Now here's a perfect example of how the new psychedelic / stoner progressive rock is handled by a Berlin band.
Samsara Blues Experiment have just released their latest album and it's a bit of a monster.
This quartet weave their ideas, as in the true 70's style, over tracks that last nothing short of 10 minutes. With that in mind you know this is going to be a band who want to play. This won't be some stadium singalong oh no, these guys want to work it out. There will be no compromise to you as the listener not being able to go with these extended compositions and given there's only four of them it's one load of sound being put down. There are some pretty rich textures here too, even some backdrop synth and organ. It makes for a big sound. The compositions are never dull or indulgent, cleverly evolving their riffs into some exciting interplay through the numbers.
Another unusual feature of the band is lead guitarist Christian Peters vocal delivery. Often with European vocalists singing in English they have a type of mid Atlantic accent which quite disguises their own language. Peters on the other hand doesn't have this and he doesn't slur the words, hence making them sound very correct English, but you can definitely hear a German nuance to his voice. That makes a clear difference to the vocal delivery giving them a sound that's powerful and deliberate.
SBE are in their 5th year and the lineup hasn't changed from the start and that shows in how tight they can work this stuff out. This is a really great band and should be touring far wider than Europe. You feel if they were an American band the world would be at their feet. As it is this is the sound of Europe's underground.. and frankly it's dynamite.
Here's the albums brilliant title track 'After The Flood', and below that you can stream the whole album.
Buy it for a steal at 8 Euros from their Bandcamp site
