“Live improvisation collaboration between Bardo Pond, LSD March & Kawaguchi Masami’s New Rock Syndicate during their US tour in 2006.”
Baikal – Baikal (2007)
“Baikal is a new burner from Bardo Pond brothers John & Michael Gibbons along with fellow Bardo Pond members Clint Takeda and Jason Kourkonis. This time they ventured down the route of heavy free-improvisation and a Last Exit style hard rock approach coupled with a hard psych bend. With two tracks each weighing in at over 30 minutes in length it’s clear that Baikal is a deep voyage underseas with yet another Bardo Pond sideproject featuring Bardo brothers John & Michael Gibbons as your tour guide.”
Swamp Sessions – Swamp Sessions Vol. 1 (2006)
Side-project from members of Colour Haze. Colour Haze fans will definitely appreciate this album. This is even more experimental, long improvised music played in altered state of mind.
Birds of Maya – Ready to Howl (2010)
“Birds of Maya did what countless garage rock geeks try and fail at: dust off 1968 and bring it back to life without making it look like museum piece. Bringing on the best of 60s power trios like Hendrix and Cream, a whiff of Blue Cheer’s bongwater, Black Sabbath’s bass heavy paranoia, and Stooges bum-out, they were sloppy in all the right places. The jamming never got tired and held everyone’s raptattention.”
Green Milk From the Planet Orange – City Calls Revolution (2005)
“Jam sessions musically oriented at playing progressive rock with the emphasis on psychedelic and space… GREEN MILK FROM THE PLANET ORANGE offers excellent space and heavy psychedelic rock and can be rated on the same level as other Japanese acts like ‘Acid Mothers Temple’ and ‘Flower Travelin’ Band’.”
Sonic Flower – Sonic Flower (2003)
“A side project of Japanese Band Church of Misery. Formed in Tokyo, their music is a mixture of psychadelic groove, funk, and doom metal. Music influenced by Cactus, Grand Funk Railroad, Mountain, Sir Load Baltimore, Captain Beyond, Meaters, Graham Central Station, Funkadelic.”
Colour Haze – Tempel (2006)
“Hailing from Munich, they follow in the tradition of other classic rock trios such as Cream, Grand Funk Railroad and The Jimi Hendrix Experience… Initially, the band seemed to be strongly influenced by the sounds of Black Sabbath… This style later evolved into an unmistakably dry, bass-laden soundscape. Characteristic of this phase is Kogleks’ continual guitar playing between trance-like bass rhythms… further develop this style with longer, more complex song structures, and increasingly strong jam and jazz elements. The results of these experiments were, in part, ridiculously long, complex, and self-referential 20-minute songs.”
Gravitar – You Must First Learn to Draw the Real (1999)
“Michigan free-rock band, founded in 1992 and active until 1999, with a brief reunion in 2002 to promote a special 10-year commemorative box set edition of their CD on Enterruption, “Freedom’s just another word for never getting paid.” Messy, abrasive, loose and at their best transcendent, Gravitar forged an improv-driven path between heavy rock touchstones like the Melvins, Sabbath and Unsane with out-jazz, space rock and psychedelic noise.”
Hash Jar Tempo – Well Oiled (1997)
“In case you hadn’t figured it out yourself, Hash Jar Tempo takes its name from the 70s Kraut rock group Ash Ra Temple. Pretty funny, huh? This pretty much sums up the band: take that Kraut sound and bring it to the future under the guise of epic-length drone, and you have Hash Jar Tempo. Despite the Hash part of the name, the music is not necessarily drug-influenced, but rather, just like with those old Germans, “the drug was the music.” In other words, Hash Jar Tempo is less about seeing where altered states can take you, and more about creating those altered states.”
Tivol – Early Teeth (2005)
“While the “free folk” music boom from Finland has recently grabbed the ears of many of this planet’s less ape-eared, Holy Mountain is more than pleased to extend a hand to the darker— not to mention-more rocking— side of this contemporaneous scene. Tivol plays a throbbing, violent and aggressive strain of acid rock that has nothing to do with subtlety. Their already hypnotic material is further enhanced by screamed vocals that do not seem to emanate from this earth.”