Astra the weirding free download

Astra is a rock band from San Diego, California. Their sound is in the style of the s progressive rock and psychedelic rock, and includes a variety of synthesizers, mellotron and long jams. Cocoon The Black Chord Quake Meat Drift Bull Torpis The interplay between the distinctive sound of the Mellotrons and the moving work on the guitars evoked many times goose bumps!

This culminates in a breathtaking grand finale with majestic choir-Mellotron, soaring Hammond organ and fat Moog synthesizer flights, what a mighty musical experience! The short song Broken Glass is a bit of a maverick because of the acoustic guitars, beautifully blended with warm vocals and the sound of the flute?

But in general the atmospheres shift from dreamy and spacey to bombastic and from slow and hypnotizing rhythms to heavy eruptions. Often early Pink Floyd Pompeii-Meddle era , Seventies German Progrock melodic and emotional and some Black Sabbath vocals and heavy rhythm-section, mainly in the titletrack come to my mind.

Recommended to Tron-Maniacs and space rock freaks, my rating: 3,5 star. Review by Warthur Prog Reviewer. As a result, Astra are willing to get a little fuzzier and rougher around the edges, giving them a sound which simultaneously roots them somewhere between psychedelic proto-prog and full-fat prog and helps them assert their own sonic identity.

If you've heard The Black Chord, the approach there is basically the same as here; if you haven't, I'd say go for whichever of that album and this one strikes your fancy first, because they're both excellent examples of this style. Review by FragileKings Prog Reviewer. My impression has not changed over the years. This is always an enjoyable album to listen to. It's not too long unlike their debut, "The Weirding" and the tracks are kept at a reasonable length, completed perfectly in their given time frames.

As I listened to this album yet again tonight, though, I was once more struck by the impression that this is really space travel music. You'll know what I mean when you hear the slow and gradual building up of the first track, "Cocoon". It takes you for a ride over the surface of a barren but exotic planetary landscape at sunrise before launching you to the stars and through gaseous nebulae and spiraling galaxies.

Astra are five lads from California who know how to capture the cosmic rock of the early seventies. Somewhat like the child of Pink Floyd and Hawkwind but inheriting Pink Floyd's more laid back style, Astra are big on Moog synthesizers and Mellotrons but of course including electric and acoustic guitars along with the quintessential bass and drums.

One member is also credited with flute. A retro band to be sure but a very good one. The music is not hugely complex but rich in textures, the Mellotron used to create that space age fantasy soundscape.

Acoustic guitar doesn't figure in much except in "Drift", and when I hear it in "Barefoot in the Head", the guitar notes are more like sparkles of twinkling starlight glittering through gaps in the obscuring nebulous gasses in the slowly shifting dust of a starfield. The music is generally quite laid back and slow but it can break into gallops, the brief instrumental "Bull Torpis" being the one track the moves along at a hurried pace.

There are suitable flourishes of guitar solos and keyboards, and the vocals are soft in that old Pink Floydian way and sometimes distorted slightly to add to the spacey effect. I believe there are two vocalists and their harmonized vocals also fit right with to the overall effect. Though not everyone views retro-prog favourably, I think in a case like this where it is accomplished so well one has to give credit. This is one far out piece of work.

If there is any flaw great enough to deny the album a five-star rating it's the production sound. I'm not sure if it was intentional but the dynamic range seems to be lacking. I'd love to be able to hear the music captured more clearly and the life of the instruments rendered more generously. This is a step up from their debut which had a much inferior sound quality. I can only hope that if they ever get around to recording a third album it will be better produced.

But again, it almost seems as though it was done intentionally because the lack of dynamic range doesn't totally dampen the music. Perhaps they were going for this kind of effect. A worthwhile album to check out, and gosh darn it all, Astra, guys, get another album out sometime soon, will you? You do stellar work! The tone for this album is set right away, with wind sounds and a cosmic keyboard chord fading in on 'Cocoon'. The song builds and builds in mood, getting faster and more intense.

The title track is a mammoth, 15 minute long cosmic trip. It varies its mood and pace expertly, making for a fantastic experience. The entire album manipulates the atmosphere very well, going between mellotron driven relaxed passages, tense progressive flourishes, and the occasional acoustic guitar lead.

Wednesday 21 July Thursday 22 July Friday 23 July Saturday 24 July Sunday 25 July Monday 26 July Tuesday 27 July Wednesday 28 July Thursday 29 July Friday 30 July Saturday 31 July Sunday 1 August Monday 2 August Tuesday 3 August Wednesday 4 August Thursday 5 August Friday 6 August Saturday 7 August Sunday 8 August Monday 9 August Tuesday 10 August Wednesday 11 August Thursday 12 August Friday 13 August Saturday 14 August Sunday 15 August Monday 16 August Tuesday 17 August Wednesday 18 August Thursday 19 August Friday 20 August Saturday 21 August Sunday 22 August Monday 23 August Tuesday 24 August Wednesday 25 August Thursday 26 August Friday 27 August Saturday 28 August Sunday 29 August Monday 30 August Tuesday 31 August Wednesday 1 September Thursday 2 September Friday 3 September Saturday 4 September Sunday 5 September Monday 6 September Tuesday 7 September Wednesday 8 September Thursday 9 September Friday 10 September Saturday 11 September Sunday 12 September Monday 13 September Tuesday 14 September Wednesday 15 September Thursday 16 September Friday 17 September Saturday 18 September Sunday 19 September Monday 20 September Tuesday 21 September Wednesday 22 September Thursday 23 September Friday 24 September Saturday 25 September Sunday 26 September Monday 27 September Tuesday 28 September Wednesday 29 September