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Spirits Burning — New Worlds by Design
(Musea Gazul GA 8628.AR, 1999, CD)

by Peter Thelen, Published 2000-10-01

New Worlds by Design Cover art

Perhaps Musea’s best kept secret — I swear this one never made it to their New Releases page — Spirits Burning is ex-Melting Euphoria / Spaceship Eyes / Thessalonians Don Falcone’s latest “band.” Those who caught them opening for Present in San Mateo a couple years ago (then billed as “Spirits Burning vs. Spaceship Eyes”) got a preview of much of the material on this disc. The music here generally falls in an area between space rock, electronica, experimental, and psychedelic — all working together in varying degrees, resulting in an interesting recipe that offers a good sense of variety, but also has a definite purpose and direction. Unlike the most recent Spaceship Eyes effort, which seemed to lean too much toward the electronica or drum’n’bass corner (at least for this writer’s tastes), New Worlds by Design has a far more aggressive rock-based perspective punctuated by flourishes of electronics and psychedelia. Joining Falcone here is an all star cast including Daevid Allen, Steven Wilson, Malcolm Mooney, and members of his band Tenth Planet, members of Melting Euphoria, Pressurehed, F/I, Darxtar, The Moor, Farflung, Quarkspace, plus a number of other projects that Falcone has been involved with over the years. Karen Anderson’s vocals on “The Unknown” propel an overtly spacerock number reminiscent of Omnia Opera, while Falcone’s own treated spoken voice on “Speak to the Wind” defines a more twisted and experimental side of the program — although the bulk of the disc’s 77 minutes remains predominantly instrumental. Challenging and experimental, yet remarkably accessible, this disc should appeal to those into the Hawkwind / neo-psychedelic axis with a thirst for forward looking ideas. Recommended.

Filed under: New releases, Issue 20, 1999 releases

Related artist(s): Spirits Burning, Steven Wilson / I.E.M., Daevid Allen, Malcolm Mooney

More info
http://spiritsburning.bandcamp.com/album/new-worlds-by-design

 

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