INDUSTRIAL SABOTAGE

One of the most obscure and unique bands to come out of the U.S in the 70's. Grew out of the underground scene of Washington D.C in the mid 70's, Mars Everywhere evolved from a three man avant garde electronic project to something that eventually refused to be fixated neither in space rock nor in electronic prog. In 1977 Random Radar Records (which is considered to be the ancestors of Cuneiform Records releasing albums by underground progressive bands in the end of the 70's and early 80's such as The Muffins, Art Bears and the excellent band However), released a compilation album (sampler) of artists like Fred Frith, The Muffins, Lol Coxhill and more. This early line up of Mars Everywhere contributed one track, the avant electronic piece Attack Of The Giant Squid to the album. After that time Ernie Falcone suggested adding more instruments to the mix like drums, guitars and woodwinds and by that stirring the band into a more exciting space rock, avant jazz direction. The band at that time included founding members Ernie Falcone, Barney Jones and Tom Fenwick recruiting also Greg Yaskovich and Robin Anderson, playing electric guitar, bass, drums and woodwinds while most of them playing keyboards and synths! After a line up change they were left as a four piece band when the album came out in 1980. Being a D.C based band Dave Newhouse and Tom Scott from The Muffins are also credited here which makes this album even more fascinating. Industrial Sabotage is their only official album although I know there are two more cassettes with more material but not as accomplished as this. The album include 7 tracks, 3 of them recorded live at different universities in Washington in the end of the 70's and the rest are studio tracks, all of the musicians appear in the album since the recording lasted for a long period of time, in spite of that the album works as a whole unit.

Hard to imagine but the band were drawing a lot of influences from Germany's krautrock and electronic giants like Conrad Schnitzler, Klaus Schulze, Tangerine Dreams, Ash Ra Tempel and Richard Pinhas/Heldon. They wildly mixed Soft Machine and The Muffins's jazz experiments and the Psychedelic/space rock dimensions of Gong and Here & Now, throw some avant garde weirdness like Ummagumma studio sound effects to the mix and you'll get the picture.

Enchanted Domain the 12 minute opener is a great example of their take on electronic space rock, you just have to close your eyes and go with the flow. Beginning with a long and spacey build up of synthesizer washes, echoing glissando guitar on top of a gentle rhythm section, which later picks up dramatically with a crunchy electric guitar solo by Falcone, wonderful! Their free jazz, improv fusion influences are especially highlighted in Steady State Theory and Mare Chromium both my favorites, including screaming woodwinds and manipulative effected reeds drowning in psychedelic atmosphere augmented by Falcone's sizzling guitar bends and fiery runs, really crazy and original take on that mix of genres.

The fact that the band had so many keyboard players reflected in their synthesized weird experiments built around a few layers of keys, effected guitars and all sorts of alien noises to create a menacing dark sonic soundscapes featured in the title track and the closing piece Attack Of The Giant Squid, which the liner notes indicated was recorded live in 1979 which I think is a mistake since this version sounds to me exactly as the one appearing in the RRR sampler released in 1977, mentioning this was recorded live in 1976. Zone Of Twilight is a rocky version of that famous show main theme and a very successful attempt it is, this is more resembling to Gong's space rock excursions with soaring glissando guitars, murmuring synth travels and a beautiful distorted bass sound, Gilli Smyth would feel right at home here, fantastic piece! Zoln (great name for a zehul band!) is another long piece to experiment with, it starts out with some creepy sound effects noodling then picks up with a pulsating rhythm section topped with wild synth effects flying all over and a fuzzed distorted bass, a space rock heaven right there. It continues with guitar and keyboard soaring solos and multilayered synth effects, this is really deranged in a good way of course.

It's wondrous that this album wasn't reissued yet because this would definitely appeal to a lot of prog/psychedelic fans everywhere, especially for those who are looking for the more out there obscure gems. I'm guessing this would get pretty pricey if you can find a second hand vinyl but it's worth it. Easy 4 stars for this highly creative and unique album.