Thursday 26 September 2013

Astral Social Club #12


Have just spent a pleasant while listening to the latest vinyl offering from Astral Social Club. "Electric Yep" is a full length LP released by Trensmat Records. The sound of Astral Social Club has not altered, with this LP and the recent "Metal Guru" single on Must Die Records the sound of the kaos-pad sampling and multi-layered strings creating vibrant psychedelic aural pictures is all there. I like this sound, long may it develop.
The LP opens with "Snow Clouds", a slow monotonous dirge of phased guitar and Jews harp. (Is it Jews harp or Jaws harp?). Slow paced and a strange choice for album opener, the track morphs in to "Glitterstompf" and the madness is cranked up a notch. A repetitive throbbing pulsebeat with changing electric guitar patterns, it plays like  a 21st century Neu. The title gives leanings to P.I.L. and I can almost see the thread ... Side 1 closes with "Rainbow Weather". No beats, lots of drifting synthesized sounds that sound like the word "reprise" should be written in brackets after the title - Goddammit! It sounds like Camel.
Side 2 opens with "Twenty Four Times Yes", a title that makes me crank up the volume a couple of notches. This track is pure TG - it has the "Discipline" beat and Cartertronic style oscillations. Top notch Astral Social Club. The track flows / transmutes in to "Valley Of The Left Handed Depilator", a piece that works on about five different levels with its helicopter blades creating a rhythm crossing the morse code style electronica and sliding guitars building in to (not a wall but) a wide-open field of psychedelia, this piece melts in to "Boiling Up The Bones", a speeded up "Snow Clouds" with a game of table tennis being played over the top. ..... sequencer patterns to drift off on to the astral plane with.

Apart from the "Rainbow Weather" track - which I may grow to love - this is a great album with one of the best covers I've seen in a long while. Sold out from source but available direct from Neil Campbell at the Astral Social Club Wordpress / Bandcamp site, buy before they disappear.

2 comments:

  1. cheers for the kind words. nasty seamsplit....need a replacement?

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    1. Hi - No sleeve is OK ... looks like an album from the mid 1970's!

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