What albums did you listen to today?...continued

Xhol Caravan - Motherf**kers GmbH & Co. KG  Wow, this is splendid! I had not investigated much of Xhol's catalog other than just hearing a few pieces on the internet. I love how the music employs funk and blues-rock influences on song-like parts, jazz influences on improvisation, and has it's own flavor when experimenting with form, timbre, and harmony. Everything is amazingly balanced and "on point." Definitely a gem!

Mulatu Astatke - Mulatu of Africa This is the music I've been hearing in my mother's womb, for real. My mom recently dug out he old Mulatu Astatke discs and it didn't take long for me to realize that this is totally my thing. I really like this music, it combines the proto-fusion elements I really love with African music influences for fascinating results.

Bruce Haack - Electric Lucifer This is Bruce Haack's first psychedelic album and his electronic children's music background combined with experimental rock trends of the period fructifies in this oddity. All with a weird preacher-esque atmosphere to it. Electric Lucifer is a fascinating work, highly recommended to anyone interested in both - psychedelic rock and early electronic experimentation.

Sun Ra - The Night of the Purple Moon Actually, this may rival Lanquidity and Space is the Place as my favorite Sun Ra album. At first hearing, it's quirky post-bop with considerable amount of experimentation, but it hides so much underneath. The acoustic piano is replaced with a bright percussive pianet and, actually, musically, it's quite indescribable and incomparable. Furthermore, the short piece format enhances the "odd" reverberation of the music. Phenomenal!

Pink Floyd - Ummagumma This is my favorite Pink Floyd album for sure and today's listen only confirmed it. The live disc is really breathtaking. The version of "Astronomy Domine" grows up to the excellence of the original, "Careful With That Axe, Eugene" gives me goosebumps everytime, while "The Saucerful of Secrets" is almost as good as the ultimate Pompeii version. Disc two, however, is even more addictive, portraying Pink Floyd at the hight of their creative period. I read a bit about The Man and The Journey suites that they performed at that time and will make sure to investigate that soon!

Eliane Radigue - L'Île Re-Sonante To be frank, this album sounds like a chunk of infinity. There is one part of this extremely slowly evolving hour-long drone, which, in my opinion, genuinely sounds like road to heaven. I've found my reception of this piece is different to most of the things I listen to, it's . . . meta-musical.

Soft Machine - Spaced (1969) How cool is it to hear one of your all-time favorite bands do something you love, but would not have associated with them? That's right, Soft Machine is at their most experimental here. Somewhat similar to Faust, they experiment with drones, tapes, time, effects, timbres, everything is very dark. And they really succeed. Highly recommended!