Causa Sui

I've been having their newest album Euporie Tide on frequent rotation this autumn, and it continues my home country's streak of putting out some of the best retro-psychedelic music in recent years. (see also Baby Woodrose and related bands or the superlative stoner doom group Moonless)

What I really like is that they've successfully modernized the more drawn-out jam-centered variety of psychedelic space rock as embodied by the more guitar-oriented Krautrock groups as well as early Hawkwind and Hendrix' Band of Gypsys (in particular out of his discography), while keeping everything that made those artists worth listening to. The instrumental interplay on Euporie Tide is really something else, as is the adept use of contrast between different textures in the same track - it's the kind of record I find new depths in every single time I listen to. The downside is that it requires a pretty high level of contentration while listening to appreciate fully.

Apparently they didn't arrive at this distinctive sound until the Summer Sessions series, though, if I go by the reviews here: Their first two studio albums include vocals and are more focused on traditional hard rock songwriting with some psychedelic touches, but I might look into the S/T and Free Ride too. Has anyone here heard the Pewt'r Sessions records, by the way? There's no reviews for them and the ratings aren't as high as for Summer Sessions or Euporie Tide.

I've got their latest on my "to get" list. Julian Cope loves this latest record and i've heard samples which convinced me I need this.

I've sampled Summer Sessions and Euporie and like them both.....now I have over 30 things on my list to buy.

Borrowed a copy of Free Ride (2007) from a mate yesterday. So its my morning listen (right now)
The sound is not as perfect as on the later albums. But i like it !
The fact that there is vocals, and the 70's stoner rock jam sound  brings me back to Woodstock (Christiania), back in my teens in the late 70's.
But honestly, the sound is a bit muddy and  the music seems to be less refined at this point.


On a side note, if you like this kind of music you should definately check out this german outfit.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-g81b-PLdQ

And yes, Causa Sui and Colour Haze do sound very similar. I think CS was for most of their career on CH's record label. I find what I've heard from CH much heavier, though, like a hypothetical collaboration between Frank Zappa and Blue Cheer.

I'M JUST GETTING INTO THIS BAND, COURTESY OF TOASTER. THEIR STUFF IS HARD TO GET AT A REASONABLE PRICE ON CD IN THE UK. MAY NEED MP3 WHICH IS NOT MY PREFERRED FORMAT. GOT SS 1.

(whoops upper case error. Sorry!)

I've heard their most recent and it's nice and something I should probably get at some point.

A nice post about Causa and their record company here :

I'd really recommend Euporie Tide for anyone new to the band. This one is a bit more song orientated,energetic and structured.

I think I prefer this band's live albums over the studio efforts. Hell 99% of the music sounds like it was lifted straight from a jam, so maybe that isn't at all strange. My current fave is Live at the Freak Valley.

Also their most recent Pewt 3's sidelong jam, as linked to above, sees the band venturing into something I'd call avantguarde psych. A very strange tune - definitely for Causa Sui....but I think it suits them very well. There's only so much you can do inside a framework of old school riffing a la Sabbath n Jimi. On here they seem to have ditched the structure altogether.