Review: Sula Bassana - Live At Roadburn 2014

Sula Bassana, for those who don't know, is german multi-instrumentalist Dave Schmidt who is responsible for, or had a hand in, some of the premier psychedelic / krautrock / spacerock releases over many years: he plays guitar in Electric Moon, the drummer in Zone Six, Synth/Organ player in Krautzone (a personal fave!), and has released a plethora of solo albums under the moniker Sula Bassana which run the gamut of head music. Sula Bassana rarely plays live as a solo entity so when it was announced he was playing last year's Roadburn festival many eyebrows were raised in expectation and surprise. The result, as can be heard on this new release from Schmidt's own Sulatron Records, is an exhilarating journey into the far reaches of psychedelia. Add into the mix the superb artwork from Lulu Artwork (Komet Lulu who also plays bass) and the fact that the album was mastered by EROC (absolute legend in the krautrock world - drummer for Grobschnitt and a real sonic explorer) and you have a release that needs to be owned and loved.

With the help of a crack bunch of musicians (the aforementioned Komet Lulu on bass, Marcus Schnitzler on drums and Rainer Neeff on guitars with Sula himself on guitars, synths, mellotron and ideas) Sula puts together a set of power which retains a sense of subtlety; music that is mantric without sounding repetitive - it rolls and swirls, peaks and falls. At times it leaves you breathless and others pretty blissed out.

The set opens with 'Rainstorm' which starts with an ever-rising synth drone and a simple guitar / bass combination. But you just know something big is on the horizon and the track builds and builds until the bass sounds as though it could hew rock and the guitars rip through time itself. This is pure cosmic acid-jamming on a scale you would expect from Electric Moon or indeed Acid Mothers Temple. There are touches of Hawkwind-like space rock weaved throughout the track as it reaches it ear-bleeding conclusion. It can't get better than this can it? 'D-Light' is a much airier and lighter affair, some spacey synth drones and simple sitar sounding guitar picking out a simple melody over some tribalistic drums. Again there is a slow building but never, deliberately, reaching the skull-smashing levels of 'Rainstorm' - this is a more 'controlled' track...this is not the track to let go but to build something steady and measured. Then we come to 'Dark Days' (the only previously released track, on the self titled LP); a track so heavy it could crush mountains. The wah-wahs are immense and the mellotron sounds like it's on course to leave the atmosphere....it's the sound of a black hole swallowing everything in it's path..and yet an almost delicate eastern refrain can be heard weaving it's way through the miasma of fuzz. The set closes with 'Alienfuzz', a short (the only track under 10 minutes) burst of acid freakout that is ushered in by echo-laden guitar and soft synth lines. It's brevity is it's strength; it's a shot of schnapps after an evening of sipping finest champagne.

This LP is a record of an artist (and accompanying band) at the height of their powers and certainly made me re-evaluate my somewhat jaded opinion of 'live' albums....it's level of musicianship is matched only by it's power and invention. A pretty damn awesome album. I make no apology for the fact that over the next couple of weeks there will be much more from Mr Schmidt on this blog (have also got the 'Papermoon Sessions Live at Roadburn' amongst others). It also made me promise myself to get across to Roadburn one year!!

The album is available over at Sulatron Records. The CD is out now and the lovely looking marbled limited edition vinyl is out soon