ARC OF ASCENT CIRCLE OF THE SUN HEAVY NZ PROG/STONER LP LTD:100 PURPLE VNYL MINT

	A$		74
	$		49

Datura were a New Zealand power trio who released just two albums - "Allisone" in 1998, and "Visions For The Celestial" in 1999 - on CD only originally. Masterpieces of heavy psych.

They split up in 1999.

Reconvening some years later as Arc Of Ascent (with some different members, but with the mainman intact), they released this debut album in 2010...on CD only. As with Datura, this is pure 10-outta-ten stuff. Way more stoner-ish, with heavy Sabbath-style riffing and Iommi-style guitar, it still retains a psychedelic edge, with some delightful trippy passages. Again, as with Datura, it is LADEN with massive amounts of unbelieeeeevable guitar playing. 

And again, if you inhabit the world of prog, psych, and stoner, and you somehow don't know this, you're in for one helluva treat.

 This was a German limited edition of 500 on vinyl - the first 100 were on purple vinyl (and long out of print), then 400 on black vinyl. This is one of those super-rare purple vinyl copies.

ARTIST:    ARC OF ASCENT 

TITLE:   "CIRCLE OF THE SUN" 

FORMAT:              ...vinyl LP...33rpm…
LABEL:              Krauted Mind
CATALOGUE #:   KMR-001
PRESSED IN:       GERMANY

CONDITION: (cover/record):  (MINT / MINT)... 

...BRAND NEW - NEVER PLAYED...comes in beautiful glossy laminated cover...

Tracks

SIDE 1:

universal form

cosmic eye

the inner sign

SIDE 2:

absolution in light

godhead

master of the serpents

=======================///=======================

Craig Williamson vocals, bass guitar, sitar, tanpura, saz, keyboards, synthesizer, bells, space guitar, wordless spirit chant

Matt Cole Baker lead and rhythm guitar

John Strange drums and percussion

=======================///=======================

Here's a review that gets into where the band's coming from, but regardless of how 'wordy' it gets, all you really need to remember is that this is one mother of a huge heavy psych MONSTER, this album...but read on anyway - the guy gets right into it:

"Kiwi psychedelicist Craig Williamson, who cut his riffing teeth playing in underrated head rockers Datura, emerges from the cosmic ether now as bassist/vocalist/etc. in the trio Arc of Ascent, which continues some of his previous bands' psychedelic exploration, but puts said psychedelia — which comes on thanks to sitar, tanpura, synths, bells, chanting, and so forth; all of which are credited to Williamson — in a more outwardly heavy context. Make no mistake, we’re still reaching out to the farthest uncharted regions of spiritual innerspace, but now we’re doing it with thick guitar riffs! Never know what you’ve been missing until you find it.

These riffs come courtesy of Matt Cole-Baker, and while it’s clear Arc of Ascent’s full-length debut, "Circle of the Sun" still holds its protagonist in Williamson, each member of the trio proves essential to the band’s sound, whether it’s Cole-Baker starting off the space rock groove of "The Inner Sign" or drummer John Strange falling right into place with that groove and blissing out on a tom-heavy repetition until the song kicks in. For sheer heft, Cole-Baker’s guitar stays weighty even in its lead tone, offering notes that ring out behind themselves in comet trails. Circle of the Sun works out to about 46 minutes, but with the space-themed artwork, space-themed songs and wide ranging creative breadth, it feels big and open.

Unlike a lot of latter day psychedelic or spacey rock, however, Arc of Ascent’s production doesn’t hinder the music at all. If anything, Circle of the Sun is stronger for the crisp, professional mix it’s been given, which makes the arrangements sound full and the breaks like those that occur in opening duo "Universal Form" and "Cosmic Eye" mesh entirely with the more straightforward material around them, despite what "outside" instrumentation they may introduce and then remove again. After two records with Datura and at least six full-lengths with Lamp of the Universe, Williamson is well experienced in blending a rock sound with Eastern influences, and in Arc of Ascent, he does so expertly and tops it with a more confident vocal approach than Datura ever saw and, you know, rocks out in the process. On just about every level, that’s a win.

It’s clear that Arc of Ascent is a new step in the career of the New Zealand multi-instrumentalist. It will be interesting to see where Arc of Ascent goes from here, if it’s a one-time project so Williamson could get this out of his system and work with Cole-Baker and Strange or an ongoing band. If this trio does decide to make it a go, they’re off to a tremendous start, as even in its wanderings, Circle of the Sun is catchy without being tired or cliché and intriguing without being a wholly mental exercise. Williamson, it seems, has found the best of both worlds and made one of the best uses of the no-songs-under-six-minutes rule I’ve heard so far this year. Give me "Master of the Serpents" any day, man. Any day of the week. I’ll take it."

The Small Print

(it's a good idea to read this)

POSTAGE:

: first class airmail to UK, all of Europe, Israel / South America / Central America / Africa / Continental Asia (Russia, Turkey, etc.): AU$21.95

: first class airmail to Japan / Asia-Pacific (China, Thailand, Korea, Singapore, India, etc.): AU$19.95

: first class airmail to New Zealand: AU$15.95

: within Australia: AU$7.50

Combining Postage

...take note: 
..postage costs come down considerably per LP/12" if you happen to win more than one...(for instance, to the UK/USA/Europe, etc., winning extra LPs/12"s means adding AU$6.90 extra postage for the second, and even less for a third....or AU$2.00 within Australia for each extra LP)...

WE MAIL OUT AT LEAST 3 TIMES A WEEK.