Astral Son

A collaboration with Piet Koster from Sphinx Gallery, Amsterdam. Piet’s videos are based on liquid light projection: “The foundation of my work is based on the psychedelic light show we used to have in the 1970’s: Light Show Sphinx”.

For the occasion I removed the vocals from the original recordings so Sound and Vision can merge into One.

https://www.youtube.com/@pietkost/fea…

The new album is ready, or should I say the creative part. It has been mastered (fantastic!!) and the artwork is done. Currently it is in the vinyl process, waiting for a test pressing.
I hope it will be released (Headspin Records) later this year, maybe the end of the summer or autumn. We’ll see.

Wow, what a journey it has been.

It took me a whopping five years to complete the album. But it is ready and I am really satisfied!! The mastering has just been done and it turned out beautiful, like I hoped and imagined. It may be the best sounding one yet.

The cover painting is almost ready as well.

I have to come up with some words to describe the album, for promotional reasons. There are so many layers of sound and meaning. Five years went into it, so that’s a lot of thought & action. Let’s say it has all the Astral Son ingredients, wrapped up in eight songs and seven dimensions.

It will be released on vinyl later this year by Headspin Records. Limited to 300, black and coloured.

In 2019 I started on a new album. It went well. And then the pandemic came; I wasn’t in the mood anymore. I went inward, changed my habits. After a long break (not from music, I played every day…) I promised myself to finish the album. There was a lot to do. A lot. I knew this one was going to be tough.
Often a song got much better after reworking. It forced me to go through the other songs in order to get them to the same level. This creative process has been amazing. And rewarding. Today I listen to the album and feel it’s almost done. I hope to see it on vinyl next year.

What if all is made up,
a fragment in my Mind,
a Sound already fading
into Silence…

It doesn’t work for me, telling all the time what I’m doing. It’s like giving away energy. It is a spritual journey. And I treat it like that. Silence is equally important as Sound.

Sound is coming from the Silence and it returns to the Silence. Is it Gone?

The new Astral Son album has been on hold for a while now. I have finished the initial songwriting, eight songs. So the album framework is there.
I was distracted because I had a live performance to prepare and I was busy making new electronic music. The performance is done, it was a lot of fun, synths, sequencers, electric guitar and looper…. And the new Son of Ohm album ‘Zeitgeist’ I also made. It is an instrumental electronic album with lots of electric guitar. And while I was in the mood I made another EM album which hasn’t been released yet.

So I’m filled with all those sound experiences and I’m sure it will have a positive impact on the new Astral Son album. I hope returning to that soon!

About Zeitgeist:
“This latest release pushes through boundaries of psychedelic brilliance! I cant decide which was more impressive, the keys or the guitars, however, you mix them together, it is just orgasmic in my opinion!!!!”
Shane Beck

Song: Telefunken Baby!

This week I’ve started working on a new Astral Son album. I had to take a break and contemplate on my next move. Behind the scenes I’ve been quite active. Playing a lot of guitar and keyboards. I spent a lot of time in the studio doing nothing special but all the time engaged with music. Doing by not doing. Trying to reach that state of silence before new music emerges.

My electronic music is evolving as well. I made ‘Paradigma’ by Son of Ohm.
It is a seventies style instrumental album with sequencers, organs, analogue synths and a touch of space guitar. Interesting thing is that I am in the process of fusing Astral Son and Son of Ohm. Fusing psychedelic and electronic. A very happy combination. Ofcourse there were already many electronic elements in the AS albums and psychedelic elements in SoO.
But I am ready to bring them together. I have the right tools and insight now.

So this week I was struck by inspiration. Shortly before I was working on a different project with looping, tape recorder, sequencing (Moog) and a lot of electric guitar. Very loose and direct, even lo-fi. Great vibes, Comic Courier territory. Along the way I have been collecting material, words and impressions for a new Astral Son theme. And there it was.
Powerful and clear. Going back to the Gurumaya feeling after a long journey.
I made four songs in a creative rush. It is still demo stuff but I made the frame. It feels great.

There is not much more to say about it. I have no idea how long it will take before it is ready for release.

In my teens I carried my cheap walkman with me all the time. And a pile of cassettes ofcourse. It was fantastic.

iPod is one of the nicest inventions. It caused a revolution. Mine is still working. Nowadays it is so easy to have music everywhere because the smart phone has it all. But I must admit that I haven’t bothered to fill up my pretty new phone. I just don’t listen outside very much and at home I have different means to hear music. But the iPod still holds value. Amazing little device. Yesterday I plugged it into my stereo after a long time and shuffled it. Interesting to hear what is on it! A lot of strange things. And some Astral Son. What a cool toy!!!