Al Neri Sleeps With the Angels

Sonic Curiosity - Spacefolds 9 Review

This release from 2008 offers 60 minutes of cosmic tuneage.

Quarkspace is: Darren Gough (on guitar), Chet Santia (on bass and guitar), Jay Swanson (on keyboards and synth), and Paul Williams (on drums, synth and keyboards). They are joined on some tracks by: Carl Howard (aka Nomuzic) (on synth), Stan Lyon (on bass and guitar), Brandon Ross (on bass) and Lynnette Shelley (on voice) (the last two being from the Red Masque).

Glistening space rock that manages to generate an astral luster tempered with touches of stellar fury.

The guitar achieves a very satisfying presence with smoldering riffs tinged by hints of psychedelic rock. While fast-fingered in places, for the most part the guitar licks indulge in molten chords with lots of sustain and controlled feedback. The result is alluring and slick, often creating the impression of Jefferson Airplane transplanted into the far-flung future.

The electronics growl and squeal, throwing off sheets of liquid sound like banks of floodlights. These fluid electronics seep everywhere, trickling between notes like spilled starlight--exactly the way audiences want in this style of music.

keyboards play a vital role in this music, providing enticing riffs that cascade with trancey enthusiasm, reminiscent of some classic progrock. At other times, straightforward piano defines lilting melodies which establish the lurking presence of a classical recital.

The bass grumbles like some prehistoric beast expressing itself in rippling pulsations of monstrous breaths. This undercurrent does an excellent job of supporting the relatively high-end nature of the rest of the instruments.

The drums are especially freeform, pursuing rolls and tempos that often seem removed from the flow but actually fit perfectly with the melodies. These rhythms boost the music's cosmic mien, providing a grounding effect with their pounding fervor.

The guest vocals (which are basically of a non-lyrical nature) serve to enhance that grounding effect, but in a different direction, providing the tunes with links to a spirituality that extends humanity into the interplanetary void.

These compositions embody a wondrous fusion of modern spacerock and traditional psychedelic rock, maintaining a gutsy sparkle that appeals equally to fans of both genres.

Folk and Acoustic Music Exchange - Quarkspace: Spacefolds 9

Quarkspace is a long-lived and cultily esteemed spacerock band that's actually a prog jam ensemble carrying on a too infrequently honored tradition: the hoary theme-n-variations and amorphous improv smorgasbord so popular from the '70s whence it established. I long ago wrote a feature-length article on the group in Progression magazine (a rag I do not recommend to anyone), chronicling the catalogue of various releases, sub-projects, and changing personnel, but the core characteristic has ever remained unflappable: the extended instrumental freak-out.

This music isn't for everyone, lacking the melodic spine and structures usual to the more mainstream musics, but it's also a wine for the connoissieur of the offbeat, albeit the DIY offbeat, a quality that's part of the group's charm. The reference points for this brand of progressive fare would be, in the high-end realm, the Ozric Tentacles, Hawkwind, Gong, Guru Guru, Radio Massacre International, and the general Europrog spacefaces so crucial to the development of the entire movement. Vastly superior to Klaus Schulze's fledgling Cosmic Jokers, Galactic Supermarket, Cosmic Couriers, and whatever other nomenclature the elder gods went under, Quarkspace has more a Froesian seriousness to them (Jay Swanson's one of the few keyboardists who will use a straight piano in the blend), intent on creating art while having a great time…not just screwing around while whacked out of their skulls as Gottsching, Leary, Schulze, and the rest of the psyche-kraut kontingent seemed to be way back then…a milieu they never returned to, I should mention, once their musical gifts and sense of aesthetics matured.

On the other hand, it woulda been nice to have had this music around when I was doing all those drugs in the '70s, the effect would've been wonderful, but that doesn't mean *Spacefolds 9* doesn't also sit very well with the unnarcotized mind in the '00s. This isn't top-shelf stellar material—oh, say, a la Mike Oldfield—but the lads have always been reliable and worth the listen and purchase (cheap too!), presenting a lush galactic playground to drown in; which means you can pick any Quarkspace release, not just this one. and be quite happy. As Sun Ra perpetually averred, space is indeed the place.

Marc S. Tucker