“Chicago’s coolest new kid on the psych-rock-block brings us a cassetteful of drugged-out atmospheres, scattered with proggy guitar grooves and meandering femme vocals, tense drone and a bit of synth thrown in for good measure. Their influences are all over the place, and they make for one fucking solid product: Try slowing down the bass grooves of Suicide, add two parts Wooden Shjips’ repetitiveness, three parts Black Sabbath darkness, one part horror soundtrack a la Goblin, three parts stoner metal-era Boris, four parts Neu krautscapes, and you’re getting warmer to Verma.”
Ici Maintenants – Space And Time (2003)
“ICI MAINTENANTS was the name chosen for a one-off project that took place at the Summer Solstice in Glastonbury in 2001. There former Here & Now members Kif Kif le Batter (drums, vocals), Twink el Toes-Malone (synths, keyboards) and Steffe Sharp de Strings (guitar, vocals) hooked up with Tim Flatus (bass) and played a totally improvised set at the Glastonbury Assembly Rooms, in a manner pretty similar to what often was done at the Free Festival’s of the 70’s.”
Interkosmos – Interkosmos (2009)
“INTERKOSMOS are another Sula Bassana side project which formed in early 2008. According to the band name they call themselves the new intergalactic psychedelic space jam band… INTERKOSMOS meet from time to time to participate on festivals without having a very solid structure. The project have produced one eponymous album in 2009 which is full of spacey improviations headed by Ceballos’ fantastic guitar work.”
The Mystick Krewe Of Clearlight – The Mystick Krewe Of Clearlight (2000)
“The Mystick Krewe of Clearlight came together in 1996 as an instrumental side project led by guitarist Jimmy Bower and drummer Joe Lacaze of the New Orleans sludge metal group Eyehategod, along with members of Crowbar and Down. Bower and Lacaze’s inspiration from the start was to get away from the pummeling nihilistic dirge metal of Eyehategod and use their new project as an outlet for the improvisational music that they had absorbed growing up in New Orleans, whether it be jazz, soul, funk, or rock. The Krewe’s influences range from the Southern blues-rock of The Allman Brothers Band, native soul and funk legends The Meters, The Neville Brothers, and Dr. John, and, on the heavier side of things, the groove-heavy riffs of classic Deep Purple. The idea of no barriers frees up these metalheads by trade and has given them the chance to show off their musicians’ chops and indulge themselves in lengthy guitar solos and extended jams that have more in common with the festive spirit of Mardi Gras than a headbanging doom rock concert.”
La Otracina – Tonal Ellipse of the One (2007)
“La Otracina was formed in Brooklyn, NY in the summer of 2003 by drummer Adam Kriney and guitarist Joshua Anzano (now of Tee Pee Records’ Titan) to explore the deepest and most surreal realms of psychedelia, prog, and krautrock, with a major emphasis on improvisational exploration and an uncompromising musical energy. While taking heavy nods from psychedelic forefathers such as Flower Travellin’ Band, Guru Guru, King Crimson, Neu!, Yes, Agitation Free, Blue Cheer, Amon Duul, etc, the music of La Otracina has also been rooted in a deep understanding, appreciation, and influence of ’60s free-jazz/improvisation, the shape-shifting wizardry of classical minimalism, and the extreme music of the Japanese noise/psych underground. La Otracina’s brew of cosmic music is a ride across the galaxy, a slice of magical lemon wedges, a rainbow of crystallized comet dust.”
Predator Vision – Predator Vision (2007)
“Influenced by watching the movie Predator while listening to soft rock records of Fleetwood Mac, Paul Simon, and Todd Rundgren. This documents an acid- drenched jam recorded in the basement of Skylight Horizon Studio in Northampton, MA. Featuring Matt Mondanile and Ben Daly on guitars and Etienne Duguay on drums. Mixture of Neil Young amped guitar lines with krauty Guru Guru progressive feel. Definite on the beach zoner Yahowa 13 style.”
Last Days Of May – Last Days Of May (1997)
“Last Days of May plays trippy, bizarre, neo-psychedelic instrumental rock that is all about jamming, improvising, and blowing. The band’s direct or indirect influences include, among others, King Crimson, Jimi Hendrix, Cream, and Blue Cheer.”
White Hills – Heads On Fire (2007)
“With just the right blend of psychedelia and hypnotic grooves, WHITE HILLS weaves in and out of anthemic chants, deep space bleeps and other worldly madness for a mix that proves to be intoxicating. Since the release of the band’s debut CD, listeners have been praising their originality and unique brand of heavy space rock. White Hills formed out of the need to forge Space Rock into the 21st Century.”
Purling Hiss – Hissteria (2010)
Purling Hiss is the side-project of Birds of Maya’s guitarist Mike Polizze. Polizze continues his job of destroying our brains but this time with adrenaline rock ‘n’ roll. Have you ever imagined how would sounded a mix of japanese noisy crazyness with 70’s heavy rock? This band demonstrates it in form of total blowout psychedelic jams.
SubArachnoid Space – The Red Veil (2005)
“Their music, always instrumental and often improvised, features long slow pieces of strange and obscure soundscapes in the vein of HAWKWIND’s Space Ritual, but more down-tempo and evolving, with tortured spacey guitars. Their sound is very obscure and noisy, quite modern and unique, transporting you to lost and unknown galaxies to explore… An unique experience! Icy and tormented, rather dark and experimental than light and relaxing, SUBARACHNOID SPACE is highly recommended to frightening, space and psychedelic rock explorers! NB: In anatomy, the subarachnoid space is the interval in the brain between the arachnoid mater and pia mater.”