Review: Maat Lander - The Birth Of Maat's Galaxy

One of the really heartening aspects to writing a blog such as this is that it has become patently clear that the whole psych/kraut/space 'genre' has become truely cosmopolitan....the historical musical powerhouses of 'head' music, the UK, US and Germany, are still producing some amazing acts (too many to list!) but there is some exceptional music emanating from further afield. One could, rightly, argue that this has always been the case and that social media and the internet has helped artists disseminate their music to a wider audience.....but whatever the reason it is a very good thing...otherwise we would miss out on some superb bands. In recent months I've heard (and in many cases reviewed) some great stuff from Finland, Italy, France, Argentina....blah, blah the list goes on. Alongside these bands invariably go labels, and in this case it is R.A.I.G. ("Russian Association of Independent Genres"), a label I knew very little about but on the strength of a couple of albums I was sent by them, it is a label that I'm sure will become a firm fave.

Maat Lander are Ilya Lipkin (guitars), Ark Fedotov (bass, keys, synths), and Ivan Fedotov (drums, percussions). Lipkin is guitarist for heavy rock revivalists The Re-Stoned and the brothers Fedotov normally ply their trade with ethno-prog psychheads Vespero. With 'The Birth Of Maat's Galaxy' they have produced an album of some absolutely prime spacerock with a healthy mix of krautrock, psychedelia and a bit of prog thrown in. From start to finish it is pure class!

Some tracks, such as opener 'The Comet Rider' are pure heavy space rock while elsewhere there are some strains of eastern-tinged psychedelia ('Alnilam') and there are even some dancey, psytrance grooves going on with 'Spiral Arms'. For me, the band are at their best when they are letting loose their inner Klaus Schulze...'To Johannes Kepler' has a hazy Tangerine Dream vibe about it...it has that hypnotic electronica and understated psychedelic guitar overtones that set aside the true krautrock legends such as TD, Grobschnitt etc. 'Aquarius' adds some prog to the mix with some exemplary guitar work from Lipkin. With 'Gliese 581' we can add Vangelis to the growing list of influences...the track could fit nicely into the 'Bladerunner' soundtrack. Another spacerock workout ('Lunar Rocket') is followed by two more wonderful krautrock numbers. The first 'Two Keys In The Sky' is another of the Tangerine Dream-like variety but 'Coma Berenices' is like a more krauty Hawkwind....the guitars are heavy and the keyboards give it a cosmic vibe. The title track closes the LP, and it is a case of saving the best to last.....it is a hypnotic krautrock gem, it's as close to the kosmische forefathers you can get without having a time machine...simply stunning.

The reason I started writing this blog at the arse-end of last year, was to try and funnel my enthusiasm for the music I love, namely psychedelic, krautrock, space rock (with some stoner and noise thrown in) and hopefully pass on that enthusiasm to other people (if there are any regular readers, you may have noticed I never write bad reviews......I was always told 'If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything' and that's what I do.....if I don't like it, I don't write about it). This LP is a prime example of why I do it...this is music that deserves to be heard - the musicianship is of the highest quality and the band have served up a smorgasbord of spacerock, psych and krautrock, all of it authentic and all of it played superbly....a simply blinding album. Find it here