News from the Space Rock, Psychedelic and Indie World

GREETINGS AND SALUTATIONS: It's that time again for the SPACE ROCK CON 2008 to come forth.

And again: Due to high rip-off rates from one hotel and not many good venues in the Huntsville area, the show will be moved this year to ATHENS, GA.
And we do have a venue: It will be held this year on November 1st at Tasty World. From what I'm told and seen on their web site it's a real nice place. For info on the place go to www.tastyworld.net

As for the bands, it will be the usuals but the headliner (unless something changes) will be the psychedelic/metal/experimental band UNUS MUNDUS.

Hotels: From what I'm told there is a Holdiay Inn nearby for anyone coming from out of town and state to see the show. I'll try and get the info on that hopefully soon. For bands, musicians, projects etc... as usual I would love to hear and see you perform. HOWEVER BOOKNGS WILL NOT BE OPEN UNTIL JUNE!!!!!!! Until it is announced, check with either the Space Rock Con Myspace page bulletin or aural-innovations.

In the Seventies heyday of German experimental rock – a once-maligned genre dubbed "Krautrock" – the musician Klaus Dinger pioneered a hypnotic, robotic style of drumming which became known as the "motorik" beat.

Dinger drummed on Kraftwerk's eponymous début album in 1970 before co-founding the group Neu! with the guitarist Michael Rother, who had briefly been a member of Kraftwerk. Dinger also played guitar and keyboards and formed La Düsseldorf in the mid-Seventies. The recordings of Neu! and La Düsseldorf inspired the soundscapes of Low, Heroes and Lodger, the trilogy of albums recorded by David Bowie in the late Seventies with Brian Eno, who said: "There were three great beats in the 1970s: Fela Kuti's Afrobeat, James Brown's funk and Klaus Dinger's Neu! beat."

Born in 1946, Dinger admitted he was a rather badly behaved child at school but he enjoyed singing in the choir. He began drumming at 17 and played in various bands while studying architecture at university. After discovering LSD in 1969, he dropped out during the last year of his course and took part in various performance art experiments in Düsseldorf.

The following year, he replaced Andreas Hohmann as drummer in Kraftwerk, the group headed by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider, and helped them complete the sessions for their first album. When Hütter dropped out for a few months, he was replaced by Rother and it was that line-up which appeared on Beat Club on German television in 1970. After Hütter's return, he and Schneider decided to carry on as a duo.

Dinger and Rother formed Neu! and made three albums, Neu! (1972), Neu! 2 (1973) and Neu! 75 (1975). Much bootlegged, these recordings, and in particular extended pieces like "Hallogallo", the opening track on Neu!, turned the group into the European equivalent of the Velvet Underground, in that everyone who heard Dinger and Rother's music seemingly formed a band. The ingenious way they completed Neu! 2, after spending most of the budget on new instruments, by simply manipulating previous recordings, also anticipated the advent of remixing.

The two fell out in the mid-Seventies and a brief attempt at reconciliation a decade later proved unsuccessful, although the sessions were eventually released as Neu! 4 in 1995. The tensions between Dinger and Rother were still palpable when they promoted the official reissues of the Neu! catalogue in 2001.

Dinger's next project, La Düsseldorf, was as successful as it was influential and their three albums reached combined sales of a million copies. Later, he worked under the name La! Neu?

Dinger sported an amazingly long grey beard. He had a mischievous sense of humour but he did not have much time for critics who referred to his insistent drumming as the motorik beat. "That sounds more like a machine, and it was very much a human beat," he said. "It's essentially about life, how you have to keep moving, get on and stay in motion." His preferred definition would have been "the apache beat".

Pierre Perrone

Yep. You read that right.

Earth Lab’s ’Separation By Skin’, track one from the 2006 CD release ’ELEMENT’ (available from this site) is featured in a brand new British horror/thriller, which has just completed post production at the world famous Twickenham Film Studios, here in the UK....

The film is co-written by Bruce Dickinson, lead singer with UK metal band Iron Maiden and veteran Monty Python 2nd unit director, Julian Doyle, (Life of Brian, Time Bandits, Brazil, etc) who also directed the movie.

Adapted from Bruce’s original screenplay, it’s a supernatural tale of ancient rites and sex majick, with a liberal sprinkling of science fiction, too.

The plot involves the modern day reincarnation of the spirit of the self styled ’King Witch’, legendary occultist, Aleister Crowley, (’The Beast’) once described as the most evil man in Britain, who returns to Earth to possess the mind and body of a Cambridge University lecturer, Doctor Oliver Haddo.

Haddo, played by UK actor Simon Callow, (Four Weddings and a Funeral, Doctor Who and currently in Peter Schaffer’s play, Equus) a slightly bumbling, rather ascetic don, is transformed by the spirit of Crowley into a rampaging demon of a character, intent upon reshaping the world to his own twisted vision of existence: creating a New World Order, here on Earth.

Fans, acolytes and those generally interested in the occult, will get a real thrill from this film, which includes many genuine references to Masonic ritual and ancient occult symbology, all interwoven to give a rip roaring ride to the Otherworld and back again.

Earth Lab guitarist, Jerry Richards, also created, recorded and edited all of the humanistic post production effects for the film, in conjunction with Python producer and legendary UK sound designer, Andre Jacquemin, with whom he has worked on film and music for the past 20 years. Jerry says it’s some of the best SFX work he’s ever done and was thrilled to be invited on board for the post production process, which took place at Redwood Studios in London at the start of this year.

The real thrill for us, here at The Lab, was having Separation By Skin included in the soundtrack. Yeah. It’s rocking. The song has been remixed by Jacquemin for this film and features even more of Earth Lab stable mate, Simon House’ inspired violin playing, which soars over the thrashing middle eastern tribal beat of the piece.

There is talk of a soundtrack album from the film being released by a major record label, as the film also features music by Bruce Dickinson and some very interesting remixes, in a classical style, of some well known Iron Maiden hits (seriously!!).... More news on that score (no pun intended) will be posted here as and when we get it.

Check out this link for some more info and an early poster design for the film: Chemical Wedding

CHEMICAL WEDDING - A film by Bruce Dickinson and Julian Doyle. Expected UK release date: Summer 2008

EARTH LAB - Musik Cinematique.

Greetings My Space Freinds.

Nick Riffs’ Freak Element - The World’s Alive CD
Recorded at Metrosync Studio Cleveland, Ohio

Nick Riff- vocals, guitars. Peter Platten- keyboards, synthesizers Kevin Hines- bass guitar, and Rob King- drums comprise the cosmic powered festival band, and studio band in this incarnation of Freak Element. Tim Lane from an earlier version of Freak Element adds percussion, and Carl Hatcher joins with a vocal mutation device.

The music ranges from psychedelic rock, to spacey psych-pop, to ancient tribal soundscapes. It is music to let unfold before you as it happens. An audio companion on your next psychedelic adventure. Multi - dimensional rock and roll for your parties on Earth or where ever you may find yourself in space and time.

March 20, 2008 is NICK RIFF DAY !!! What’s that you say ?

On that day only, Nick Riffs’ Freak Element - The World’s Alive cd will be availible EXCLUSIVELY at http://cdbaby.com/cd/nickriff2 for $8.99 US + s/h After that it goes up to retail price.

Tradition holds that on NICK RIFF DAY !!! you 1. Call off work ( the more important for you to be there the better). 2. Order the CD. 3. Proceed to ingest your favorite intoxicant to maximum freak out. If you participate correctly in NRD, by the time you recover, your CD should have arrived, so there’s really no waiting. Have fun !

This is a Myspace only event. If you would like to help spread the word about NICK RIFF DAY !!! please post a bulletin to all of YOUR myspace friends on or before March 20, 2008 so everyone has a chance to get in on the special NRD price and plan their NRD festivities. Play it loud. Rock on !

NICK RIFFS’ FREAK ELEMENT - THE WORLD’S ALIVE CD Release date: March 20, 2008 Exclusively @ http://cdbaby.com/cd/nickriff2 for NICK RIFF DAY !!! only price. $ 8.99 US + s/h

04/26/2008 08:00 PM - Gulu-Gulu Café (www.gulu-gulu.com)
247 Essex St
Salem, Massachusetts 01970
Cost:free
Our first show in witch city. Come and get witchy with us. A set of mutating music and gothic freak out ghost stories

05/18/2008 07:00 PM - Nave Gallery (www.artsomerville.org)
155 Powderhouse Blvd
Somerville, Massachusetts 02143
Cost:5.00
Description: Space out psych noise at the gallery!!! Wisteriax will be releasing sonic cello soundscapes like you have never heard and Harts Horn will be coming from South Bend Indiana to unleash space rock from a cool galaxy! come and dig it! Astro Al will do a warped mind melding set that will freak your face off!

Its going to be great to do a gig with harts horn again. You rule!

LOPSIDED SPACE KART (LSK), San Francisco's own space rock mission specialists bring you another music, video and performance art extravaganza with FREAQUINOX, a party designed to blast you into the deepest regions of inner and outer space.

This space rock ritual features SPECTRUM with Sonic Boom from Spacemen 3 as well as LSD and the Search for God, Jai Young Kim from Secret Chiefs 3 and your very own Lopsided Space Kart with a performance by the lovely Sugarplum Elves performing their rendition of the space ritual. Visit www.lopsidedspacekart.com for more information and don't forget to join us on myspace at www.myspace.com/lopsidedspacekart

Please forward this on to your friends.

Make certain to show up early. The space rock ritual begins at 9:00 pm.

Production of the new SPACESEED disc: Architects Of Twilight is about to get under way in Atlanta, Columbus Decatur Georgia,ans Alexandria Virginia United States. As well as some remote locations in The U.K. It will be produced by Alan Green and will feature contributions by Harvey Bainbridge (Hawkwind), Bridget Wishart,(Spirits Burning,Hawkwind), Bob Harvey ( Jefferson Airplane ) and Michael Thomas Roe ( Kluster ). The core band will once again be fronted up by John Pack and Brian Fowler on guitars. The majority of the lyrics will be done by Astro Al in Boston. Joshua Sattler ( Doubledrive ) will contribute his stunning bass work. John Stanton long time member of the groups touring arm will contribute as well.

Mooch are delighted to announce the release of a new album 1967½ on the AmbientLive record label. This album is available as a standard CD at £8.00, or as a CD/DVD set at £13.00.

The album contains eleven songs, nine written by Steve Palmer, with a couple written by Devonian singer/songwriter Paul Rowley, a long-time friend of Steve's. The feel is 1967 and all things Summer Of Love.

If you are considering purchasing the special edition of the album, please pre-order (or order after 14 Feb) from ambientlive.com as soon as you can - the special edition of Dr Silbury's Liquid Brainstem Band sold out in three weeks. The special edition of 1967½ contains the following:

DVD with videos for some of the songs; a bonus track not on the standard album; a filmed interview with Paul Rowley; various slideshows etc. Extra artwork not available with the standard edition is also included - pages 3 and 4 of 'Internatural Times' (only pages 1 and 2 available with the standard CD).

Four song samples are now available on MySpace: www.myspace.com/moochspacey

Any extra information you may need can be obtained from Steve or from John Sherwood at AmbientLive.

Turn on, tune in, drop out…

And here's still more details.....

Dr Silbury's Continued Travels

Having put together the Liquid Brainstem Band for the esteemed 2007 double-album, Dr Silbury hooked up the external force oscillator of his quantum jukebox to its calendar in order to travel to the year 1967½, where he experienced an alternate Summer Of Love.

Now, in CD and DVD format, come twelve pieces of music from this sensational year. On 1967½, Dr Silbury works with many of the '07 musicians, including Star Lighter (Chris Gill) who sings all the songs, Dr Panacea and Aunty Clockwise (Don Falcone and Karen Anderson) injecting the necessary San Fancisco input, and Sorcerous Sadie (Cyndee Lee Rule) on the violin. Also playing is the notorious Johnny Creedence (Pete Wyer) making a welcome return to the band of Mooch.

What can the listener expect? Well, while this is a 'sixties sounding album complete with Hammond organ and so forth, Dr Silbury did visit an alternative 1967. So expect the unexpected…

The album is unusual also in that it is the first Mooch album to feature songs not written by Steve, in this case by Devon-based songwriter Paul Rowley, a long-standing friend. Should you be purchasing the DVD version of the album you will be able to hear the original versions of the two songs, and see a filmed interview with Mr Rowley.

Tracks:

1. 'The Ice Cream Song.' A psychedelic mini-symphony of ice cream, guitars and a choir, set in Cambridge. "Lovely ice cream, summery dream, I've got a raspberry one, you've got a strawberry one…"

2. 'Truth Fairy.' Another mini-symphony with psychedelic guitar and hallucinatory vocals. "Tune in, turn on, drop out…"

3. 'Sylvester The Protester.' Sylvester Smith travels on the train to London to join a protest. He takes his Hammond with him. "Sylvester the protester took a train from Flint near Chester…"

4. 'Wouldn't It Be Good?' A request for peace. "Wouldn't it be good if there hadn't been a Jesus…?"

5. 'In Time.' Insane fuzz-guitars and massive drums underpin a tale of nature and sensory experience. "Green is where it's at, red is so old hat, blue is only tat…"

6.** 'Haight-Ashbury.' Sound collage meets spoken word in bad-trip fusion of music and found sounds.

7.** 'Early Mornings.' Druggy Indian sounds both underpin and ornament a tale of early-morning mental questing. "Spirits you sent me to sleep, half past three…"

8.** 'English Wisdom.' Byrds-esque guitars and a harpsichord help relate this tale of landscape and nature-love. Written by Paul Rowley. "Under rocks and bones, over stepping stones…"

9. 'Diamond Cutter.' Garage sound and bouncing Hammond underpin a story of helping others and yourself. Written by Paul Rowley. "Diamond cutter steps in time across the moonlit hills…"

10. 'Lament For Guy Fawkes.' Stripped-back song wondering what might happen if, 400 years later, we succeeded in carrying out Guy Fawkes' plan. "Walk with me into old London Town, side by side let's burn Parliament down…"

11. 'The Tea Song.' Floyd-esque opening mutates into massive choir and guitars finale with euphoric tune. "If you're feeling blue and lonely, have a cup of tea…"

12.** 'Groovy Hoof'. East and west collide in instrumental fusion. Only available (with video) on the DVD version. P** indicates song with video on the DVD.

We are thrilled to announce that Terrastock 7 is taking place in Louisville, Kentucky USA on Thursday June 19th to Sunday 22nd, 2008. Tickets are on sale NOW, and for a limited period full festival, all-day passes are available for just $55.00 per person. This increases to $85.00 on March 1st 2008.

Click here for more information and the option of purchasing tickets: http://www.terrascope.co.uk/Terrastock7/main.htm

The full line-up of confirmed bands is as follows (we are also awaiting a couple of other confirmations, however please note there are NO vacancies or other available slots on the main 2 stages)

Acid Mothers Temple & The Cosmic Inferno (Japan) + Antietam + Bardo Pond + The Bevis Frond (England) + Black Forest / Black Sea + Damon and Naomi + Grails + Hush Arbors + Ignatz (Belgium) + The Insect Factory + Kinski + Sharron Kraus (England) + Linus Pauling Quartet + Major Stars + Marissa Nadler + Dead Maids (England) + MONO (Japan) + Motorpsycho (Norway) + MV&EE with The Golden Road + Tanakh + Oneida + Tara Jane ONeil + Paik + Pantaleimon + Pelt + The Photographic + Plastic Crimewave Sound + Jack Rose + Sapat + Rob Sharples (England) + United Bible Studies (Ireland) + Windy & Carl + Wooden Shjips

Terrastock 7 is located at the Mellwood Arts and Entertainment Center, 1860 Mellwood Avenue, Louisville, Kentucky USA. The building is is a refurbished industrial plant turned creative environment, housing over 180 artist studios, retail shops and more. There are THREE stages (2 indoors, 1 outdoors), and over 40 booths featuring record shops, visual artists and unique retail vendors. There are unrivalled opportunities for setting up merchandising at Terrastock 7. Click here for more information: http://www.terrascope.co.uk/Terrastock7/Merch_Rates.htm

As always, we will be producing an exclusive Festival Program for Terrastock 7, which is being designed for us by our good friend Jeffrey Alexander - you may remember Jeffrey as the principal behind Terrastock 6. This is a fantastic opportunity to advertise and to help get news of your band, label, fanzine, website or other creative efforts out to thousands of like-minded music fans.

Here is a link to the AD RATES along with payment options: http://www.terrascope.co.uk/Terrastock7/Advertising_Rates.htm

Advert specifcations:
minimum 300 dpi - actual size - greyscale - can be jpeg, pdf, tiff or Photoshop file.
Email the file to Jeffrey Alexander at: secreteyebooking@gmail.com
put "T7 ADVERT" in the subject line.
Jeffrey is happy to design ads for you, at no extra cost. Just email him all the text and relevant info.

THE DEADLINE FOR PROGRAM ADS IS MARCH 15 2008

Any and all further questions about payments should to to this year's festival director, Erica Rucker: erica@terrascope.co.uk

Thanks for your time and interest - hope see you there!

Friday Feb 22nd, the Øresund Space Collective is going to have our first big headline gig in Copenhagen at a venue that is not underground! It is a really important event for us and we really need your support to come out. IT costs 50kr to get in and we plan on playing 3 sets like we do at Dragens Hule and we will have the amazing light show of Flowershower, which will include 3 screens and 3 projectors and a lot of spaced out imagery. He is amazing…

I know some of you will go see the Mars Volta on this night be feel free to drop by late as we will still be playing for sure.

The band on this night will be: Dr. Space and Mogens on Synthesizers, Kaufmann, Luz and Sebastian from Bland Bladen and Thomas and Stefan from Gas Giant…

Please come help us and have a great time. I have attached a flyer you can pass a long as well.

Vi ses………..

Here is a small letter to let you know the "existence " of "penumbra" the new cd from Human Flesh, released on EE TAPES. The "object" itself is beautiful, it comes in a 7" fold out coversleeve with inlay (which costed more than the cd itself), the cd (not a cdr) has a beautiful design and is put in a cd enveloppe and is sold at a very decent price, despite the fact that it has been released at 300 copies only. You can see the pic of the coversleeve and listen to a full song at www.myspace.com/insanemusiccontact

Here are the people who collaborated to this cd: The musicians and singers who have played are from the bands: M.A.L., Subject, Human Dance, Master/slave relationship, Viscera, Strani Cocktail, Darline Victor, Sleep chamber, Algebra Suicide, The Chopstick Sisters, Anna Homler, Sugar Connection, Pupettina, BeNe GeSSeRiT, Tara Cross, Ninove, Be Plouvier, Pseudo Code

You can order it from Eriek Van Havere: eetapes@yahoo.co.uk
Price: 12 euros + postage costs (europe 2,40e, world 2,70e)
with PAYPAL info@eetapes.be

The man runs the label alone, in addition of his day job. A little bit of patience will sometimes be necessary, but he is a strictly honest and nice person.

Copies of the Human Flesh cd "songs from the victims (from a country in decay)" are still available at same price. It includes the following contributing artists : Nadine Bal, Cor Gout, Anna Homler, Deborah Jaffe, Xavier S., Lydia Tomkiw, Darline Victor,… (vocals) Peter Bonne, Daniel Denis, Flavien Gillié, Ernest Hembersin, Daniel Malempré, Judy Timpa, Hessel Veldman,… (instruments)

For those not familiair with any of these names, they are/were members of : Algebra Suicide, Bene Gesserit, Autumn, Gorgonzola Legs, M.A.L.,Final Cut , Master/Slave Relationship, Pseudo Code, Twilight Ritual, Ablaze,Univers Zero, Sleep Chamber, The Chopstick Sisters, Trespassers W, etc

A strictly limited edition of 500 copies in a deluxe black 7”cover with inlay comprising full track credits

Thanks very much for your help

Keep in touch !!!

Brooklyn, NY prog/psych trio on Holy Mountain tour the US with Louisville, KY's dark-acid-garage-punks THE PHANTOM FAMILY HALO.

LA OTRACINA - www.myspace.com/laotracina
THE PHANTOM FAMILY HALO - www.myspace.com/thephantomfamilyhalo

Jan 18 2008 LOUISVILLE, KY @ CAHOOTS
Jan 19 2008 MEMPHIS, TN @ ODESSA
Jan 20 2008 ST. LOUIS, MO @ APOP RECORDS
Jan 21 2008 TBA KANSAS? - HELP!
Jan 22 2008 DENVER, CO @ THREE KINGS
Jan 23 2008 SALT LAKE CITY, UT @ RED LIGHT BOOKS
Jan 24 2008 BOISE, ID @ NEROLUX
Jan 25 2008 PORTLAND, OREGON @ EAST END BAR
Jan 26 2008 SEATTLE, WASHINGTON @ JULES MAE
Jan 27 2008 EUREKA, CALIFORNIA @ TBA - HELP!
Jan 28 2008 SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA @ TBA - HELP!
Jan 29 2008 SAN FRANCISCO, @ THE HEMLOCK TAVERN
Jan 30 2008 OFF
Jan 31 2008 OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA @ MAXWELL’S
Feb 1 2008 BIG SUR, CA @ TBA
Feb 2 2008 LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA @ ECHO CURIO
Feb 3 2008 SAN DIEGO, CA @ THE CASBAH
Feb 4 2008 PHOENIX, ARIZONA @ MODIFIED ARTS
Feb 5 2008 TBA, NEW MEXICO? - HELP!
Feb 6 2008 DENVER, CO @ TBA
Feb 7 2008 LAWRENCE, KANSAS @ REPLAY LOUNGE
Feb 8 2008 BLOOMINGTON, IN @ BEAR'S PLACE
Feb 9 2008 CHICAGO, IL @ TBA
Feb 10 2008 CLEVELAND, OH @ THE TOWER

Free City is Back! New Reviews and Interviews. Site Redesign. CD Sale.

Hey everybody,

We hope you are doing fine! After a long break, the Free City online 'zine www.freecitymedia.com is back with a new round of reviews and interviews. The site also has a brand new look thanks to our lead designer Heidi Bensen.

New Music Reviews: A Is Jump, The Bevis Frond, thebrotheregg, Cheese, Circus Devils, Fireclan, John Frankovic, The God Box, Greyscale, Øyvind Holm, Kable, Rad Kjetil and the Loving Eye Of God, The Kulta Beats, Mary Lou Lord, The Lucky Bishops, Model A, Moon Trotskij, The Moping Swans, Nothing To Declare, Octopus Syng, On Trial, Orange Sunshine Superman, The Purrs, Salvatore, The Sand Pebbles, Schnauser, Space Mirrors, The Spacious Mind, Tobin Sprout, and Joe Turner.

New Interviews: No-Fly Zone and Øresund Space Collective

The Archive CD-Rs are all sold out but we do still have some copies of the proper Free City CD releases in stock:

Nick Bensen - No Resistance and Psychedelic Juggernaut

Dipsomaniacs - The Tremolo of Her Mind... The Strings of Her Soul

The International League of Telepathic Explorers - compilation featuring Aquarium Poppers, Nick Bensen, The Bevis Frond, Bitter Little Cider Apples, thebrotheregg, Dipsomaniacs, Dunlavy, Lucky Bishops, Mandra Gora Lightshow Society, The Minders, Motorpsycho, Photon Band, Polar Arc, The Sand Pebbles, Adrian Shaw, and 33 Tiger Infinity.

Further Adventures of the Telepathic Explorers - new, rare and unreleased tracks by AqPop, Anton Barbeau, Nick Bensen & Jeff Sanders, The Bevis Frond, The Bitter Little Cider Apples, (Norwegian) Dipsomaniacs, The God Box, The Heads, The Impossible Shapes, Kable, Lucky Bishops, Patrick Porter, Sh'Mantra, The Sunshine Fix Electric Blues Band, Troll, and Joe Turner.

Throughout December, we are offering a special deal on Free City CDs: buy two, get one free. Order any two Free City titles through our store page and then e-mail heidi@freecitymedia.com to specify which CD you would like as a free bonus.

Happy Holidays and all the best for 2008,