MELTING EUPHORIA

The next time you want to Netflix and Chill, you might consider, as an alternative, Music and Chill. The album "Inside the Gardens of the Mind" by Melting Euphoria would be an excellent vehicle for that activity. Put your feet up, close your eyes, and let their music tell you a story.

Melting Euphoria is very good at weaving a flowing tapestry of sound waves that propel your imagination along endless mental trips. Their music is not aimlessly rambling, nor is it slow, arrhythmic and droning. Melting Euphoria's music is composed of well conceived, coherent passages with purpose and intent -- unlike many instrumental efforts that are a melange of random passages pasted incongruously together. Their expressed moods and ideas remain consistent throughout each track, taking the listener on a smooth, uninterrupted sonic journey. During your ride, you may hear influences of Secret Saucer, Ozric Tentacles, Hawkwind, or Oresund Space Collective, to name just a few.

Drumming by Michael Merrill is perfectly attuned with the energy of the rest of the band. It is neither flamboyant nor passive. Alas, Michael passed away in 2006. Bass play by Anthony Budziszewski is often forefront and outstanding -- in other words, it stands out! Guitar work by the duo of DeFM and Bob Clic is sublimely psychedelic, smooth, warm, spacey, and trippy, without too much (if any) fuzz, distortion, or overdrive. Moog playing by Zero Devilin keeps things spacey, with lots of atmospheric VCO sweeps and synth bubbles, in addition to the cosmic leads.

Two tracks, in particular are noteworthy. Firstly, the track entitled "Arwr Rhithwelediad" is Welsch for "Heroic Hallucination", which you will appreciate upon listening. And the track "To Shade My Mad Existence" begins with the echoing voices of a madhouse. The fun is in trying to decipher the psychotic babbling, before it evolves into a heavy psych piece with touches of Hawkwind, especially in bass and percussion.

Overall, there is lots of depth and character in this album. No player takes a back seat or hides in the background. You can listen a thousand times and hear something new and interesting each time. This album is engaging -- if you care to close your eyes and listen. Music and chill. Four stars.

Space rock is a progressive mindset where often the mood is as crucial as the musicianship, often sacrificing immediacy for more atmospheric elaborations. The term "trip" was a well-catalogued buzz word back in the late 60s and early 70's and rightfully so, where musical technologies expanded as fast as the rock social culture engendering a myriad of experimental music laboratories (Kraftwerk, Eloy, Can,Tangerine Dream, the Berlin and Cologne schools in Germany, as well as Pink Floyd, Hawkwind, Khan and Gong are all-oldtime veterans that weaved their magic as the world was racing to the Moon - perhaps even interested in its Dark Side!). This style of prog still thrives today somewhat surprisingly, even though their kids (Electronica, House and Trance) did real well on the market! This 90s San Francisco band really took their exuberant lessons well and learnt about the true values of Space= let it fly, deep into the stars. In their booklet, a charming little sentence goes to explain the general idea behind their craft: "Be sure to wear flowers in your hair 'cos we are a lot of strange people here"! Laying down classic rhythm based grooves, the soloists soar over the vector with vengeance, shifting synths, gritty axe work closer to Hillage than Brock and a series of "space whisper" voices that recall the heady Gong commune. There are in your face tracks like the rambling opener "Laylines from Azimuth" or the Ozric-smelling and aptly named "Venusian Skyline" (a tremendous treat with a binary drum beat that would make Hawkfans cry in their Tang orange juice) and a few serene blissouts like "Scarab Jungle", Harbor of Infinity" and the ambitious jewel "Astral Nemesis" but the core is a series of relaxed experiments in sound and mood, drenched in astral liquidity and deranged obsession. Arthur Brown's Kingdom Come masterpiece "Journey" can come to mind here, strangely robotic but enveloped in cosmic soothing that is hypnotizing , the swirl beguiling. Definitely trip music!

As I mature (okay, gracefully age), I find myself more and more appreciative of Space prog, mainly because of its timeless qualities and the immense propensity for sonic travel. When the music is well played (as performed by the above mentioned), the experience can often be more rewarding than a symphonic,/ Neo/ folk/jazz recording , in that its not as "technical" , preferring a more illuminated resilience . Which explains the sensual qualities of this branch of psychedelia quite adequately. I know I tend to repeat myself but the mood is ideal for sex, full of caress and taste, contemplative adoration and intense passion (the criticality of the relentless bass and the pounding drums), very binary and very loving. The spellbinding "Crystalline World" is the finest example of this, a sexy strut that heaves and howls , the female voice in orgasmic throes as the bubbling synths gush and spew their seed. The tortured guitar weaves among the peaks and valleys of some outer erotic landscape, edging the listener into deep frenzy. This is seriously great music that will please Ozric Tentacles fans as well as all the usual suspects booked by Dano earlier on. Travel well and travel safe but never travel alone! 4 Egyptian queens

This compilation can be treated as the band's best-of collection - 18 songs - mostly coming from the albums 'Beyond The Maybe Machine' (1996) and 'Inside The Gardens Of The Mind' (1997). It's scarely nothing known about MELTING EUPHORIA although they are often mentioned as an influential genre band. No doubt - this album is proving their reputation as excellent space rockers with gentle grooving songs, cosmic floating and suspense-packed in the majority.

It all starts with Larks' Tongues in Aspic Part I, originally a contribution to the compilation 'Schizoid Dimension - A Tribute To King Crimson' which was released in 1997 by Cleopatra/The Orchard. A nice interpretation especially for the guitar work - obviously differing to the rest of the songs from a stylistical point of view. But basically I don't know if such compilations make sense. Afterwards the whole 'Beyond The Maybe Machine' suite is presented in one go. Synthy elements are clearly dominating all over compared to the use of guitars. Beginning with Summer Starchild the songs are provided with mysterious female voice adds here and there. We have a rocking grooving basis at first caused by a quite funky bass and this is overlayed by twittering synths a lot. The trippy Srinagar belongs to the highlights - appearing with repetive bass/tribal drums and decent spacey guitar contributions.

Mind's Eyes should be mentioned, this time made up with obvious guitar presence and a more grooving fundament once more - although the trippy behaviour is to state all over there. Into The Liquid Mirror is full of ambient soundscapes where you can imagine a spaceship gliding through the orbit. Under Virgo's Sun has got a hallucinatory oriental note and Celestial Hysteria is another highlight - played very dynamically. You will detect one of the rare and fine guitar solos here. Anyhow - I must admit that this part of the compilation is sounding a bit unisono over the course of time. The next songs are coming from the follower 'Inside The Gardens Of The Mind' - probably the band's core production because more balanced, diversified, tension-filled. The guitar gets a prominent role in the whole, the synthesizer add-ons are restrained and this is all presented in a heavier way.

Daisychain Of Thoughts comes up with a tribal backbone, gripping as for the interaction between guitar and synthesizer. The songs are fading into each other here too. A synthesizer loop is dominating the next one Dreaming Waves Engulf My ... backed up by percussion and echoing guitars - excellent song! Amplified Ohm is presented groovy near to the Ozric Tentacles/Quantum Fantay style but also provided with a relaxed synthy part. To Shade My Mad Existence is initiated by way out deformed voice samples until the band decides to change to the groovy dynamic line after some minutes. The closing song Tabs Of Blue And Silver Sunshine is taken from their last production 'She Wants to Take Us Over The Edge of the World' but of no interest really.

This compilation is well done - I like the special grooving rocking attitude coupled with a floating, relaxed behaviour. MELTING EUPHORIA's music is unique. No song is crossing the ten minute mark where you have to treat their particular albums as one epic by all means. Although entitled as influenced by Hawkwind and Pink Floyd I can't find much similarities here. On the other hand - with reason you can ask which space rock band is not influenced by them? If you are a die-hard genre fan and like to listen to Quarkspace, Ozric Tentacles and similar it's worth it to check this out.