tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-46613429060805843242012-01-28T10:07:44.384ZHawkwind biographer Ian Abrahams reviews all things SpaceRock related, from CDs and DVDs to Demos and Myspace Pages. Plus Psych, Stoner, Garage, Krautrock and whatever else strikes a power chord or two! Items for review are welcome, just drop me an e-mail from my profile pages.Ian Abrahamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11559298947264569514noreply@blogger.comBlogger1581100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4661342906080584324.post-23446141842520341192011-12-22T07:44:00.001Z2011-12-24T17:27:38.933Z

Well, as it turned out I didn't manage to blog through a full 'twelve days of Christmas'; 9-5 work commitments and family Xmas parties slowed up the progress and hence no blogging was done on Thursday or yesterday. Next year I'll plan better in advance! There'll be one more 'general' blog post before the end of 2011 which will include an update on Festivalized among other things but before

Ian Abrahamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11559298947264569514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4661342906080584324.post-14564389744991677652011-12-21T16:21:00.001Z2011-12-21T16:48:21.715Z

Not every feature that gets written lives to see the light of day, that's part of the nature of freelance journalism. For the ninth in the sequence of consecutive blog postings, here's a feature examining what Hawkwind means; it was written back in 2009 and eventually fell-through, one of those things, and though some of it may well get re-cycled eventually as part of a new version of Sonic

Ian Abrahamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11559298947264569514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4661342906080584324.post-81930434298999051422011-12-20T19:19:00.001Z2011-12-20T19:23:43.634Z

Observant blog followers will know that this should be the 'eight' entry in this attempt to blog twelve days in the run-up to Christmas; regretfully I have to say that the austerity drive is now in full swing and where we should have eight we only have one review tonight. This one is a bit of a mystery to be honest ... I can tell you absolutely nothing about the musician involved other

Ian Abrahamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11559298947264569514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4661342906080584324.post-12687088736434191882011-12-19T18:46:00.001Z2011-12-19T19:18:50.303Z

Soooo, after one album that's not at all space rock, two 'proper' space rock bands, three psych-pop albums (well, two, but one is a double), four Hawkwind reissues, five links and six 'shout out' for friends ... we are back to a single review. But! To capture and keep the symmetry, and to make a posting that I've been intending to do for many months and hadn't so far had an opportunity to,

Ian Abrahamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11559298947264569514noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4661342906080584324.post-56609313018285852092011-12-18T16:40:00.001Z2011-12-18T16:45:09.058Z

No, I'm not making six appeals for people to be my friends! Behave! But, in keeping with the trend of the blog this week, here are six links to stuff friends have going on, some space rock related and some entirely divorced from the subject... There's a plethora of music updated to Louise Bialik's Reverbnation page, as Louise has mentioned in her Facebook status today; I've only had a

Ian Abrahamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11559298947264569514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4661342906080584324.post-80456949673061622232011-12-17T16:04:00.001Z2011-12-17T16:07:44.039Z

One terrific album that isn't even remotely space rock, then two stonking good space rock bands. Three psych-pops, well two but one's a double; four Hawkwind releases from 2011 (almost). Here are five linkages to some of the bands and musicians who have contacted me in recent months and who I've not had a opportunity to properly review yet (sorry chaps!). I'll try and blog properly on some

Ian Abrahamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11559298947264569514noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4661342906080584324.post-39472053620278696882011-12-16T18:03:00.001Z2011-12-16T18:10:03.342Z

Soooooooo... 'one great album that's in no way spacerock', 'two stonking space rock bands', 'three, well two but one's a double, psych-pop records', how about four Hawkwind releases from 2011? In fact, Choose Your Masques was the November 2010 Atomhenge Hawkwind reissue but I didn't get hold of a copy until into 2011 when I was able to review it standalone for R2 and alongside Alan Davey and

Ian Abrahamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11559298947264569514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4661342906080584324.post-20304315247532556002011-12-15T20:11:00.001Z2011-12-15T20:25:26.252Z

OK, so this week we've had 'one record that's not remotely space rock' and then 'two stonking releases from leading space rock bands' so what we need is three... well, it'll be two great psych-pop albums to be honest but the first album in seven years from Nick 'The Bevis Frond' Saloman is effectively the length of good old-fashioned double album so I think we'll count that in and try and

Ian Abrahamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11559298947264569514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4661342906080584324.post-90872076241288013372011-12-14T20:09:00.001Z2011-12-14T20:15:06.488Z

If this were a version of the 'Twelve Blogs of Christmas' ... and I'm not saying it is mind you ... then if the first gave to us one really good album that wasn't space rock in any way then the second ought to bring us two stonkingly good, meat-and-potatoes, nuts-and-bolts, something-and-something-else, honest-to-goodness 'proper' space rock bands and their recent releases. Ladies and

Ian Abrahamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11559298947264569514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4661342906080584324.post-79420906159807083262011-12-13T20:15:00.001Z2011-12-13T20:21:08.166Z

I've been pondering how to open this review for a few days; I'd had the notion of copying my old mate Paul Cornell who is just starting to embark on his now traditional 'Twelve Blogs of Christmas' and challenging myself with a similar project, since that would both get the creative juices following where they've been a little stagnant in recent months and allow me to plough through (in the

Ian Abrahamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11559298947264569514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4661342906080584324.post-8945192349075635402011-12-12T19:52:00.001Z2011-12-12T19:58:09.042Z

Inside a heavy-duty cardboard outer sleeve adorned with beautifully intricate black-and-white rendered fractal artwork is a glossy insert; on one side an intriguingly moody pattern and on the other blackness with a single corner devoted to just enough detail: Sky Burial – Aegri Somnia, Movement 1: The Synaesthete's Lament, Movement II: Within and Without and some obligatory but scant

Ian Abrahamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11559298947264569514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4661342906080584324.post-10112430570516879682011-11-29T19:40:00.001Z2011-11-29T19:44:44.520Z

Lots of great stuff to get through before the Christmas break and, being a little behind with on-line reviews, I'm going to attempt to work through the build-up of records and websites needing reviewing in slightly shorter, but then again a tad snappier, entries over the next three weeks. This one has come in from the Silent Uproar label; it's a concept album based on George Romero's

Ian Abrahamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11559298947264569514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4661342906080584324.post-53186683021053507232011-11-01T19:58:00.001Z2011-11-01T20:03:36.458Z

Halloween and no trick or treaters came to my door ... the fear that lives behind its ordinary-looking facade ... the depths of sheer terror contained within ... or perhaps it's just because it rained cats and dogs last night. Ah. That'd be it. Also this Halloween let me tell you that I failed miserably in my planned trip up to town to see the Hawklords and their (early) Halloween party

Ian Abrahamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11559298947264569514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4661342906080584324.post-38833053370040522362011-10-13T19:48:00.000+01:002011-10-13T19:48:36.779+01:00

Should we even ask the question of this outfit ... "which one is Al?" Nah, thought not! Their website biography posits it in a different way in any case. "Is Astro Al a band or a character in a series of sci-fi comedy stories? Imagine if William Shatner replaced Jim Morrison in The Doors..." Well, Astro Al is Paul Angelosanto and Debbie Nash, the both of them providing vocals and a

Ian Abrahamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11559298947264569514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4661342906080584324.post-59336153437096802352011-09-17T17:32:00.001+01:002011-09-18T13:18:57.367+01:00

Now here's a cracking label that I've received some promotional discs from over the last few months and who are absolutely deserving of having received a much prompter follow-up on this blog, since all of their releases are in their various ways, highly interesting to visitors and followers here. (At this point, a big shout out and hello to new readers – the traffic here has leapt up since the

Ian Abrahamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11559298947264569514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4661342906080584324.post-41685010099141718742011-09-12T19:36:00.000+01:002011-09-12T19:36:38.352+01:00

An astronautic Dick Dale rides the white-heat of Fireball XL5 while a 1950s TV announcer intones, with great seriousness and a solemn gravity not to be found in the title of this record, "MAN... OR ASTRO-MAN..." and the monochrome flickers of 405 line launches into another exciting episode of our favourite... Well, okay, it's not really that, of course, but Your Weight On The Moon has something

Ian Abrahamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11559298947264569514noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4661342906080584324.post-80179260180536523862011-09-10T17:24:00.000+01:002011-09-10T17:24:02.986+01:00

Look here! Moments after noting in my Osiris The Rebirth review that I've still got punk rock running through my veins comes Gregg McKella's latest Paradise 9 record, proudly proclaiming itself, via a previous reviewer, as being "Hawkwind meets Joe Strummer" and firing off salvos in all directions. Of course, there's a story, perhaps apocryphal, that when The Clash first considered how to tackle

Ian Abrahamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11559298947264569514noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4661342906080584324.post-20981160823819902642011-09-10T16:08:00.001+01:002011-09-10T16:11:24.048+01:00

Dave Adams and Miles Black were founder-members of Hawkwind tribute act Assassins of Silence and that made me a little cautious in approaching their regenerated incarnation of Dave's 'other' space rock project, Osiris. Now, before we all splutter coffee across our collective keyboards let's clarify that. Actually, I only managed to catch Assassins of Silence once, and that was on a night where

Ian Abrahamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11559298947264569514noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4661342906080584324.post-29605134707157631982011-08-16T07:41:00.000+01:002011-08-16T07:41:08.775+01:00

Kick Books Website

Ian Abrahamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11559298947264569514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4661342906080584324.post-26150880842899984982011-08-14T16:22:00.003+01:002011-08-14T18:17:41.899+01:00

I've received a few invites recently to album playbacks – my remoteness from London generally precludes my acceptance – and they seem to be a developing method by which record labels will solicit reviews in the music press without distributing promo or finished products, generally I guess because of a fear of said music being leaked on-line in advance of the release date proper. Huddled together

Ian Abrahamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11559298947264569514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4661342906080584324.post-40210233247645455242011-08-06T16:57:00.000+01:002011-08-06T16:57:28.694+01:00

Oct 13th. Liverpool. O2 Academy. 11- 13 Hotham St, Liverpool, L3 5UF. £15. Doors open: 7pm. Under-14s with adults only. Box office: 0844 477 2000/www.ticketweb.co.uk http://www.o2academyliverpool.co.uk Oct 14th. Leeds. The Irish Centre. York Road, Leeds, LS9 9NT. £12 adv, £14, door. Box office 0013 248 9208 (cash or cheque only) or 0113 245 5570 (credit & debit cards). Doors open: 7.30pm.

Ian Abrahamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11559298947264569514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4661342906080584324.post-54643831305293769632011-08-06T16:40:00.000+01:002011-08-06T16:40:56.657+01:00

Though I've still got a MySpace page I've joined the ever swelling ranks of those who've basically abandoned the concept; its social networking facilities were long ago surpassed by Facebook and I see a slew of user-friendly sites that have overtaken MySpace for ease of music delivery so it seems to me, as I know it does for many others, a rather redundant method of getting music to the masses

Ian Abrahamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11559298947264569514noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4661342906080584324.post-83015486012206847402011-07-31T17:24:00.000+01:002011-07-31T17:24:48.846+01:00

I've written about the prolific musical activities of Pete Bingham and Glenda Pescado previously on this blog, including an interview a year or so ago with Pete, and reviewed recent Sendelica releases for R2 (The Girl From The Future Who Lit Up The Sky With Golden Worlds) and Record Collector (Streamedelica She Sighed As She Hit Rewind On The Dream Mangler Remote) ... or was it the other way

Ian Abrahamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11559298947264569514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4661342906080584324.post-82598784508060719002011-07-29T07:54:00.002+01:002011-07-29T08:03:23.622+01:00

Here's the second in a sequence of chats with labels associated with current Hawkwind related releases. Easy Action Records will soon be releasing a live CD and a vinyl pressing of Hawkwind at the Cambridge Corn Exchange from January 1972; it's a show that's been rumoured to exist, talked about and even wrongly assigned as being featured on other live albums over the years. Soon we'll be hearing

Ian Abrahamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11559298947264569514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4661342906080584324.post-44618469624285094402011-07-21T19:45:00.001+01:002011-07-21T20:52:23.346+01:00

If some of the music I've been writing about here might be described as the aural equivalent of wandering around the 'space race' section of the Science Museum in London, all rockets and technology, hardware and spaceware, equipment and dreams that are modern, even futuristic, and yet retro and abandoned at the same time, then Tangency, to continue the metaphor, is like an hour spent prowling

Ian Abrahamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11559298947264569514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4661342906080584324.post-74776440689017239512011-07-06T20:00:00.004+01:002011-07-06T20:11:30.884+01:00

Nigel Reeve of EMI has been involved with their custodianship of the Liberty / United Artists Hawkwind catalogue for over fifteen years and has been a driving force behind EMI's various Hawkwind releases including their remasters project, the 1999 Party and the recent Hawkwind at the BBC double-disc. As part of a short sequence of chats with the people behind current Hawkwind releases I caught

Ian Abrahamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11559298947264569514noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4661342906080584324.post-91127414174848818452011-06-19T17:23:00.001+01:002011-06-19T17:25:40.973+01:00

Here's some really gritty, fuzz-laden space rock from San Francisco's Moon Duo. I've heard some of their music on-line before and thought them interesting and one to investigate but this track really makes you sit up and take notice of their new single's driving, distorted and yet strangely melodic trip, particularly with its sub-Doctor Who titles effect on this video. (Let me go all geeky just

Ian Abrahamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11559298947264569514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4661342906080584324.post-12764577261721744242011-06-18T17:04:00.002+01:002011-07-02T17:05:09.064+01:00

Here's some detail on the 3CD Hawkwind anthology due out from EMI in August, courtesy of their publicity department who've kindly allowed me to repost the detail here. I'll be reviewing this one in due course for Record Collector but will also write something up here in due course since this is a significant release that contains a good selection of previously unreleased United Artists-era

Ian Abrahamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11559298947264569514noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4661342906080584324.post-41053805273672834302011-06-09T19:29:00.001+01:002011-06-09T19:32:34.020+01:00

Following on from last night's rather beefy stoner rock and some acoustic-based dark folk, here's something completely different. This is Adam Blake from Cornershop, Transglobal Underground's Hamilton Lee and (not noted from any other band – sorry) Ian Blackaby who've previously released one other album, 2007's From Above, have played with Damo Suzuki and are now here again with Lunar Dunes, an

Ian Abrahamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11559298947264569514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4661342906080584324.post-80781319139699124232011-06-08T19:19:00.001+01:002011-06-08T19:23:50.771+01:00

Here's a promo video from YouTube of Australian band Van Cleef that I've been asked to pass along to blog readers. "The music video 'Dalek Gulch' is the first single from our debut feature length album Where The River Meets The Rock," I'm told by the band's Christian Thompson. "The clip is entirely written, directed and produced by the band ... no outside help whatsoever, and we are extremely

Ian Abrahamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11559298947264569514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4661342906080584324.post-7895220541118561392011-06-07T20:09:00.001+01:002011-06-18T15:06:19.126+01:00

Following on from his two most recent albums, Re-Animator and Nevermore, which, respectively, took the works of H. P. Lovecraft and Jules Verne as their literary starting points, Paul Roland's latest album is a collection of songs that rework stories by the Brothers Grimm in an appropriately dark folk manner. I've mentioned before here that, since being sent a copy of Re-Animator by Black Widow

Ian Abrahamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11559298947264569514noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4661342906080584324.post-64178045093666557692011-06-05T08:19:00.001+01:002011-06-05T15:36:43.716+01:00

I was recently asked to provide notes for the forthcoming release of the Hawkwind segment of the fabled Six Hour Technicolor Dream show from the Cambridge Corn Exchange, January 1972. This one is due out in August with the initial pressing coming in a limited edition deluxe packaging before reverting to standard CD format for future pressings. There's also a vinyl edition planned for this,

Ian Abrahamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11559298947264569514noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4661342906080584324.post-69924681030292562712011-04-27T13:04:00.001+01:002011-04-27T13:10:41.369+01:00

I'm rather curious. Who decides to adopt a name like Guineafowl for himself as well as for his band? I received a copy of this five track EP recently and, though again here's a recording that's outside of the original remit of this blog it's something that I enjoyed and wanted to highlight. Well, someone who comes from a highly creative background – we learn from his press release that his mother

Ian Abrahamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11559298947264569514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4661342906080584324.post-29759442530042497772011-04-27T11:05:00.001+01:002011-04-27T11:09:40.540+01:00

A lovely warm spring morning in Cornwall, book-ended at both sides by long bank holiday weekends and a chance to deliberate over some of the records that have been landing here, including these releases sent over by Keith from the excellent Fruits de Mer label. Let's talk first about Earthling Society's 7" single 'The Green Manalishi' / 'And I Heard The Fire Sing', because aside from this release

Ian Abrahamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11559298947264569514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4661342906080584324.post-72139813525925064302011-03-22T19:36:00.000Z2011-03-22T19:36:12.753Z

Ian Abrahamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11559298947264569514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4661342906080584324.post-50456197288585933612011-03-22T19:29:00.001Z2011-03-22T19:31:36.806Z

Describing himself as "an independent musician based in the north of England", Nog Cavanagh has already released one album of instrumental space rock, Everything Leads to Here, on his Angry Robot imprint and, though it has taken him a further five years to produce a follow up now offers us Sombre Castles of Desire as his second exploration of outer and inner space – and a mighty fine offering it

Ian Abrahamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11559298947264569514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4661342906080584324.post-42015462983554517242011-03-05T16:56:00.001Z2011-03-06T08:06:36.643Z

Here's something I've not done before on this blog, but with the kind permission of my friends at Esoteric Recordings I've copies of their recent and excellent Skin Alley releases – The CBS Recordings Anthology and Two Quid Deal? to give away as a promotional competition on this blog.I've one set comprising the two CDs to give away, anywhere in the world, to the first randomly selected e-mailer

Ian Abrahamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11559298947264569514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4661342906080584324.post-17896602010267304492011-02-26T17:16:00.001Z2011-02-26T17:37:31.730Z

Here's one of those irregular, ought to be more regular, round ups of things of interest, mentions of new releases from artists that I've previously covered in more depth (doesn't preclude a longer commentary later of course), tasters of items that will definitely be covered in further detail soon and notes of stuff that I've received and will be reviewing in print elsewhere...I received a couple

Ian Abrahamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11559298947264569514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4661342906080584324.post-32975466454012427512011-02-19T16:27:00.001Z2011-02-19T16:29:31.555Z

To set the scene of this solo record from Gunslinger guitarist Louis Davey, he's the nephew of Alan Davey and has drawn on some of the same group of people who've been working on various projects with Alan since he left Hawkwind: the Pre-Med vocalist Danny Faulkner, Paul Cobbold who has ,as I understand it, recently been working with Alan on the mastering of a much anticipated Gunslinger live

Ian Abrahamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11559298947264569514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4661342906080584324.post-75514840500836014152011-01-30T16:56:00.001Z2011-01-30T17:00:48.711Z

Towards the end of last year I received a bundle of new releases from Malaga-based Alone Records which I've been looking for an opportunity to cover here; not a label that I've encountered before but a look at their website (available both in Spanish and in English) reveals a company that works in the general area of psychedelia – progressive – folk and has a number of releases coming to

Ian Abrahamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11559298947264569514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4661342906080584324.post-53658046789100661602011-01-29T17:04:00.001Z2011-01-29T17:10:41.943Z

Before kicking off this quick survey of things I've been e-mailed about or that have otherwise come to attention and need passing onwards, a quick mention of what I'm up to in the print world this month. R2 magazine has just published its January/February edition (if you're attending any of the forthcoming Levelling The Land Levellers shows, this issue will be available from the band's

Ian Abrahamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11559298947264569514noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4661342906080584324.post-68701151671165526702011-01-06T18:58:00.001Z2011-01-06T19:00:53.477Z

Let's not even get into New Year resolutions that might include keeping this blog rather more up to date than it has been over the last couple of months; I mean, the resolution is there sure enough and there's a stack of great material that arrived in the last quarter of 2010 that needs a proper addressing and writing up but recently there's been plenty of print work which has rather got ahead

Ian Abrahamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11559298947264569514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4661342906080584324.post-38085032283139790292010-10-21T19:53:00.001+01:002010-10-21T19:55:12.650+01:00

This week's first review might have been on a tribute release to a band whose influence is almost a raison d'etre for a lot of the music reviewed here but we'll go off on a total tangent now with this 'live at the rehearsals space' digital download album from Belgian musician Andre Jarema, since Live is one of those recordings that I occasionally drop into the blog that have little if, as with

Ian Abrahamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11559298947264569514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4661342906080584324.post-35709078655037947362010-10-18T19:14:00.001+01:002010-10-18T19:17:33.572+01:00

There's been a few tribute albums focused on Hawkwind over the years. Some have pushed at the boundaries of the band's work, taking established tracks on new trips and some have remained more faithful to the original tracks. This nine track compilation is generally of the latter persuasion – at least as it starts out. Having said that, there doesn't appear to be any specific plan involved –

Ian Abrahamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11559298947264569514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4661342906080584324.post-43597961066514310682010-09-20T19:35:00.001+01:002010-09-20T19:37:21.456+01:00

The evil King Meldagar once ruled the village. He was viewed as a tyrant by his people, and was soon ousted. The exiled king was determined to get his revenge on the villagers. He found a new home underneath a mountain, where he set up a shop to build his army of destructive robots. His first evil robot (Gurgblah) is sent out to the village to wreak havoc on the people who overthrew him.That's

Ian Abrahamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11559298947264569514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4661342906080584324.post-9056833086871904162010-09-16T19:40:00.001+01:002010-09-16T19:44:23.880+01:00

I wrote up the previous release from Peruvian space rockers Serpentina Satelite, Nothing To Say, a couple of years back in the pages of R2/Rock N Reel magazine and very much liked hearing "high-octane riffs, a splattering of the obligatory Radiophonic Workshop electronics and some portentous intoned mantras" in a "frenetically busy work that never lets up on the acceleration pedal...

Ian Abrahamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11559298947264569514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4661342906080584324.post-8885352020692498802010-08-22T17:37:00.001+01:002010-08-22T17:41:23.867+01:00

There's plenty of new space rock that's been landing here over the last few weeks and which I'll be writing up over the next few days, including the new album from Serpentina Satelite, some modern progressive rock from Jack Jeffery and some sci-fi concept material from Trip Lava as well as other Myspace pages, MP3s and digital downloads that I've been e-mailed over the last two or three months.

Ian Abrahamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11559298947264569514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4661342906080584324.post-87905915612293721082010-08-05T20:03:00.001+01:002010-08-05T20:11:11.448+01:00

This is the absolutely HUGE sound of Italian space/stoner rock pounding out of the opening salvo, 'Message From The Galactic Federation', a 15 minute slab of intense and driving, yet at the same time melodic, no-nonsense freak-out that's the gateway to this exciting collision of Hawkwind and Porcupine Tree influences.Void Generator were formed in Rome back in 1996, musicians who'd played together

Ian Abrahamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11559298947264569514noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4661342906080584324.post-9013699691134429532010-06-06T16:19:00.001+01:002010-06-06T16:30:38.976+01:00

When I was young, I guess really up until I was fourteen or fifteen, we used to take our family holidays exclusively within the West Country – indeed, Weston-Super-Mare is about the furthest I can remember us venturing. I suppose that this being the early-mid '70s then the package holiday was only then really starting to come into its own, but it passed us by completely. A lot of these weeks were

Ian Abrahamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11559298947264569514noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4661342906080584324.post-55446916613850031112010-06-03T19:40:00.001+01:002010-06-03T19:45:20.042+01:00

The latest issue of online science fiction magazine Clarkesworld has an interesting feature by Jason Heller entitled 'Moonage Daydream – The Rock Album as Science Fiction'. Round-up the usual suspects to some degree, but some interesting additions and observations and a juxtaposition of the roles of the embryonic rock 'n' roll of the 1950s against the role of science fiction in the '50s. Hawkwind

Ian Abrahamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11559298947264569514noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4661342906080584324.post-10651475957452187562010-06-01T19:38:00.001+01:002010-06-01T19:43:07.397+01:00

This is another album that I've been hanging on to for reviewing for a little while now, and for once it's not just pressures from other writing outlets that's delayed some commentary here but that it just took a little while to really get a feel for this record and to get under its skin since whilst on the surface there's a lot of melodic pop sensibility about the music here, there's actually a

Ian Abrahamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11559298947264569514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4661342906080584324.post-86853714797375035752010-05-04T20:18:00.001+01:002010-05-04T20:21:47.507+01:00

Don't answer that. No, really, don't. But do please follow me on Twitter as I plan to post regular snippets of commentary on incoming music, whwether spacerock or more general stuff - look for @IanAbrahams or find me here.

Ian Abrahamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11559298947264569514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4661342906080584324.post-11010912735657678802010-05-04T18:58:00.000+01:002010-05-04T20:22:59.579+01:00

More effort this week to get back on track with reviews of good stuff that has piled up whilst I've been distracted with general 9-5 stuff (let's not even start on the thirteen-hour days recently, eh!); to kick the week off, a bit of a summary of some things that have landed and which I'm either reviewing elsewhere, hoping to review elsewhere in addition to mentioning here, or which are slightly

Ian Abrahamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11559298947264569514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4661342906080584324.post-50128855149409451172010-04-11T16:15:00.000+01:002010-04-11T16:32:49.842+01:00

Fred Laird of Earthling Society updates us with news of the band's latest endeavours: "Earthling Society have just finished recording the track for the Sky Saxon tribute album to be released on GRA records later this year. The track, titled 'Lost In A Daze' was written late in the life of Sky and is a spiritual hymn to his wife and the Source family. We are deeply honoured to be given a track

Ian Abrahamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11559298947264569514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4661342906080584324.post-83575430957247591282010-04-11T14:55:00.000+01:002010-04-11T15:41:35.953+01:00

Here we are on the first weekend of the year that really suggests that spring, heck maybe even summer, is starting to rear its head around these parts, which means that even here at the Spacerock Launch Pad we are stuck into the gardening and general spring cleaning, pausing only to come up for breath and the second impressive performance of Matt Smith as the new Doctor Who. At the same time, a

Ian Abrahamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11559298947264569514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4661342906080584324.post-25101100934025231852010-04-03T14:34:00.000+01:002010-04-11T16:07:41.934+01:00

Arguably the boldest and most invigorating spacerock-related album I've received in a very long time is this instrumental LP from Los Angeles-based Red Sparowes, who I've not come across previously but who include guitarist Bryant Clifford Meyer of Isis, a band I have reviewed here previously, amongst their members. They've been around, through various line-up changes, since 2005 when they

Ian Abrahamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11559298947264569514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4661342906080584324.post-31260353212727684112010-03-16T18:07:00.000Z2010-03-16T18:19:50.275Z

Just received the latest issue of R2 magazine in the post, that's issue 20 cover dated March/April 2010... and for the spacerock enthusiast there's my old mate Oz Hardwick with a three-star review of the Inverse Gravity CD from Deborah L Knights and Joie Hinton - and their cast of thousands. Meanwhile, the most spacerock related CDs I'm covering this month is a rather good offering from Panic

Ian Abrahamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11559298947264569514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4661342906080584324.post-59608900160596442192010-03-15T19:13:00.000Z2010-03-15T19:46:37.937Z

My one possible claim to being anything approaching a 'proper' journalist is that I once enjoyed a boozy lunch with former Melody Maker scribe, and fellow Hawkwind biographer, Carol Clerk. I imagine having worked the inky weekly music press for many years, Carol was a veteran of such lunches and departed the particular tavern in question in total clarity and went off and interviewed Shane McGowan

Ian Abrahamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11559298947264569514noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4661342906080584324.post-35623101942009440812010-03-14T17:17:00.000Z2010-03-14T17:45:51.945Z

Spring is in the air in Cornwall, and that means... spring cleaning. And succesful spring cleaning means... my home office looks just a little less like a tip than it does at any other point in the calendar. But it does also mean a chance to pop in a few things that I've either listened to and meant to come back to for the blog, or to listen to things that have arrived and I've not had a chance

Ian Abrahamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11559298947264569514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4661342906080584324.post-10872503763661691992010-03-07T16:24:00.000Z2010-03-14T17:00:36.598Z

I stumbled upon Cardigan-based Sendelica a while back, when I interviewed the band's Glenda Pescado for the forthcoming free festivals book, wrote about them on here and then subsequently in R2 magazine. The band have a free to download EP, 'Screaming and Streaming Into The Star-lit Nite' on release as of last weekend (I loved my old mate Rob Dreamworker's enthusiastic commentary on this over on

Ian Abrahamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11559298947264569514noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4661342906080584324.post-50692817473924921722010-03-06T15:38:00.001Z2010-03-06T16:21:06.247Z

Just as an aside before I kick off this weekend's bunch of reviews and spacerock news, here's a cheery wave and "Hello" to the Japanese spammer who is regularly hitting one of the archive posts on the blog. Umm, sorry mate, not buying - whatever the heck it is that you are trying to sell...It's been a busy week of interviews and the like, kicking off with a conversation last Sunday morning with

Ian Abrahamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11559298947264569514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4661342906080584324.post-28750717576524876812010-02-28T15:07:00.001Z2010-02-28T15:12:03.930Z

Hello Everybody! For once, a post that's not even remotely to do with music, spacerock or otherwise. I'm proud to say that my three boys have signed-up for the U16 contingent in the forthcoming Sport Relief charity running event on 21st March 2010 and will be running a mile at their local event. If you've enjoyed this blog over the last two or three years (or if you've been reviewed here of

Ian Abrahamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11559298947264569514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4661342906080584324.post-61258842332514786942010-02-14T11:10:00.000Z2010-02-14T11:19:06.055Z

Here's some information received from Sweden's legendary darXtar on their visit to the UK this summer and a track they've got on a new compilation: "This summer darXtar makes a rare UK live appearence at the Sonic Rock Solstice Festival in Wales and other cool names on the bill include Hawklords, PRE-MED, Gunslinger, Litmus and many more. All we can say is the band can't wait! Read more on the

Ian Abrahamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11559298947264569514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4661342906080584324.post-20687690701331433322010-02-14T08:46:00.000Z2010-02-14T11:01:08.756Z

I’m always a little frustrated when a very decent CD slips through the letterbox from foreign climes (long time blog readers will know that I’m based in Cornwall, so the parochial nature of us down here suggests that a CD incoming from almost anywhere can be considered to have hailed from outside of our shores), and I go looking for more information on the band or artist in question, only to draw

Ian Abrahamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11559298947264569514noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4661342906080584324.post-84473834694093604722010-02-01T19:14:00.000Z2010-02-01T20:43:35.793Z

Endeavouring to keep up with the bits of information that you need to know about. "Need to know, old chap, need to know." This is stuff we all need to know!Andy at Omnia Opera e-mails to advise some updates and latest happenings in Omnia land. Firstly they've established a mailing list at their website, which you can sign-up for here. Andy also been adding photographs - loads of galleries from

Ian Abrahamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11559298947264569514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4661342906080584324.post-13203667628918823722010-01-24T15:12:00.000Z2010-01-24T15:18:40.453Z

I'm pleased to be doing some promotion on Paul Roland's latest reissue, the 20th Anniversary edition of Duel (and a bit special it is too). As usual, I've copies available for print reviewers and authors of medium - high traffic blogs and other Internet reviews sites, plus we can make tracks available for radio play. Reproduced here, the press sheet for this release.By the time he recorded Duel,

Ian Abrahamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11559298947264569514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4661342906080584324.post-1266416815514806532010-01-20T19:26:00.001Z2010-01-20T19:27:33.899Z

Ian Abrahamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11559298947264569514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4661342906080584324.post-52755107162434058182010-01-20T19:16:00.000Z2010-01-20T19:19:33.297Z

Great interview with Alisa Coral, of Space Mirrors, here. And I'm not plugging it because within it Alisa describes me as a "famous author of books about rock music." Oh no. Well, okay, partly. But it's a great interview!

Ian Abrahamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11559298947264569514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4661342906080584324.post-59702029067531965792010-01-17T17:39:00.001Z2010-01-17T17:41:03.520Z

I don't normally post YouTube stuff, but this is just incredible... a 'what if' the Peter Cushing Doctor Who films had included a third outing, based on 'The Chase'. Just brilliant! I think it's by Andrew Orton.

Ian Abrahamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11559298947264569514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4661342906080584324.post-80988779374396772822010-01-17T14:29:00.000Z2010-01-17T14:41:29.178Z

I’m in full-on catch-up mode at the moment, after the Christmas and New Year festivities and a totally manic couple of weeks in the nine to five (that doesn’t show any signs of quietening done any time soon), with some press sheets to write and mail-out, a book proposal that just needs a little bit of tidying up, another that really needs working on, and the festivals book which needs a bit of

Ian Abrahamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11559298947264569514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4661342906080584324.post-31396995739504326652010-01-10T12:00:00.000Z2010-01-17T16:09:05.424Z

I started work on this review last weekend, put it to one side when even Cornwall was enveloped in a lovely covering of snow on Sunday (though it really didn’t produce as much snow as the time frame suggests, even though for the first time I can ever remember it snowed continuously from 8am through to late night), and then came back to finish the review off this morning. After I’d done some tidy

Ian Abrahamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11559298947264569514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4661342906080584324.post-12160512702607612492010-01-09T14:21:00.000Z2010-01-15T07:04:21.526Z

I've been haunted by a song this week, a thing of great beauty that captured my attention and my imagination, 'These Old Bones' by Seattle-based trance rockers Sky Cries Mary, a track from their new compilation album Space Between The Drops on Trail Records. Now, this is a band I really should have been aware of before, because reading about them on their website they've been around since the

Ian Abrahamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11559298947264569514noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4661342906080584324.post-55284197122589810742010-01-06T20:08:00.001Z2010-01-06T20:09:54.393Z

Normal blogging service will resume in the next couple of days following the Christmas and New Year break... in the meantime here's some good news amongst the winter chills:HawklordsAlan Davey – Jerry Richards – Steve Swindells – Danny Thompson – Ron Tree – Nik TurnerHot on the heels of their acclaimed show at London’s 229 Club in November, the Hawklords announce a further collection of dates for

Ian Abrahamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11559298947264569514noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4661342906080584324.post-20079419660603058652009-12-02T19:29:00.000Z2009-12-02T19:31:45.168Z

Emerging from the embers of key Canterbury band Hatfield And The North, augmented by remnants of the original Gilgamesh line-up, National Health released two albums on Charly Records in the second half of the 1970s, starting with this eponymous LP, and a further album in 1982 following the untimely death of keyboardist Alan Gowen. (Though their second, Of Queues And Cures, is released

Ian Abrahamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11559298947264569514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4661342906080584324.post-44277432065277943612009-12-02T19:25:00.000Z2009-12-02T19:29:13.673Z

A couple of reviews tonight that originally got written for print magazines but got squeezed out through space considerations. Ha! That's a pun, you know! But seriously, though...For anyone who has been following London-based space-rockers Litmus in recent years, and thanks to endorsements from the likes of Julian Cope that’s an ever expanding audience, their third album is an absolute treat. For

Ian Abrahamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11559298947264569514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4661342906080584324.post-85277851151948086822009-11-29T09:11:00.000Z2009-11-29T15:40:27.410Z

Observation is one of the most intricate and absorbing albums that I’ve been sent for review since this blog was established – it’s also by turns uncomfortable, discordant and challenging, but then in researching the background to this avant-garde spacerock conception I come away with a strong feeling that this was at least part of the objective of the compositions. Firstly, there’s the

Ian Abrahamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11559298947264569514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4661342906080584324.post-29924859161922890322009-11-16T18:42:00.000Z2009-11-16T18:59:06.203Z

With only a couple of weeks to go until the Hawklords perform at the Barney Bubbles Memorial gig which takes place on 29th November at London's 229 Club, here's a round-up of the ticket outlets: 229 Club Venue Hot Line 02073237229 or info@229thevenue.comSeeTicketsStargreenEnts 24 Shindig! magazine has a great tw0-page interview with Nik Turner this month, well worth checking out - though just to

Ian Abrahamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11559298947264569514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4661342906080584324.post-47316379732536566192009-11-16T18:20:00.000Z2009-11-16T18:30:27.624Z

Here's a project I'm helping with a little bit of press on, any high-traffic bloggers or print / radio reviewers interested, please drop me a note from the e-mail address on my profile page. Anyone who has followed Joie Hinton’s travels through electronic music, from his early wanderings around the free festivals with the O’Roonies to the moment at the Stonehenge People’s Free Festival of 1984

Ian Abrahamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11559298947264569514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4661342906080584324.post-15379271662199938832009-11-14T16:06:00.000Z2009-11-14T16:59:40.635Z

A couple of weeks back I had the pleasure of half an hour’s telephone interview with Toyah Willcox for a forthcoming magazine feature, which gave me the opportunity to ramble around Toyah’s classic output and talk to her about her current project, the vocals and bass focused trio The Humans. Toyah’s publicist was kind enough to send over copies of The Humans’ debut album We Are The Humans and the

Ian Abrahamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11559298947264569514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4661342906080584324.post-38819408940068454852009-11-14T15:28:00.000Z2009-11-14T17:04:50.267Z

I don’t know much about Marc Hans Rummig, other than that he lives in Lakewood, Washington, USA is influenced by Tangerine Dream, Jean Michel Jarre and Tim Blake, amongst others, has been playing synthesisers since the mid-70s, and, based on these instrumental tracks here, has an interest in Star Trek and a passion for making well-played and nicely quirky spacerock music.Alien Hymns, I believe,

Ian Abrahamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11559298947264569514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4661342906080584324.post-19922829180568903922009-11-14T14:43:00.001Z2009-11-14T15:24:35.383Z

I’ve been reading bits and pieces from the current Marvel Comics story-arc ‘event’, Dark Reign, wherein various ‘Dark’ versions of characters and teams have been enjoying their own mini-series, and it struck me on listening to this album by Los Angeles quintet Ancestors, that there’s a useful way to describe their music inherent in Marvel’s titles. Bear with me, because it’s as if Of Sound Mind

Ian Abrahamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11559298947264569514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4661342906080584324.post-54522629033959648902009-10-25T17:11:00.000Z2009-10-25T17:14:59.085Z

Vivacious with its African tribal grooves, hypnotic in its looped electronics, experimental in its use of sound and something of a sidestep in career terms, Luke Temple, previously branded with the singer-songwriter iron, put Here We Go Magic together in what’s described as two-month stream-of-consciousness period at his Brooklyn home. It’s proved a productive and worthwhile excursion.Temple hits

Ian Abrahamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11559298947264569514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4661342906080584324.post-37435671350667908562009-10-25T17:07:00.000Z2009-10-25T17:10:58.281Z

There’s a hint of what’s going on in this album when you find it described as the fifth and final instalment of a trilogy. The old jokes are still the, err, oldest. But then, Martin Gordon has previous form in the whimsical tradition including membership of Sparks for Kimono My House and with those tongue-in-cheek punks, Radio Stars.This ‘Mammal Trilogy’, then. A witty and relevant overview of

Ian Abrahamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11559298947264569514noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4661342906080584324.post-67266972982947668912009-10-25T15:22:00.000Z2009-10-25T17:06:45.654Z

In the days before punk, there lived this lumbering beast known as ‘the concept album’, and we children of the punk revolution looked upon its form and recoiled in horror at its excesses, little realising that our own beloved LPs were concept albums themselves, even if their themes were of urban decay and the futility of everyday life. And because of this, for many years, the concept album

Ian Abrahamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11559298947264569514noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4661342906080584324.post-1224151404678622702009-10-18T13:44:00.000+01:002010-03-18T07:13:14.671Z

Twenty-one years after his untimely death, the act of remembering Robert Calvert seems to be turning into something of a cottage industry. We had the memorial gig down in Herne Bay last year, the excellent reissues of Captain Lockheed and Lucky Leif & The Longships a couple of years ago from Eclectic Discs (and I understand that label’s successor, Esoteric Records will be soon be reissuing the

Ian Abrahamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11559298947264569514noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4661342906080584324.post-54948097801541257392009-09-27T16:39:00.000+01:002009-09-27T16:41:28.033+01:00

Ian Abrahamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11559298947264569514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4661342906080584324.post-73215478182775512142009-09-15T13:29:00.000+01:002009-09-15T15:03:53.118+01:00

Deeply Vale, as a series of annual free festivals, is one of the events on the festival calendar of the late ‘70s, early ‘80s that’s pretty central to the account of the scene’s history that will soon be published as Festivalized. As part of our examination of this part of the legacy of the festivals, Bridget and I were lucky enough to have an extensive interview with Chris Hewitt of Ozit Records

Ian Abrahamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11559298947264569514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4661342906080584324.post-53882320278356477302009-09-14T08:48:00.000+01:002009-09-14T08:54:18.936+01:00

Here's a press release from Daniel Goldin, who runs a website called Exploding In Sound and has worked to create a free to download compilation that looks well worth investigating. I'll endeavour to post a review in due course, but pending that here's the details: "Someone once said “the times, they are a changing”… the king of pop has passed on, the last of the senior Kennedy’s is no longer

Ian Abrahamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11559298947264569514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4661342906080584324.post-71842713627005632622009-09-04T17:47:00.000+01:002009-09-04T17:58:32.670+01:00

Press release from Cherry Red Records and the Killing Cancer charity.He’s a rock legend. His vocals and guitar work with Hawkwind, Widow Maker, Leo Sayer, The Pretty Things and Sci-Fi writer Michael Moorcock, are part of music history.In Christmas 2001 while Huw was a nationwide tour with Hawkwind he contracted Legionnaires Disease. His wife Marion believed it was the end of his musical career,

Ian Abrahamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11559298947264569514noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4661342906080584324.post-67309943620440210682009-09-01T18:50:00.001+01:002009-09-01T19:21:20.816+01:00

A couple of updates in search of a larger post, this fine evening - what I am reeling from the most though? The Cornish sun, much missed and rarely seen, actually breaking through for a little while or Disney's acquisition of Marvel Comics? Perhaps the sky really isn't falling (as my old mate Paul Cornell, writer of Dark Young Avengers and the much anticipated and forthcoming Black Widow

Ian Abrahamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11559298947264569514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4661342906080584324.post-37404448260244667062009-08-27T19:11:00.001+01:002009-08-27T19:14:57.874+01:00

BARNEY BUBBLES MEMORIAL ALL-DAY BENEFIT CONCERTPRESS RELEASEThe 229 Club, 229 Great Portland Street, London, W1W 5PNSunday 29th November, 2009 from 2 – 10pmOn 14th November 1983, the art and music worlds lost one of their most important and innovative figures with the death of the legendary graphic designer Barney Bubbles. His work as Hawkwind’s cover artist and stage-set creator established him

Ian Abrahamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11559298947264569514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4661342906080584324.post-69527655445452498582009-08-26T19:21:00.000+01:002009-08-26T19:44:43.716+01:00

As regular readers to the blog will know, I’m something of a fan of Paul Roland’s work and take any opportunity I can to keep people advised of Paul’s reissue programme and his new albums as they arrive. Recently Paul was kind enough to send over his double-CD limited edition Demos album, and Syborg Records' twofer repackage of two of his 1980s works, A Cabinet Of Curiosities / Happy Families. I’

Ian Abrahamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11559298947264569514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4661342906080584324.post-56383222481159714762009-08-19T19:04:00.000+01:002009-08-19T20:10:28.343+01:00

There was a moment whilst listening to this five-track album by Cologne-based space-rockers, Scarlet Utopia that I wanted so badly to leap out of my chair in a Eureka! moment, similar to that experienced, as legend has it, by John Lennon on first catching sight of Ron Mael from Sparks on his television set, and shout-out (to nobody in particular), ‘Fuck me! It’s Metal Mickey!’ For, in all

Ian Abrahamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11559298947264569514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4661342906080584324.post-85667188347615547962009-08-16T15:45:00.000+01:002009-08-16T16:33:05.200+01:00

It’s interesting how scenes develop, seemingly sometimes because of the sheer will and presence of just one or two people and, perhaps, to outsiders, how these scenes develop in the most unlikely of places. Now, it might well be that the scene in question has been fermenting away in the background, unnoticed by the wider community, and that might be the case with the current outpouring of

Ian Abrahamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11559298947264569514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4661342906080584324.post-81271706619972624202009-08-15T08:05:00.001+01:002009-08-15T08:05:36.974+01:00

I've recently received a promo of the much anticipated third album from Litmus, Aurora, released right now on Rise Above Records. This is one that I'll be reviewing for R2 (Rock N Reel) so I'm not going to write it up in depth here, save to say that this is another major leap forward for this always interesting and enjoyable band who deserve far more music press attention than they get (the

Ian Abrahamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11559298947264569514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4661342906080584324.post-77729156958879232292009-08-14T12:29:00.001+01:002009-08-14T13:21:07.088+01:00

Keith Hill (Citizen Zen, and sometime Vert:X collaborator) has sent over this EP of music intended for his solo CD project Oceanfire, a work-in-progress sampler of tracks that will in the future be re-recorded along with guest musicians for an album proper. Keith describes the music as “a kind of space-rock, ambient, psychedelic and eclectic” mix, but goes on to qualify that with “don’t you just

Ian Abrahamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11559298947264569514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4661342906080584324.post-23680184599659741182009-08-12T16:43:00.000+01:002009-08-12T18:34:26.416+01:00

Stovepony Records are an East London-based label who describe themselves as specialising in “alt.country, Americana, Blues, Garage, Folk, etc” but who go on to say, “We also like Psych, Metal, Prog, etc... just like any normal person, but not in an ironic way like.” Hmm, not entirely sure what that means, but I’ve received a couple of their latest releases, Waiting On The Outside by Walking

Ian Abrahamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11559298947264569514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4661342906080584324.post-86588800021990961682009-08-10T18:39:00.000+01:002009-08-10T20:36:59.466+01:00

See, I got really excited here. A release from Exeter! I love Exeter, it’s a city that thinks it’s a village, full of interesting little shops and big department stores, two Waterstones bookstores in the same High Street (or, at least last time I was there they were both surviving, though I believe the city centre has more recently been remodelled so perhaps now only one survives). There’s the

Ian Abrahamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11559298947264569514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4661342906080584324.post-20843004653292963222009-08-01T14:23:00.001+01:002009-08-01T15:27:50.248+01:00

On 10th December 2006, Arne Christer Fuglesang, physicist and astronaut, became the first Nordic person in space as part of the crew of the Space Shuttle Discovery, awakening interest in space travel back home in his native Sweden and inspiring this tribute/concept album by Swedish spacerock band The Movements. In fact, Fuglesang had trained as an astronaut as early as 1992, joining the

Ian Abrahamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11559298947264569514noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4661342906080584324.post-74561627466766533982009-07-29T17:27:00.001+01:002009-07-29T18:23:42.808+01:00

Paradise 9 have been around in one form or another for over a decade, originally formed by guitarist Gregg McKella under the name ‘Flowers from a Strange Land’ way back in 1998 and releasing their debut album, Showtime, the following year. The original band split in 2002, a revised line-up reformed in 2005 and they’ve continued ever since, picking up new members along the way (including

Ian Abrahamshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11559298947264569514noreply@blogger.com0