World In Sound (Pt.2)

Following up on the first part of my little write up about the World In Sound-label, I would like to mention some of the outstanding new groups there. Even though I have to admit that I'm not as euphoric about all of them as I am about the older groups, there are some gems there, which for some reason are still hardly known. 

Well, to lift a secret, you don't just need cool songs or maybe a reasonably appealing look (also the artworks etc matter, you know). If you want to make it as a musician, you also need a lot of dedication and longevity! It takes years to get to a point where you can say something is successful or not. And before you have that financial success, you're basically living on dry bread and spaghetti with ketchup ;) having a job you probably despise while trying "to make it" and spending all your free time touring and playing ... but anyway ... here are a few groups I'd like to recommend to you if you can find the time.

BUDDHA SENTENZA - instrumental stoner with progression

These guys are really good! They've had two albums on WIS before moving on to another label, probably hoping for something more professional :) and I hope they found it. It's tough in the music world, a lot seems to depend on luck too, or being in the right place at the right time, and I wish they make it soon. They deserve it!

KIRKBINSINEK - Turkish Prog-Psych

Well, another strange group that decided to sing in Turkish, which is great, but may not open up a bigger market for them, maybe they don't even want that. However, the album they released on WIS is very cool and I would recommend you to listen to it if you are into this kind of "experiments", but maybe you have already heard of Erkin Koray, or new groups like Altin Gun?

POSTURES - Swedish hipsters with a knack for Prog?

When the demo for their debut album arrived at WIS mailbox, I immediately told Wolf to should release it because most of it is just stunningly beautiful music and I was excited about this and told all of my three friends about it. For some reason, though, the band didn't last too long, which is a shame...

SATURNA - Retro Heavy Rock from Spain

Super professional band, as it has always seemed to me. For some reason things didn't click so well with WIS and they switched to another label after this album. I would rank them much higher than many of the more popular Retro Rock-groups out there in Europe, probably because they really are the better musicians ... I hope they find (more) success!

SUN AND THE WOLF - from New Zealand to Berlin

Another one of my personal favorites and suggestions for Wolf when he was pretty clueless about what new band deserved our attention. These guys had great songs and a lot of stage presence, but for some reason they didn't really hit the nerve of the larger Stoner/Psychedelic-crowd and therefore probably gave up, too soon ... a real pity!

IMAAD WASIF - has just all the Rock Star - material!

I'm immensely proud that WIS released one of Imaad's early albums that will forever be among my highlights of new releases from 2010 to the present. For some reason, though, it seems to remain an insider's tip, like too many others - there's just so much music out there I guess ... this skinny Indian dude's music you should have heard, though!

And then on a side note: Samsara Blues Experiment's "Revelation & Mystery" wasn't that bad of an album too ;) I always thought it has all that made other bands "big" (maybe more) but people still genuinely love the debut and then, not so much ... I can't complain though. Danke Wolf, fuer alles!

Is your World In Sound? (Pt.1)

Okay, this is going to be a bit of a biased post, as I've been "more or less" lucky to work with and for the German World In Sound-label for quite some time now. And I say more or less because as with many things, there are pros and cons to being a musician myself and also working in the biz. To be clear: WIS is great! You can find a plethora of super cool, often unheard musicians and bands there, if you have patience to discover these for yourself ... which I sometimes think is becoming a lost art, to have patience. 

And working with WIS, you need even more of that same, patience ;) There may be more "professional" labels who may have better distribution, big ole' ads in music papers, music videos and all that fancy stuff, but a lot of them probably don't have half the heart of the guy behind this little WIS-organization, who is a guy named Wolf with a voice like the same ;) a guy who fits in kind of nicely with all this "craziness" here.

So, all I wanted to do with this little post is introduce a few of the amazing artists that are united under the umbrella of WIS, since there are many, it may help to have a starting point. WIS is basically divided into two branches, stuff from the past (60-80s) and new groups. Pretty much all of it is worth a music lover's attention, I swear ... Some of my personal highlights from the classics would be the following:

FRED - the best band, the biggest enigma

It is quite a miracle that WIS in deep rural Germany was the first and only label to release this early US psych-prog highlight! A band from Pennsylvania that never released much during their active period in the 1970s, which is very strange since this is a really great group with similarities to King Crimson, or Frank Zappa including a wonderful wailing violin as in It's a Beautiful Day.

DARIUS a.k.a. the Psychedelic King

This guy is one of the absolute mysteries for me, with two great albums, a truckload of talent and great musicianship, yet remained a total underdog. Fans of The Doors must really love his stuff, at least I do, so give this a spin ...

FEAR ITSELF - female fronted psych was big at WIS, long before it became a trend

Among several female fronted psychedelic bands on the WIS label, this is the standout featuring the amazing Ellen McIlwaine, who (like many others) never made it past a sort of insider tip status, despite being pretty much in league with other acid rock singers of the era. Her backing band was a bit sloppy though, well, that has its own charm for me ...

GOLDENROD - forefathers of Earthless?!

Maaan, seriously check these freaks out! A late 60's band formed by amazing studio musicians who worked with the aforementioned Darius, but also with "the King" Elvis Presley himself, The Doors, The 5th Dimension and others. Maybe that already speaks for itself, but this album is really a trip, a kind of Blue Cheer with better sound and musicianship maybe?

CLIMAX - Hooray for South America!

There were also quite a few early South American proto-prog releases on WIS. Bands like Modulo 1000, Laghonia and then Climax, which, at least for me, are the highlight of these. The opening track alone is worth getting into this rare recording. Great rhythms and relentless fuzz guitar will get you excited!

The oddballs: HAMANA, MICHAEL JAMES, MARCUS and more

This is kind of the wildest part of WIS, Loner Acid Folk in all its beautiful obscurity. If you're looking for something different from all the rest, which is still a wonderful part of an almost forgotten universe - ... and I could say that for pretty much all WIS releases, old and new - Dig in! 

And there are so many more true psychedelic gems like THE ID, DRAGONWYCK, MYSTIC SIVA, THE HEADSHOP, JEFF SIMMONS etc, see also www.worldinsound.com and no, I won't get paid for this post ;) I really am quite proud of being part of this crazy trip!

SBE in Mannheim 2019

I just uploaded a few videos from one of the last Samsara-concerts in Mannheim, Nov 2019. These had been slumbering on my hard drive for a while and I finally found time to edit them, not as professional as I wished but I think they are nice memories, and also a few rare tracks that we didn't play live often. 

We played there in celebration of twenty years of the World In Sound-label which is now re-releasing a few SBE albums for those who still crave them ;) no need to pay horrendous discogs prices! I made sure that this madness will stop ;)

Thank you Wolfgang for making it possible and all the true SUPPORT since the first album in 2010! And thank you Bernd for capturing these concert moments! If anyone wants to buy Samsara, Fuzz Sagrado or Surya-records, follow this link: https://www.tastyodds.com