SUBARACHNOID SPACE

They basically title the songs A-G and three are quite long at over 9 minutes and my favourite is the last of those "E". It starts spacey with some inventive guitar expressions eventually joining in followed by deep sounds. I think it's the contrasts because when it gets heavy it's just so awesome sounding. That opener has this sound like we're on a fairly slow moving train and the air organ adds a suspense to the sound but it will eventually step aside. Distorted guitar before 4 minutes and the other guitar kicks in too. Back to that earlier sound as themes are repeated.

Post-Rock styled guitars on "B" for the first couple of minutes then they echo before lighting it up later. "D" is the longest piece at 10 1/2 minutes and another favourite. Trippy with atmosphere and catchy too before distortion at 5 minutes signals the crazy part of this trip to the end where it dissolves into distortion. Love the bass and drumming on "F" the shortest one at 2 minutes and also how haunting and experimental the closer "G" is to end this album.

I recommend this one highly if your into adventerous instrumental music.

This 2003 release begins with "The Harsh facts Of Life" at 10 minutes and my favourite. Air organ to start then drums followed by drums and guitar. This just sounds so cool then I'm asking what are they doing after 3 minutes as we get a slight change with this pulsating wall of sound sort of with that guitar melody and drums continuing. It changes after 5minutes and it's still heavy. They proceed to slow it down and it's dark. Check out the inventive guitar around 8 minutes in. A spacey ending to this great opener.

I really like the next one "Deep End" as well with the picked guitar and slow beats along with the upfront bass. Nice. Sounds like a bowed instrument over top. Love that bass though as they trip along here. Post rock guitar to the fore then they strip it back to the picked guitar and drums again. How about the intensity 4 minutes in when it kicks back in. When it settles back after 5 minutes I can breathe again. Atmosphere galore to end it. "Burn Shot"is a high energy piece for almost 4 1/2 minutes and I like that they change the guitars up a few times on this one. Crazy stuff late. My second favourite has to be "Tigris". Chaos to start followed by distortion and it doesn't start to move until the drums arrive after 1 1/2 minutes. Listen to that guitar before 2 1/2 minutes. So good. This track is the longest at almost 11 minutes.

While I think the first two studio albums blow away their early improv phase their live albums are the ones to get, even better. A review of one of those live records coming in a couple of months Lord willing.

Live or studio album, this does not really matter for an instrumental improvisational band such as SUBARACHNOID SPACE. Nor do the songs titles either, as their music is more about depicting a particular atmosphere. As you may have guessed, all featured tracks on "These Things Take Time" are improvisations different from those of the studio releases. Recorded live in Silicon Valley on KFJC radio in 1999, the performance is in fact a single continuous 45 minutes piece, cut in seven parts. Each part reflects a particular ambiance.

I don't think describing each "letter" of this record is worth, you just need to know that most things you're looking for in the modern dark psychedelia genre are here: gorgeous throbbing bass lines, distorted spacey guitars, rhythm changes, mystical passages, post-rock incursions and even a few gothic moments. The atmospheres are varied and the quality is rather constant. There are a few lengthy passages in the second half though, which is more ambient.

Anyway, "These Things Take Time" is a very good album from SUBARACHNOID SPACE and a good entry point to discover the band. Recommended to space rock, dark music or even post-rock lovers.

The heavy sinister "Lilith" is a very good opener with a pachydermic riff and cymbal crashes. It may remind PINK FLOYD's "Interstellar Overdrive", in agony. "Hunter Seeker" is a reference to the automatic murdering device in Frank Herbert's Dune. Longest track of the record and sometimes sounding post-rock, this ambient lethargic piece will make you wander in desolated lands. A bit lengthy and flat, but the finale is quite ferocious.

"Akathesia" can be described as a disturbed psychedelic metal piece. Nice. "Haruspex" is the latin word for "soothsayer". Consisting mainly in a single long guitar scream with Melynda Jackson's cries of despair, it does not feature many variations and therefore is the least interesting passage of the disc. On the contrary, the ender "Bird Signs" is much more rhythmic and structured. An efficient space rock with cool bass lines to enter the interstellar void.

"Eight Bells" has some weaker moments but should nonetheless please most SUBARACHNOID SPACE and obscure psychedelic rock fans. Prepare your ears for a trip into unknown inhospitable territories...

"Prism" is a soft dissonant rock piece with a strange sound. An average opener, as it does not seem to go anywhere. Recorded live in Las Vegas, "Drink Me" is rather ambient, nothing really happens. "Indy Maru" displays extended organic synthesizer and organ textures, sometimes reminiscent of PINK FLOYD's "Obscured by Clouds" and"More" soundtracks. This track has good moments but not many variations and is a bit lengthy.

Then comes the intruder, as well as the only good track, of the record: "Fruity Drinks with Little Umbrellas". This surprising composition resemble more OZRIC TENTACLES than SUBARACHNOID SPACE. A cool space dub/rock, more melodic than the other tracks, however a little out of place. Featuring no real changes in 18 minutes, the calm "Melted" concludes the disc in a hazy atmosphere.

"A New and Exact Map" is maybe the most ambient album of SUBARACHNOID SPACE, but certainly one of their rare weak records. Not recommended to discover this talented and trippy band.

Although released in 1999, "The Sleeping Sickness" was initially recorded in 1996 with guitarist Scott Ayers from band WALKING TIMEBOMBS. Therefore, the style is very close to SUBARACHNOID SPACE's debut album, "Delicate Membrane": somber psych'n'roll improvisations, however with better sound quality and inspiration. As you may have noticed, the tracks names are just variations of the album title.

After the short ambient "Introduction", the descent into darkness with "The sleeping sickness I". The atmosphere is even more tortuous with the whirlwinds of "The sickness sleeps". The ambient "Sick and sleeping" is like a black hole aspirating the listener. Its intensity increases until becoming chaotic and calm again. "No sleep for the sick" is an efficient heavy aggressive space rock, while the title track displays a deserted land, its big beat rhythm representing the bomber. "The sleeping sickness II" sounds like a monster being tortured. Uneven, but the trippy guitar sonorities sometimes resemble the middle part of PINK FLOYD's "One of These Days". "(Hmmm)" is in fact only 2 minutes long, as the first 20 minutes are empty, which was a common practice in 90's studio releases. Anyway, this short conclusion is rather anecdotal.

As its predecessor, "The Sleeping Sickness" is a long journey into unknown depths, in the search of a cursed creature. Very recommended to dark psychedelic rock fans, but not just before going to sleep...

As SUBARACHNOID SPACE's debut album, the sound of "Delicate Membrane" is rather raw. Entirely instrumental, the music can be described as tormented psychedelia driven by distorted guitars. Although the compositions are improvised, they are quite homogeneous and gives the record a dark atmosphere.

The first tracks, "Karoshi" and "Don't Look in the Trunk" are dissonant and oppressive. They sometimes resemble early dry gothic rock or cold wave, like BAUHAUS. In contrast, "Talking Tina & Her Mechanical Frog" incorporates other instruments. More delicate and mystical, this track has crystalline sonorities. Good, but a bit too long. "Slow Boat To China" is a great haunting track with didgeridoo and atmospheric guitars, displaying a threatening ambiance.

The second half of the record is unfortunately a little less inspired. The incantational "K&V Equals Drool" and "Doomed Megalopolis" are dominated by drums but are a little messy, whereas the slow "Highly Unnatural" is rather chaotic. Then comes the calm and intriguing "Something Wicked" and the ender, the paranoid "Lidocaine". These two last tracks have good moments, but features not many variations and tends to become a bit repetitive.

For a debut release, "Delicate Membrane" shows great promises. Despite some lengthy passages and a crude drum sound, the band inaugurates the rather unexplored domain of modern dark psychedelia. At this period, this particular revisitation of this genre was quite unexpected.

Their rawest studio album, not the one to start with to discover the band, but ideal if you want to explore the tortured depths of your mind...

Originally appeared in Feedback #61, Feb 01

Soaring guitars all over. That's what I meant when mentioning the term 'tradition'. Lilith starts as an uptempo heavy rocking thing with a hard working rhythm branch. The guitar walls are escalating to high altitudes, not really overbearing though, provided with a special sense of dramaturgy. Hunter Seeker is my favourite for the album's crown because they leave the obvious heavy paths for some time with a long ethereal spacey middle part. The crew offers a wonderful melancholic mood here, impressing! The experimental weird Haruspex probably can be weighted as bombast trance initiated by samples which are recorded at a zoo I assume.

Bird Signs now seems to concentrate all the band's power at the end. As it is with many albums - you have to listen more than once or twice in order to feel the kick. Which means they don't offer plain noise here which was my initial impression ... no, when really getting involved you'll meet a well accentuated heaviness which owns melody, which is rather enjoyable. Subtle elegancy - 'Eight Bells' is a rather ambitious effort. Interesting for fans who are feeling comfortable in the space/post/stoner rock hunting grounds.

The good news is that they have improved since this album in just about every way possible.