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Geoff Chase



Last Updated: 11/30/2009

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Status: Single
City: WATERTOWN
State: Massachusetts
Country: US
Signup Date: 7/5/2005

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Thursday, October 08, 2009 
Apparently, as I've been adding new reviews to my blog, old reviews are getting pushed off the page (I didn't know there was a content limit per blog).  As far as I can tell, only one has been "damaged", so here it is in full.  I will also add new reviews here as they come in.

REVIEW OF "THE ALTERNATIVE REALITIES OF THE REAWAKENING SOMNAMBULIST" - SENDELICA.

With the dial set firmly on ambient, the latest album from Sendelica is a slowly swirling magic carpet, the music lifting the listener into the sunshine, out into space where all roads lead to chill. With nods to both “Echoes” era Floyd and the ambient textures of KLF, the music has at its core the warm and fluid guitar of Pete Bingham, his restrained and dexterous playing filling the album with a human touch. On “”The End Starts with the Beginning”, a softly played sax, courtesy of Lee Relfe, dances with the guitar, creating emotion and lifting the song into heavenly realms. Elsewhere, the music reminds me of the opening sequence to “Withnail and I”, a wistful melancholy that is beautiful to hear, the music perfectly paced, with each player giving space to the other. 
On “Heaven and Hell”, some twisted electronics add moments of discord to the music, but for the main part this is a gentle stroll through the landscapes in your mind, no more so than on “Rippling Ocean Sunrise”, where a dub influence gets your feet tapping in lethargic bliss, closing the album with a sunshine filled finale.
Fans of relaxed space rock will find much to admire on this album and, as a bonus, it comes housed in a tin box, complete with badge, joss stick and glow in the dark stars, what are you waiting for.
Thursday, June 04, 2009 

Current mood:  adored
Category: Music
Those of you who subscribe to the King Crimson/DGM email newsletter may have noticed the Schizoid contest last month.  Well, on a whim, I entered and I am one of two winners!  Apparently the judges liked my tonsils....

Mirror Images
We are rather frightened by the uncanny resemblance all those who entered our Schizoid contest have to our friend who graces the "In The Court" cover. As usual, we struggled to choose a winner, and after much deliberation, have chosen two Schizoid kings. Geoff Chase wins for the fact that we can clearly see his tonsils, just as we can on the actual album cover. Phil LaRose also wins for his Christmas card that contains the face as well as his replica of the inside moon image. We are working to post all entries on the dgmlive.com site. Several contestants chose to have children pose, and we just could not choose one over the others. They were all terrific models, including crying Max (he wasn't even aware that he was posing!) as well as Tara and Seneca. As for the adults, Nathaniel's creative use of color is great and we wonder if Steve Dean makes this expression often...it looks too natural. As for Raleigh Dailey, he actually submitted a photo that ran in a newspaper in 1987..he has clearly been Schizoiding for a long time. Thank you to all who entered and congrats to Geoff and Phil. We will contact you so you can be sure to receive your limited edition coaster sets and your gift certificates to the shop.

Friday, May 15, 2009 

Current mood:  accomplished
Category: Music
I played drums on several recent Sendelica releases. Check out these reviews!


from PTOLMAIC TERRASCOPE:

Containing one long, 42 minute piece (and limited to only 42 copies), the latest album from Sendelica [Transatlantic Underground] is basically a jam that has been overdubbed with extra instruments, the whole thing a space rock tour-de-force, with Pete Bingham taking star billing, his guitar soaring clean over heaven’s gate and into infinity. Originally recorded with just, guitar, bass and drums, the addition of saxes, recorder, clarinet and the occasional vocal, adds variation without losing the original bite of the music, Hawkwind style riffing mixing with spacier, psychedelic moments, the whole thing sounding as if it would not be out of place on “Acid Jams” (Bevis Frond). With a solid rhythm section keeping everybody’s feet on terra firma, the guitar is given licence to soar, engaging the listener for the full length of the jam, the band breaking into down in to a very mellow middle section just after the 20 minute mark,  echoed notes drifting around your brain like autumn leaves. As we approach the end the tension builds again, everyone joining in, the sonic wall finally crashing down in a spiral of sax flurries and relaxed vocals, the sudden silence bringing the listener back to earth far too quickly.  Wonderful stuff that would, I imagine, sound even better live.



SENDELICA - THE GIRL FROM THE FUTURE (RAIG RECORDS)

Recorded in the USA and Wales during 2008 this latest instrumental offering from Cardigan’s finest is pretty mind-blowing stuff. A basic line-up of guitar, bass and drums weave powerful and hypnotic textures varying from the atmospheric to the outrageously cosmic. Effortlessly matches their excellent previous album Spaceman Bubblegum and is the perfect aural companion for chewing on that special cactus.
Gary Cut, The Fly Magazine, UK



from Norway:

Sendelica - The Girl From the Future Who Lit Up the Sky With Golden Worlds

Dette bandet er fra Wales og serverer her sitt andre album, og igjen er det et eksperimental og vindskjev psykedelisk musikk de sysler med. Tidlige, ja til og med veldig tidlige Pink Floyd er umiskjennelig i Sendelica sin musikk. Sentralt i lydbilde er Pete Bingham som også er kjent for sitt arbeid med ensemblet Kald. Her står Bingham for gitarer og ikke minst elektronikk som så absolutt er en viktig del av bandets sound på godt og vondt. Årsaken til dette utsagn er at de mulighetene elektronikken tilbyr må bru kes med omhu, da det ellers lett kan bli intetsigende vrøvl og navlebeskuende lydorgier som ikke beriker musikken. Sendelica utmerker seg med artige albumtitler, og ditto låttitler, som for eksempel den selvbeskrivende tittelen ” Several Species Of Furry Humans Gathered Together In A Cave Grooving Like Groovy Picts”. Artig og med masse selverkjennelse fra bandet som har et ”syrestenket” og mangefarget og mangeartet musikalsk eventyrland som basis for sin musikk. Som oftest bygger det hele seg pent opp fra det mer rolige, for så å eksplodere i et kaleidoskop av klanger og kontrastflater. Sendelica rader ofte opp en hypnotiserende musikk, men tidvis er det hele noe ufokusert og trigger oss ikke nok til at vi kan si oss helt fornøyde. Bandet spiller også helt opp mot instrumental stonerrock, som brekkes med psykedeliske elementer slik at det ikke bare blir overdreven gitaronani men en kløktig sammensatt musikk som ikke har den instrumentale stonerrockens ofte kjedelige forutsigbarhet. Varme og avslapning og fylt med herlig solskinn er åpningen på ”Hazelnut” det som slår mot deg. Det hele blir å så gjennomtrukket med heftig gitarsolo og følelsen av sommereng og glitrende vannspeil forsterkes utover i låten. Funky og med masse groove er åpningen på ”Dark Disco” får gitarer av den mer skitne typen vasker vekk all illusjon om fred og fordraglighet, og vi sklir inn i en ny og røffere dimensjon. Mye mer rocka er 0Glory Bee” hvor spacerock riffene står like tett som folk på et opphørssalg. Låten har også noen støyelementer som bare farger den flott, før den sklir over i ” Several Species Of Furry Humans Gathered Together In A Cave Grooving Like Groovy Picts”. En låt om langsomt bygger seg opp til psykedelisk støy i beste Floyd tradisjon, og som ender albumet på en verdig måte. Et album som også er velsignet med en varm og fin produksjon, og masse spennende musikk, men dessverre tidvis også musikk som ikke trigger oss i tilstrekkelig grad. At dette er et album som de fleste spacerock og psykedelisk musikkelskerne vil like er vi overbevist om. Vi tror også at de som liker instrumental stonerrcok burde ta en lytt på denne skiva.


1. Standing on the Edge (3:19)
2. Manhole of the Universe (12:05)
3. Hazelnut (9:38)
4. Dark Disko (9:13)
5. The Girl From the Future (5:02)
6. Glory Bee (5:25)
7. Several Species of Furry Humans Gathered Together in a Cave Grooving Like Groovy Picts (13:55)

Pete Bingham – Gitarer og elektronikk
Glenda Pescado - Bass
Geoff Chase - Trommer
Ed Guild - Elektronikk



From Finland's Psychotropic Zone:

Sendelica: Girl From The Future Who Lit Up The Sky With Golden Worlds
RAIG (R039)

Recorded mostly in the USA with the aid of local musicians, Girl From The Future Who Lit Up The Sky With Golden Worlds is to my understanding the second official CD release by Sendelica from Wales, but there are also several limited CD-R releases out by the band. The new album is the best that I have heard so far and will for sure please many friends of psychedelic rock. The band is also influenced by dub and electronic music. The almost completely instrumental music is largely jam-based, but especially on this album there seems to be a few more composed numbers as well.

The album starts off with the heavy and slow instrumental ”Standing On The Edge” that reminds me a bit of Acid Mothers Temple minus the cacophonic guitar torture. Another quite slowly moving track is the nicely jamming, 12-minute long ”Manhole of The Universe” that has plenty of great guitar soloing and also some manipulated human voice. “Hazelnut” is a peaceful and beautiful instrumental that also includes some AMT styled space sounds. The track starts to rock harder towards the end. The somehow Steve Hillage styled “Dark Disco” comes next and then it’s time for the pretty cosmic and hallucinatory ambient piece called ”The Girl From The Future”. The hypnotic, pretty heavy “Glory Bee” rocks in a spacey way again and the album’s last, long track called ”Several Species Of Furry Humans Gathered Together In A Cave Grooving Like Groovy Picts” is a floating and psychedelic jam that borrows the “Iron Man” riff and includes also for example saxophone and occasionally gets quite cacophonic. This is altogether a really nice album that you should get if you like free-form, jam spirited psychedelic and spacey rock! 100 copies of the CD come with a DVD but unfortunately my copy doesn’t so I can’t say more about that.

www.myspace.com/sendelicapsyche
14.08.09 by Dj Astro


Sendelica - The Girl From The Future Who lit Up The Sky With Golden Worlds (RAIG, 2009)
This is the second space/psych-rock release from this Welsh group. This time they went to the USA to record it with the help of musicians there.
The album sounds like one continuous track, fuzzy sounding, spaced out and stoned; a real good trip for those seeking it. It may be hard to tell apart the different tracks but in overall, this is pleasant to listen to and certainly relaxing. While I was a bit afraid of hearing too much of jams and perhaps boring music (to my ears that is), I was actually pleasantly surprised, that while bearing the marks of their previous release, this one does a good job at keeping things interesting, groovy and entertaining, while not abandoning the stoner and psychedelic elements of the music. A track like Hazelnut for instance starts in a mellow fashion and builds up slowly in a repetitive manner and what can be termed, a “standard” psychedelic rock fashion with a fuzzy and crunchy sound. There is nothing too innovative about it and nothing too impressive, though it’s fun to listen to. But nothing that makes me want in particular to come back to listen to, unless I’m in the mood. Since variation in the music and in songs is something I appreciate, I also feared not to find it here. But in their own way, they do incorporate it into their music. The lengthy Manhole of the Universe for instance, presents a multi-part structure ranging from heavy stoned repetition to a nice and short melodic part to a laid back and slow ethereal section well suited to day dream to. There is also variation in the form of a breakout from their usual mold and style. Such is the case with the disco-theme in Dark Disko and the slow and more pensive track The Girl From The Future. A track like Glory Bee also presents a more direct and simplistic rock approach, with a nice blurred sounding guitar paving the way with cool effects enveloping it, creating a vast wall of sound and a warm hazy feeling.
My “issue” with Sendelica in the end is that I’m not sure I can tell apart their albums from each other, apart from the standout tracks that break the form of their style and that is exactly my point. A band can choose to stick with whatever they like and that’s great. If going for a generic psychedelic/stoner/space rock sound is enough for them, and people like it, that’s great. I enjoy listening to it, but this is not enough an “ear-grabber” for me to make me want to come back to these albums. If it’s a psych-rock album I want to listen to, I have other options.
What I personally would love to hear Sendelica do is take the roots of their sound, their psych/stoner foundation and twist it, make a sound of their own, make something memorable, and not just another album that reminds me of the former. And the way to go, can start with two of the tracks present here on this album: Dark Disko and Manhole of the Universe. The former presents a new approach, a new way to exhibit their sound. The latter shows them taking their current sound and introducing an added complexity parameter into it, thus making it more interesting and intriguing to listen to. These two are good starting point to build on. One can think of other ways to formulate their sound differently or present it in another appealing manner. These two can be expanded more and developed further to reach a fresh style for them. That is if they’re interested. But I hear in this release that they are already progressing in this sense. That they are in fact looking for new ways to express themselves and to create more varied and unique style of music. Creativity will determine if I’ll like their next album or not.
http://www.raig.ru/sendelica.asp
http://www.myspace.com/sendelicapsyche


This is from the UK glossy 'newstand' magazine R2 (Rock n Reel)... we are reviewed between Robin Trower, Ian Gillan and Stevie Nicks!!
Another CD...
Recorded in Rhode Island, USA, overdubbed in their Welsh base of operations and released on a Russian label, Sendelicas instrumental Spacerock is exceedingly well travelled even before it blasts off into a mind-bending Psycedelic head-trip. Built around the insistent guitar and bass of mainstays Pete Bingham and former Wystic Manker (house band of the free festivals' Tibetan Ukranian Mountain Troupe travelling circus) Glenda Pescado, Sendelica have already earned themselves a reputation for inventively constructed, elongated riffs sprinkled with electronic effects.
'It's a NEU! Thing', declared a track from one of their earlier offerings (the equally quirkily named Spaceman Bubblegum and Other Weird Tales From the Mercury Mind), acknowledging their dues to Krautrock. They also pull in a touch of Pink floyd here, something of The Orb there, and yet are certainly not averse to a bit of experimental noise.
Often excitingly fee-form, witness the deliberately ragged conglomeration of' ' Humans Gathered Together In a cave Grooving Like Picts', they're also as tight as hell when they need to be. From the basic rythmn comes the extended groove, It's Sendelicas ability to interpret and elaborate on that groove that marks them out.
Ian Abrahams




Sendelica - "The Girl From the Future Who Lit Up the Sky With Golden Worlds"
(R.A.I.G. R-039 2009)

From Aural Innovations July 2009 update
Recorded in the U.S. and Wales, on a Russian label, Sendelica is at times standard but still pretty cool space-rock, sometimes with a heavy/stoney vibe, at others with a more dreamy sound, always quite spacious. The intro-cut, "Standing On the Edge", sounds like Monster Magnet playing Hawkwind or Sabbath. "Manhole Of the Universe" rambles on for about 12 minutes, starting out like a kind of slow bluesy boogie, the lead guitar going off with some tasty wah-pickery, some other effect going "woooooooo"... then later segueing into a more mellow segment with clean guitar and spaced out keys backing things up. Pretty nice. Then it launches back into the heavy part again. I'm liking "Hazelnut"... the opening guitar melody is kind of a mellow Hendrix-y style, a very soulful space-rock ballad. The pleasant bleeps, blurps and whooshes of the synth are low in the mix. The guitars: not so much! As by now they've kicked in to full flange/wah mode to close out what's become a quite exhilarating jam. "Dark Disco"... they keep switching directions with this jam. Well, about as fast as a stoned-out psyche band of this nature is able... it almost sounds like a medley. Some of the riffs are pretty familiar. A decent tune, but a bit plodding. The five-minute title-track is a beautiful dream of serenity, a gorgeous sound of shimmery keys and weepy guitars, think maybe Spacious Mind at their utmost melodious spaciousness. "Glory Bee" - the riffs are pretty recycled, but the guitar sound is such a cosmic heavy grunginess that they pull it off. The closing piece jams for 14 minutes on the "Iron Man" riff, but it's spiced up with plenty of space debris in the form of hand-percussives, flute, sax and various freaky whoosh-fx. I was tempted to say that this was over-extended, but listening again realize that they really did need to build this long to reach the intense crescendo that's achieved... or maybe it's the climax itself that's too long. Too, they could have used a less familiar riff than the ever-lurking Sabbath standard. Aw, fuck it - this is an orgasmically noisy space-rock trip, so let it ride!
For more information you can visit the Sendelica web site at: http://www.myspace.com/sendelicapsyche
Email at: kaldpeter@aol.com
Visit the RAIG label web site at: http://www.raig.ru
Email at: raigmusic@hotmail.com
Reviewed by Chuck Rosenberg




Sendelica "The Girl from the Future Who Lit Up the Sky With Golden Worlds" (RAIG R039)

Как-то раз один музыкальный журналист сказал мне, что альбомы с длинными названиями плохо продаются. На самом деле это конечно всего лишь стереотип, так как я могу сразу же назвать несколько примеров, опровергающих данный тезис. Но что совершенно точно, так это то, что такие названия безусловно привлекают внимание. По крайней мере =D 0ое. Сразу хочется узнать, а что же за музыка скрывается за ним. После прослушивания этого альбома мне сразу стало понятно, что определенная часть аудитории совершенно точно вряд ли поймет, о чем это вообще и зачем. А другая часть, особенно та, которая пишет в разных журналах, скорее всего не заметит самого главного в силу своей слабой музыкальной эрудиции. А на мой взгляд глав=D 0ая фишка альбома в том, что он построен на аллюзиях и цитатах из старого тяжелого спэйс и психодел рока. Причем построен настолько умело, что не возникает ощущения плагиата. А это дорогого стоит. Тем более очевидно, что это сделано абсолютно намеренно, скорее как дань уважения. К этому альбому совершенно точно не надо подходить излишне серьезно (к музыке вообще не надо так по дходить, если только это не академический опус), иначе можно упустить множество приколов и забавных моментов, причем зачастую в сочетании названия трэка и музыки. Я не буду совсем подробно останавливаться на перечеслении всех цитат, но отмечу особо понравившиеся.
"Time We Left This World Today" хочется напеть с первых же риффов первого трэка, название которого идентично названию другого трэка =D 0руппы Хоквинд - "Standing on the Edge". Второй трэк называется "Manhole of the Universe", знатоки творчества Hawkwind сразу поймут на что это намек, но музыка тут уже скорее опирается на Black Sabbath, чем на Хоквинд. Третий трэк начинается как классическая спэйс рок ода с "чистыми" гитарами и мягкими синтезаторными пассажами, который постепенно переходит к аллюзиям на Пинк Флойд и через блюзовую психоделию возвращается к раннB 5му Хоквинд. Четвертый трэк "Dark Disco" начинается с вариации основного риффа одного из хитов Хоквинд "Psychedelic Warlords" и представляет собой некое попурри. Далее можно услышать отголоски различных других музыкальных импровизаций этой группы (послушайте и отгадайте каких). Но при этом все это сделано настолько аккуратно, что в общем-то слушается как свое цельное произведение, чем по сути и являе=D 1ся. Одна из лучших композиций на альбоме. Пятый трэк представляет собой эмбиэнтное полотно из гитар и синтезаторов, очень приятная музыка. Шестая композиция "Glory Bee" начинается тоже с довольно известных в спэйс роке риффов, а продолжается характерными гитарными лидами и запилами, не буду раскрывать, откуда цитаты я тут слышу, но трэк явно удался. Последний трэк с очень длинным нB 0званием, в котором группа откровенно прикалывается над композицией известной английской группы, являет собой эпик построенный на риффах Блэк Саббат, но с абсолютно психоделической атмосферой и неторопливой эмбиэнтно-tribal структурой. К концу появляется классическая безумная саксофонная импровизация в стиле Ника Тернера, которая венчает трэк и альбом.
Что меня очень радуеD1 в этом альбоме - это отсутствие самолюбования, так присущего многим инструментальным группам, а также то, что композиции никогда не уходят в бесконечные бесструктурные психоделические импровизации. Все сделано ровно настолько, чтобы создать нужную атмосферу и возможно немного ностальгии...
http://ac-2012.livejournal.com/



Sendelica: The Alternative Realities of the Re-Awakening Somnabulist
Tidylike Records

Sendelica is a Welsh band combining psychedelic rock, ambient and dub in a jamming spirit. Their influences include for example Pink Floyd, Steve Hillage, Massive Attack, Spacemen, Fripp & Eno, NEU!, The Orb, Funkadelic, Portishead and Ruth Copeland. Prior to this release, I have only heard the CD Bubblegum and Other Weird Tales from the Mercury Mind released on RAIG, but I noticed the band have several other releases out as well, but maybe in CD-R format like this marvelous, almost 80-minute-long disc that comes in a metal box.

The album has nine, for the most part peaceful and instrumental tracks that float very pleasantly in some psychedelic, alternative reality. It seems to me that the music is at least mostly improvised and it has been manipulated in the studio later on. The over 18-minute-long ”The End Starts with the Beginning” is nice, cosmic and soft jamming including foe example delay guitar that reminds me of Ashra, spacey noises and great saxophone work. The short ”Return of the Spacemen” continues on the same path. “Floydian” is a heavenly, tranquil and floating track that has a more constructed chord pattern with guitar and keyboards, some jazzy sax and also drums. ”Bible Black Starlit Crack” is also a very laid-back and dreamy number with a wonderful, melancholic atmosphere. The drums join in at around the four-minute marker and then there is a guitar solo. Later on the drums disappear and we hear some atmospheric synth stuff, sax, space sounds and bass. There is some distorted guitar feedback at the very end. This is an excellent track, possibly the best on the album! Then we get a couple of shorter, psychedelic and experimental ambient pieces, and the first of these also includes some soft narration. The almost 17-minute-long, rather hallucinatory improvisation “Heaven and Hell” has also some treated human voice in the end and brings to mind the inner space exploratory jams of Tribe of Cro. After the studio-wizardly of the experimental piece “Losing Yourself” we still get the dub styled ”Rippling Ocean Sunrise” that grows into hypnotic proportions and includes programmed rhythms, groovy bass and reggae guitar as well as occasional sax and keyboards. The ending of this very long track has some treated human voice as well and then the going cools down altogether.

All in all, this album is a very relaxing, psychedelic, soft and enjoyable whole that’s well suited for chilling out. Especially the saxophone gives the music some nice extra colour and makes it more interesting, somehow.

www.myspace.com/sendelicapsyche
16.06.09 by Dj Astro



Sendelica: The Girl From The Future Who Lit Up The Sky With Golden Worlds
The instrumental outfit from Wales Sendelica returns with a fabulous collection of seven face melting jams on their brand new offering for RAIG calledThe Girl From The Future Who Lit Up The Sky With Golden Worlds. For this new disc the two principal members, Pete Bingham (guitars, electronics) and Glenda Pescado (bass) have enlisted two Boston area musicians Geoff Chase (drums) and Ed Guild (electronics) to join them on their lengthy, astral excursions.
Kicking off with a brief snippet of sampled, ethic tinged female vocals "Standing On The Edge" quickly shifts into overdrive as Bingham slashes out a mammoth swath of thick power chords, as bursts of psychedelic sounding electronics swirl around his extended solos. His guitar lets out an extended run of feedback at the tail end of the track before seamlessly segueing directly into the metallic, twelve minute crunch of "Manhole Of The Universe". Bingham tears off solo after solo until the half way point of the song, at which point it settles down into more of a mellower, deeply hypnotic groove, reminiscent of early Pink Floyd. The final minutes of this barnburner find Pete cranking up the volume once again as Pescado and Chase hold down the bombastic bottom end.
Sendelica are a band that isn't afraid to stretch out musically, and more importantly they're willing to take whatever time they need to let their compositions flow and build gradually, and this is a big reason why their music works so well. Sometimes bands that play this particular brand of psych / stoner rock, often lose the plot somewhere along the way and their jam sessions end up sounding like noodling sessions devoid of any kind of direction. The Girl From The Future Who Lit Up The Sky With Golden Worlds (this is quite a mouthful isn't it?) sounds remarkably cohesive, like the purpose of each one of these seven tracks was to make up one, extended multi-faceted composition. It's also a great way to keep you firmly engaged and in one place for the better part of an hour.
The title track is probably the most laid back and atmospheric song on this disc as delicate, distant vocal samples of children playing serve as a backdrop for some dreamy guitar and electronic textures. "Glory Bee" sees them returning to the muscular jams as Bingham pours on the layered, fuzzy distortion. The album concludes with their most ambitious number, "Several Species Of Furry Humans Gathered Together In A Cave Grooving Like Groovy Picts". The title is an obvious play on Pink Floyd's avant-garde composition "Several Species of Furry Animals Gathered Together In A Cave and Grooving With A Pict". This is pretty much where the resemblance ends though, as the PF piece was largely built around a variety of weird, experimental sounds. Sendelica's track is a driving, epic tour de force propelled by a repetitive, murky bass line, layer upon layer of psychedelic guitar fuzz, and some brilliant free jazz sax excursions courtesy of guest musician Lee Relfe.
Sendelica have truly outdone themselves this time around with The Girl From The Future Who Lit Up The Sky With Golden Worlds. I have to say that as good as their last albumSpaceman Bubblegum And Other Weird Tales From The Mercury Mind was (that was a four star album in my review) that this album is definitely executed to perfection. The music is absolutely compelling from beginning to end, as they shift gears from heavy all out guitar oriented jams to spacey, introspective, ambient passages, with relative ease. Take an hour for yourself and plug yourself directly into this masterpiece immediately. We're only at the halfway point of the year but Sendelica have definitely delivered a serious top ten contender for this writer's 'best of 2009' list.
Track Listing
1) Standing On The Edge
2) Manhole Of The Universe
3) Hazelnut
4) Dark Disko
5) The Girl From The Future
6) Glory Bee
7) Several Species Of Furry Humans Gathered Together In A Cave Grooving Like Groovy Picts
Added: June 7th 2009
Reviewer: Ryan Sparks
Score:
Related Link: R.A.I.G.
Hits: 79
Language: english
http://www.seaoftranquility.org/reviews.php?op=showcontent&id=7884




SENDELICA – THE GIRL FROM THE FUTURE WHO LIT UP THE SKY WITH GOLDEN WORDS
(CD from www.raig.ru )
For their latest release, Sendelica moved over to America, hooked with drummer Geoff Chase, electronics wizard Vizzie , and recorded the basic tracks at Brown University, Providence, Rhodes Island. This change of scene has done the band the world of good, as there is a vitality and creative spark crackling throughout this album.
After the heavy Hawkwind dynamics of “Standing on the Edge”, its energy levels allowing the band to blow cobwebs from hair, the musicians become more serious as the twelve minute “Manhole of the Universe” allows guitarist Pete Bingham to travel the lengths of his fretboard with abandon, proving once again what a fine player he is, his solos becoming more masterful with each release, the words tasteful and restraint becoming part of his repertoire as he searches for that perfect run. Of course, the understated yet precise bass playing of Glenda Pescado, are equally important to the sound, whilst the solid drumming and atmospherics provided by the new musicians should not be overlooked, the freewheeling music spiralling to the stars with twinkling ease. As the song melts into a mesmerising, bliss-filled middle section, I begin to realise that this is how I always wanted the Porcupine Tree to sound, although they chose a different path after their very early tapes and good luck to them.
Seemingly bathed in sunshine, “Hazelnut”, begins in extremely lazy fashion the sounds washing over you with warmth and grace before finally taking off with an extended wah-soaked solo that glides above summer meadows finally descending by a sun-lit river. There is no time to rest however, as the funky opening riff of “Dark Disko” gets your feet a-tappin’, the rest of the band getting into the groove dancing through the sacred grove until a mean and dirty guitar explodes out of the speaker lifting the track into another dimension.
Beautifully produced, the title track arrives in waves of sonic bliss, the sounds melting into your head with mellow sweetness. This is music to lie back and enjoy, late-night or on sunny days, the whole track a delicious star-flecked dream. Breaking the mood with a heavy space-rock riff “Glory Bee” allows the band to rock out a little and make some righteous noise, the song finally spiralling downwards to become “Several Species of Furry Humans Gathered Together in a Cave Grooving Like Groovy Picts”, a familiar title that hold several clues the nature of the piece, a Floydian workout that slowly builds into a screaming wall of psychedelic noise, ending this rather magnificent album in style.
This is definitely the finest thing the band have released, imaginative, crisp, free flowing and with a warm production, I heartily recommend it to all lovers of space/psychedelic rock music. (Simon Lewis)
http://www.terrascope.co.uk/Reviews/Reviews_May09.htm#Sendelica



SENDELICA – girl from the future who lit up the sky with golden worlds
(CD, r.a.i.g.)
Stoner rock is all about riffage, and a little dope and psychedelia, all of which – in the best case - combines to a burning mix of nostalgia, long hair and fuzz. Ever since we at Cracked declared the “Death of Stoner Rock” a few years back, the genre has brought up a nice record every once in a while, that made us eat our words. The Tunnel, Beta Satan, Hermano or All the islands come to mind, but that is already stretching the definition of Stoner Rock pretty far. Barely able to spout “the exception that underlines the rule” because maybe it is all about us not caring anymore, therefore listening to less Stoner Rock, which again results in a bigger flash of nostalgia and therefore friendlier judgement. Who can tell? Fortunately, this is not about music journalism or any kind of objective writing, but merely catering to our own needs, tastes and obsessions. Therefore we don’t care and neither should you.
Music is more important matters anyway. Sendelica stand out from the crowd. Not only because they are the first band on RAIG not from the east/north that I remember top of my mind. Not only because they have great record titles (see above) and likewise great songtitles (“Manhole of the universe” or “Dark Disko”). Especially I think in this one they describes themselves very well: “Several species of furry humans gathered together in a cave grooving like groov picts”. But mostly because they play instrumental stoner rock without getting boring. Which in itself is a feat of epic notoriety. They throw in a slowly rumbling track or two of psychedelia with rambling saxophone and spherical sounds of swooshing waves in between, but at least two thirds of the tracks on here pay praise to the almighty riff.
Right from the beginning they make it clear that the eternal bass riff going do-do-do-dee-do do-do do-dee-do is at centre of focus here. They add a lot of psychedelia and the best of Jimi Hendrix’ sensitive side into what otherwise could be guitar noodling, if it didn’t fit so well. It is like bananas and choclate – you need to know how to mix them to make them taste really well, even if the two basic products just squished together is also good enough at times. Sendelica offer a right nice banana split coup, if you catch my drift. Hm, I am getting a special taste here.
Back from the kitchen, not finding any bananas or chocolates and having stilled the appetite with a handful of crackers and a glass of water, I start to think about Black Sabbath and John Coltrane, because there is some of both in Sendelica. This is probably taking it way too far, but I am hungry and the crackers didn’t do any good. (At first I was thinking about the sex-side of stoner rock, what with all the pictures and paintings of sexy sixties girls, but I guess that is about it. Limpness is a curse, but smoking pot all day doesn’t help the male stamina, they say.) Tommi Iommi was the master of the clean cut, heavy riff, that you listened to and knew, this is the only way to play it. Sharp and straight and to the core of the evil heart. Coltrane on the other hand was the master of liberty, taking any route at any time and still being able to let his music float freely, yet provides a stable basis. Most of the time he was so far away, only Elvin Jones was able to follow. That is quite true, but saying that Sendelica is somewhere between those two poles and contains some of both is a bland truism, because that is true for 99.5 percent of all bands on this earth. But you get a picture of how far the mind is able to stray with a dose of Sendelica in it.
Maybe, with all the prog- and fusion craze about the happen in a short while – with some of the best of that on the same label - and the new retro of long songstructures and meandering dynamics in songs, stoner rock will also have its own small revival and Sendelica is able to light up the sky with a few golden bass riffs as well.
05/2009



SENDELICA - The Girl From The Future Who Lit Up The Sky With Golden Worlds
The Welsh language is known to have some really long words. Maybe this explains why Sendelica from Wales are into long album titles. After Spaceman Bubblegum And Other Weird Tales From The Mercury Mind from 2007, the quartet is back with The Girl From The Future Who Lit Up The Sky With Golden Worlds, an album that doesn’t essentially change their recipe. Starting with the three minute short Standing On The Edge, you might get the impression that Sendelica are into classical psyche rock, but the following Manhole Of The Universe displays for twelve whole minutes that improvisation is still the main force behind their music.

Inspired by very early Pink Floyd and Hawkwind, the band conjures a freewheeling psychedelic sound which is based on the typical power trio instrumentation of guitar, bass and drums, and then spice it up with a whole lot of electronics that add a wobbling atmosphere with the aim to abduct their audience into an acid drenched mul ticoloured wonderland. Strangely enough, this works better towards the end of the album. The short opener is followed by three long-tracks that are all nice to listen to, but somehow lack direction. The three last songs jack up the quality level incredibly. The Girl From The Future is an introspective five minute stroll, followed by the concise rockerGlory Bee with a mighty power riff that carries the song over the finish line.

The album ends with the epically titled Several Species Of Furry Humans Gathered Together In A Cave Grooving Like Groovy Picts, a fourteen minute psychedelic journey that starts out quietly enough, builds up momentum and erupts eventually into a kaleidoscopic crescendo. Especially the featured saxophone adds another, jazzier dimension to the mix.

Fans of improvised psychedelic rock with a definite penchant for jam sessions should check out The Girl From The Future…, although everyone into Seventies revivalism might get something out of this obscure Welsh band signed on a Russian label. A limited edition comes with Sendelica’s cyber-trash documentary SleepWalker Fever that shows the band from a more experimental side.
http://www.disagreement.net/reviews/sendelica_thegirlfromthefuture.html


SENDELICA – THE ALTERNATIVE REALITIES OF THE RE-AWAKENING SOMNAMBULIST (CD from http://www.tidylikerecords.com/home.html )DREAM MACHINE – THE CASTLE OF A THOUSAND UNIVERSES(CD from www.dreammachineonline.co.uk ) With the dial set firmly on ambient, the latest album from Sendelica is a slowly swirling magic carpet, the music lifting the listener into the sunshine,
Sunday, July 13, 2008 

Current mood:  full
Category: Music
The latest in a long line of musical projects for me is "Iron Snowflakes On Mercury". The first track is posted on the brand new MySpace page:
http://myspace.com/ironsnowflakesonmercury

It is fundamentally experimental, based on a desire to makes some quality noise and have fun doing it! The basic concept is to establish a song title and perhaps some other minor details such as key and tempo, and to let the musicians have their way with it, writing and recording their parts individually with no knowledge of what anyone else is doing. They send their tracks to me, and I stick 'em all together.

Check it out! More tracks to come in the next couple of weeks!
Thursday, July 03, 2008 

Current mood:  accomplished
From the July 2008 issue of The Noise (long-running Boston music zine):

http://www.thenoise-boston.com/content/blogcategory/3/17/
AXEMUNKEE
Tigrette Records
SideWalk Mary
10-song CD
The last time I got my head completely smacked like this was by a record from Abunai! many years ago. It's that rare kinda mind-melt that can be many things to many people. It's psychedelic, dark, jaunty, spiritual, playful, sinister, even world-beatish, and sometimes all in the same friggin' song. Usually, stuff that's this all-over-the-place is doomed to fail, but there isn't a single misstep or contrived-sounding second here. One minute you're on the beach, the next you're on Jupiter, and the next you're getting reamed up the woo-hoo by James Bond in the jungle or something. Oh, and they do it all without vocals, save for an odd sample here and there. While every note played by everyone here is crucial to the staggering success of this thing, it'd be impossible (and stupid) not to single out guitarist and songwriter Catherine Capozzi, who might be my new favorite musician in about the last million years. I'd call it a minor miracle, but there's nothing minor about it. World-class head-fuckery from start to finish. If this doesn't leave you scratchin' your noggin in wonder, you must not have any arms. (Joe Coughlin)
Monday, June 02, 2008 

Current mood:  awake
Category: Music
Several weeks ago while I was browsing the vinyl section at Newbuty Comics, I was approached by a Boston Globe reporter who was asking questions about the resurgence in vinyl's popularity. I had begun to think the article would never come out, but it showed up today. I was surprised by the bit of our conversation that he used, and it sort of puts a different spin on what I said, but whatever. It's still kind of neat. I'm at the very end of the article .

That reminds me - I need to use last week's vinyl coupon!
Thursday, January 03, 2008 

Current mood:  determined
Category: Music
2008 promises to be a very busy and creative year for me:

The Axemunkee recording is coming into the home stretch! We just need to do guitar overdubs on one song and perhaps one or two other little things and we're ready to mix everything in earnest! We're looking to March for a CD release.

The Dark Young, my old band from the mid-'90s, has been back in touch with each other, and we're planning an experiment: we want to record some of our old songs that never made it into the studio, just for kicks. The tricky part (aside from re-learning all that complex music) is that we're now scattered around the world! Fortunately, Dark Mark and I still live in close proximity so we can record our parts together here in Boston. Then we'll send the tracks along to Mac in NYC for guitar overdubs, then to Manny in AZ for vocals, and finally to Jeremy in Germany for sax and flute! I can't wait to see if we can pull it off!

In addition to my own musical projects, I'm continuing to develop my recording business, Quick 'N' Dirty Productions. I've got several things booked for January already, and I'm always looking for more, so if you know anybody who's looking to record a demo or a live show, send them my way!

Happy 2008, everybody!
Tuesday, July 31, 2007 

Current mood:  productive
Category: Music
OK, I have no idea how this 'blog' thing works, but I figured it's time to try it out. The big news is, I've recently begun playing drums again after taking the winter/spring off. I've joined up with my old friend Cathy Capozzi and her instrumental rock project called "Axemunkee". We've just spent the last couple of days recording two songs, and I'm currently mixing them. I'll be posting them very soon!

In anticipation of our first show (August 29 at the Model Cafe in Allston), I've just ordered the snare drum of my dreams (Ludwig Hammered Bronze Supra-Phonic, 6.5" x 14"). I've wanted one of those for as long as I can remember!