STEVE MAXWELL VON BRAUND ~ MONSTER PLANET (1975, CLEAR LIGHT OFJUPITER, AUSTRALIA)

1. monster planet

2. shadowfax

3. spirit

4. crystal forest

space cadet stephen maxwell von braund's activities in the more known cybotron might make him a name in cosmic synth circles circa 70's/80's. this first pre-cybotron von braund (with a very steve hillage eruption on the first track) is mostly just hammed up synth rippling into SPACE. think summer material, highway, turning it over and over in the car.

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ANDRE JAUME & MICHEL REDOLFI ~ HARDSCORE (1980, COTE D'AZUR, FRANCE)

more known for his electro-acoustic landscapes, michel redolfi's association with the largely free music-focused group hat hut records, got him together with both sax and clarinet improvisor jaume (joe mcphee, raymond boni and charlie mariano) though hardscore itself wasn't actually issued on the hat hut label, you should still check it out.

this thing is a thing of bliss. enjoy, enjoy.

download HERE.

AKIRA ITOH ~ BUDDHA (1982, COLUMBIA, JAPAN)

akira itoh (with masanori takahashi or kitaro), keyboardist, from far out and far east family band, made this album inspired by osamu tezuka's (one of japan's most famous manga artists) buddha.

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CHRONICLE ~ ...LIKE A MESSAGE FROM THE STARS (1977, ALL EARS RECORDS, JAPAN)

1. ai ga areba (if there is love) 

2. ai ni tsutsumare (it always is) 

3. honto no yume (really a dream) 

4. yuma kara samete (then dream again) 

5. toki ga tatsunowa (time is passing) 

6. tshikematai (i'd like to make sure) 

7. iwamara tokino subete (now's the time) 

8. hikarini tsutsumare (wrapped in sunlight) 

9. like a message from the stars 

10. tabi (we all)

chronicle is ex-far out bassist kei ishikawa. when far out broke up, guitarist and vocalist fumio miyashita formed the one and only far east family band (hirohito fukushima, akira ito, kitaro, akira fukakusa, shizuo takasaki). kei ishikawa moved to california with keyboardist kenji mishiro, guitarist: nobuo hotchi, and drummer: osamu takeda (another ex far-out member) and formed CHRONICLE. this is some (uh...a bit cheesy but totally amazing) space rock, far out influenced prog with mellow keyboards, zonked out guitar jams and super dreamy space 'scapes. PROG OUT.

download here.