of the world. 9 bands, 9 songs (6 of them previously unreleased), 9 different countries with 1 common musical vision, the Psychedelic One! Comp starts with COSMIC VIBRATION (Germany) performing “Aurora” (6:54), a Kosmique Space Rock tune with a steady floating psychedelic vibe and a wondrous guitar sound, followed by TRIPTYCH (UK) on “Origins Of Life” (6:19), continues flow of holy water on an ambient eastern influenced tune that differs from mystical to trippy psychedelic depending on the guitar sound. THE MISTERIOSOS (USA) – the only known band to me from this comp – participate with “The Sun” (9:09), a Floyd influence track (circa Saucerful) with wandering lucid female vocals, a tribal rhythm section and a delicate 60s L.A. guitar sound although the farfisa lends a more garage psych feeling towards its end. “Sixty Nine” (6:50) is a moody improvised guitar based psychedelic jam becoming trippy or heavy at times by MOUCHES A L’ORANGE (Belarus). “Kele Lao” (6:45) by DETI PICASSO (Armenia) follows, in an acidly flavoured psych atmosphere with beautiful female vocals (sung in their home language) flirting with folk and prog. A brilliant example that Music Is Universal! GREY MOUSE (Russia) performs “Snow (Spiral Walk)” (7:24), the sitar adds an Eastern atmosphere, trippy, dreamy that flirts at times with jazz, with a little female ‘scat’ singing till the guitar takes the lead role and the track is taking a heavy psych vein into a crescendo of female vocals at the end. PLOOTOH’s (Italy) “Caronte” (6:06) starts slowly in a moody psychedelic way with a dreamy guitar sound and a few melancholic male vocals towards its end. “The Crazy Dwarf” (9:19) is a trippy improvised jam based on guitars and sitars upon a psychedelized rhythm section with lots of experimentation going on and echoed female vocals by THE NARCOTIC DAFFODILS (Belgium). Last one is ZHAOZE (China) playing “Fishing For The Stars” (6:25), an improvised freejam starting unplugged with acoustic guitars, but becoming really post-psych when the electric power is back on! What A Discovery! Thank you Trail Records! Thank you Alexander! TimeLord Michalis

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