ELECTRIC MOON - STARDUST RITUALS (Sulatron Records LP, CD).

Although possibly best known for their mind melting live albums of cosmic jams where they take you on a heady, lengthy white knuckle ride to the edge of the Galaxy, it’s on the studio albums where the magic really happens for German Space Rock titans Electric Moon. Their meticulously constructed studio records have a wonderful sense of depth and a subtlety that is very difficult for the three piece band to replicate live and the new Electric Moon album, Stardust Rituals, is no different………………….mixing together the loose free form improvisations with structured songwriting and expanding the squall of the Heavy Psych trio with overdubs and vocals from bassist Komet Lulu. The result is a mesmerizing LP of sprawling, atmospheric Space Rock with four long, tripped out tracks of the finest quality that will blow your mind……it’s that good.

Released on Sulatron Records, Electric Moon’s long awaited fifth studio album Stardust Rituals has the feel of a lost 70s Psychedelic Rock album with a mix of post-Lemmy Hawkwind (where the bubble of primitive synths and squeals of an audio generator were replaced with Simon House’s Mellotron, piano and organ) and a heavy krautrock vibe (the stuff that wasn’t Neu!, Can, TD or Kraftwerk) as Electric Moon navigate a trip through the deepest depths of the outermost innermost on their journey through the inner cosmos. With swirling organ and piano, the opening track, ‘The Loop’, has almost a 60s Garage Rock feel until it explodes into a Hawkwind style cosmic chug with guitarist Sula Bassana letting loose his inner Dave Brock. Originally recorded in 2014 and already released as an instrumental version on two previous live albums, ‘Stardust (The Picture)’ has been remade and remodeled and now includes vocals and a dense fog of guitars. It’s deep, dark Space Rock at it’s best with echoes of the trance like Noise Rock of bands such as Loop……………in contrast the breezy eastern flavoured ‘Astral Hitch Hike’ is a psychedelic electric sitar headswirler. Flip the disc and you will find the epic ‘(You Will) Live Forever Now’ which, clocking in at a few seconds shy of 23 minutes, is a classic Electric Moon cosmic slowburner…………..seriously atmospheric with Lulu’s haunting, ethereal vocals way back in the mix and piano and sitar slowly giving way to Sula’s floating psychedelic guitar as the intensity builds. It’s a trip………with slashing wah wah guitar spiraling to infinity before crashing back to earth with waves of sweeping Mellotron. It’s stunningly beautiful and brutally cacophonous all at once, it’s one of the most amazing tracks the band have recorded to date. You need a copy of Stardust Rituals in your life, it’s already one of the essential records of 2017.

With a totally far out cover by Eriko of Mont Doom Design in Italy and Lulu Artwork, Stardust Rituals is out NOW on CD, with a release on marbled vinyl due early June, and available from all the best record stores and the very groovy Sulatron on line store……..keep ‘em peeled for vinyl pre-orders People.

THEE PSYCHEDELICATESSEN