This early group of Jordi Soler made an adventurous album of largely improvised jazz-rock with long electric guitar, bowed bass and trumpet solos. It contains only four long tracks (plus 2 bonus tracks on CD edition), with "Excusa Núm. 1" paraphrasing the main theme of Pink Floyd's "Interstellar Overdrive" (which might be a coincidence). This is typical for jazz-rock musicians who want to experiment and comparable to Nucleus, Miles Davis, Min Bul, John McLaughlin, Arbete & Fritid and early Henry Cow.
A pure statement of being and essence – and one of John Coltrane's spiritual masterpieces from the 60s! The 1965 recording was one of Trane's most adventurous so far – as it featured just one album-length track, building up out of relatively free expressions from Coltrane in the studio – initially in the spirit of Love Supreme, but much sharper-edged and unbridled overall – as if the meditative spirit of the previous recording had unlocked a sense of freedom that refused to be tied down to simple structures! The group is great – and features Pharoah Sanders on tenor, Donald Garrett on bass clarinet, McCoy Tyner on piano, Jimmy Garrison on bass, and Elvin Jones on drums – plus a bit of flute and percussion from Joe Brazil. The playing is much freer than on other albums of the time, but also has some introspective spiritual moments – clearly inspired by the Love Supreme recording, but taken a shade outside as well!
Formed in Lucerne, Switzerland, in 1972 and named after Coltrane’s darkly convulsive album, the members of OM were initially inspired as much by the rock of Jimi Hendrix as by the new developments taking place in improvisation. “Electric jazz – free music” was their rallying cry, and they played it loudly. All in their early 20s when the group was launched, the members of OM achieved an early success at the Montreux Festival in 1974 which helped to put them on the map, and brought them to the attention of ECM. Four albums were recorded for ECM’s sister label Japo, between 1975 and 1980: “Kirikuki”, “Rautionaha”, “Om with Dom um Ramao” and “Cerberus”.
The London based alternative/indie rock trio Desert Mountain Tribe released their second album on 1st June. Om Parvat Mystery is co-produced by the band with James Aparicio and was recorded in London and the Faroe Islands. Najma Akhtar, the well known British singer of Indian ancestry who has previously collaborated with the likes of Page & Plant and Jah Wobble as well as making several acclaimed solo albums in her own right, features on two songs.
2012 release from the Drone/Noise band led by former Sleep vocalist/bassist Al Cisneros. Advaitic Songs achieves a level of composition that would've been impossible to foresee. There remains the singularity of purpose that is the core of all Om records, but whatever drone-doom camp that Om had been placed in has been decimated by the sheer imagination and expansive quality of this recording. Let's call it "heavy world music".