 |
|
|
| |
 |
| |
|
The Grand Astoria: II
|
RAIG (R053)
 The Grand Astoria is a psychedelic stoner/fuzz/hard rock group from Saint Petersburg, Russia, and as you might have guessed this is their second album. The band features four members and plays both long, instrumental and psychedelic journeys and tight rocking songs with vocals that also include some punk attitude.
The album is started with the almost 15-minute-long, slowly growing and peaceful instrumental “Enjoy the View” that is one of my favorites. The great atmosphere is enhanced by the spoken samples in Russian (cosmonauts talking?). At times the track rocks harder in stoner rock style but it also has some post rock vibes. Great! ”The Inner Galactic Experience of Emily Dickinson and Sylvia Plath” is fast, dirty fuzz rock with snotty, punky vocals. The twin guitar stuff occasionally brings to mind Thin Lizzy or even early Iron Maiden… The shorter “Visit Sri Lanka” is a bit ethnic, percussive and quite minimal instrumental, the long “Wikipedia Surfer” begins beautifully and softly, grows gradually with nice guitar solos and starts to rock in a tight and heavy way before six minutes have passed. This one also has some progressive touch, and especially the guitar solos are really skillful. Another top-notch instrumental! The album is finished with atmospheric and magnificent “Radio Friendly Fire” that is over 12 minutes in length. This one includes some spacey spoken samples again as well as other psychedelic effects, and I really like also this instrumental that gets heavier after the eight-minute marker. The Grand Astoria seems like a pretty interesting band that I’m sure would work out great live. The group will be touring in Europe this autumn so be prepared...
www.myspace.com/thegrandastoria |
|
|
|
|
 |
 |
if you're interested in
getting your records reviewed and played at out club, please
contact:
psychotropiczone(at)gmail.com |
|
|
|
 |
