Circling 'Round Again...

Vintage Cucumber - Ufo Freunde EP (2015)

Our last visit from Vintage Cucumber came in the form of their split with The Holy Cosmos back in March, but now they're back with a solo EP packing a half-hour and change, and their krauty spin on spacy psych rock is in fine form once again.  Sparkling guitar tones and deep-groove bass provide the more fluid side of the songs, while the drummer gets to show off a nice range of style in heating up and cooling down the songs as needed.  

While the band can rip right ahead on a high-speed tear, they've also got some cool style with the slower and more expansive stuff ("Mondfinger" is the go-to track for that on this EP, though the pressure-cooker of "Super Fabel" is just as satisfying).  The variety brought to the table by Vintage Cucumber for this EP gives it some strong replay value, particularly with the challenge of trying to keep from being pulled away into the wide-sky brain-space the band conjures up so well.  All in all, excellent stuff.
~ Gabriel

For Fans Of;    Axis/Orbit, Gallileous, Mondo Drag, Snake Thursday, Telstar Sound Drone

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Vintage Cucumber - Grüß mir die Berge (320 kbps)

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Gherkins In Space...

Vintage Cucumber / The Holy Cosmos - Split (2015)

Overcoming the seeming contradiction of an independent collaboration, this split joins together Germany's one-man band Vintage Cucumber with Mexico's sextet of The Holy Cosmos, delivering some fine space rock from each of the contributors.  The opening band depends on which of the BandCamps is your source, but since VC's name is the first one on the album cover in both editions, I used the version with his side as the starter for my listening experience.
Opening with "Mutterherz", Vintage Cucumber rolls out a soft-pulsing blanket of casually psychedelic material, layering a steady drum-beat with synthesizers and pedal-adjusted guitar tones for a rising energy level that transitions smoothly into the next track, "Rennsimulator Marke Eigenbau".  This one goes a little more garage-rocky with the rhythms and attitude, though the production still sounds impressive, hitting that sweet spot of being clean without sounding plastic. Before too long, it's on into Vintage Cucumber's last track, "Windhart", which opens up with the sounds of air rushing past the listener.  One atmospheric segue later, and VC is laying out cool stretches of swaying grooviness, like a calm trip outside at night.  The song hits its conclusion in a trail of twinkling notes drifting off into the stars.
THC picks up from there with some wavering bass drenched in fuzz, with spaced-out vocals and sedate tambourine setting the pace in "Fields", which glazes out the beats while drawling along on guitar.  "Come On Riding" lets the group shake off their daze a little bit, though some sonic shuddering keeps it floating free from earthly bonds while they trace out their hallucinatory path.  Finally, "Cult of Skulls" gets gnarly with the feedback while digging deeper into the dirty dream sound.
The two bands complement each other very well, offering different takes on the type of psychedelia that can just kick back and ride a groove; Vintage Cucumber puts in the effort to make his songs just as big as those from the six-person group, while The Holy Cosmos pull off their tracks with enough unity of purpose to match VC's singular focus.  Solid stuff all around, heavy on the groove but casually cool in their attitudes.
~ Gabriel

For Fans Of;    Vanilla Trainwreck, Stereolab, Santana, Inspiral Carpets, A Place To Bury Strangers

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The Holy Cosmos - Cult of Skulls (320 kbps)

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A Split From Reality...

Felipe Arcazas/Vintage Cucumber - Split (2013)

Well played, universe, the irony is not lost on me that I'm doing this review of a split right now just when The Heavy Eyes, which were planning a split with All Them Witches I looked forward to a whole lot, has called quits. Well played...
That isn't something I can hold against Felipe Arcazas & Vintage Cucumber ofcourse, quite frankly this split has been able to turn my frown upside down. First of all because it's a split, I cannot stress enough how much I love those, and secondly because it's both Mr. Arcazas and the Cucumber. The Brazilian and the German (their bio says, I'm convinced they're both from outer space) have created something that can best be described as a sitter. For who isn't familiar with the term, a sitter is basically the designated driver for psychedelics, and the reason I'm calling their split a sitter because the music is something that can definitely guide you through a trip. It's mellow, it's ambient, it's spacy, weird, never too intense and absolutely very chill. Just as you'd expect.
That's where my only complaint comes in play when it comes to both Arcazas and Cucumber, and it isn't even about the music. The both of them create music which is weird, spacy, etc etc, but meanwhile anything but experimental. Why? Because the first time you do something new it can be an experiment, but when you keep doing that, your experiment has turned to something solid, which it has and their creations only get better from that, but just because something is weird or very much so out of the mainstream doesn't mean it's experimental. That'll be the end of my mid-review terminology rant.
Back to the music; the split is set up with first three songs by Felipe, then three songs by Vintage Cucumber and as cherry on the pie a song made by the both of 'em. Now that's teamwork! The first songs by Arcazas are a bit more musicish, while it slowly transcends into Cucumber's more ambient realm, and their collaboration is one of the best ends to an album I've ever heard, it combines the rythm of the Arcazas, the vibes of the Cucumber and a whole bunch of great samples.
Overall, Felipe Arcazas does steal the show in my opinion, because he provides a more swinging deal to it all, but the split really should be listened as a whole. That's where the collaboration really shines, and when you listen to it like you're supposed to (high as a kite) then you won't (and probably can't) turn it off anyway.
Oh, it's also for free over at ther bandcamp, thought you'd like to know!

~Ruben

For Fans Of; My Sleeping Karma, Sun Grazer, Tigre, Papir, Andy McKee

Felipe Arcazas ~ Facebook • SoundCloud • Bandcamp

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Felipe Arcazas/Vintage Cucumber (320kbs)

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Just Veg Out...

Vintage Cucumber - Jup's Chillout Lounge Style (2013)

Did you wake up this morning and think to yourself; 'I really fancy some ambient German instrumental psych'? No? Well, no I didn't either, but nonetheless, that just seems to have been the way my day has progressed and besides, it Friday so sit back, spark one up and unwind for the weekend.
Now for those of you not akin to Vintage Cucumber, you could be somewhat forgiven for being put off by the name. Sure it's a little unorthodox when it comes to the realms that we usually scoure for bands, but trust me, if you're looking for trippy and chilled out you're certainly at the right place.
Hailing from Germany, the Cucumber is actually the twisted brainchild of just one chap, Johannes Schulz. Much in the same ilk as blog favourite Judd Madden, Schulz is a one man tallent centre that weilds everything from the guitar to drums to synth. The end product, in the case of this album at least, is something exquisitely unusual. Not something we tend to often plug here on the site, but well deserving of a mention all the same.
From start to finish every track flows past a variety on styles without every quite crossing the line and actually committing itself to a single one. Entirely melodic and without hast it gives off waves of classic psych, soft stoner rock, early Kraut rock, electronic and most preveniently space rock. In fact the whole album has a certain Blade Runner, post apocalyptic jazz kinda feel to it. With the healthy dose of synth and off kilter transitions, this recording could easily have come from the vaults of Vangelis himself. Hell, if you turned your lights down low and smoked enough of the right strain you could well imagine yourself in Deckard's apartment. But maybe that just the nerd in me talking.
At the end of the day it's going to be pretty hit or miss with a lot of you reading. You're either gonna love it or hate it. But I reckon that if you've ever got stoned out of your nut, drawn the curtains and put on Pink Floyd's Live in Pompeii dvd, then you'll really dig this little cracker.

For Fans Of; Giants, Vangelis, Omega Massif, Blueneck, Orbital

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Jup's Chillout Lounge Style (320kbps)

Caution: May Contain Vegetables...

Vintage Cucumber - Mc Goyl Style (2012)

I was in one of my school’s computer labs using a desktop freely before staring my computer science class in the next couple of minutes. As a habit, every time I use a computer at school, I do 2 things: open my email and check the blog to see if there’s any new good stuff on it. couple of days ago, I opened up my email and saw that my fellow blog writer Jay had sent me some bands to review (by the way, if you and your band want to be reviewed, send us an email, we don’t bite). I opened the bandcamp link, and for the next couple of minutes I could not recognize where I was. I don’t remember anything that happened that entire class, I was so incredibly lost in all the spacy and noise filled songs that it was the only thing I could think of. The music is done in a very DIY manner by a German fellow with lots of dragged out synth notes with a light and slow beat of the drums in the background, and various sound effects taken from the farthest reaches of the galaxy. The music isn’t really my type cause I’m a diagnosed multi-tasker, and if I’m listening to something that just leaves me inanimate, it’ll mess up my day, but I was able to enjoy it regardless since I didn’t have much to do this week anyway. My parent teacher conference is tomorrow, let’s just hope my teacher didn’t notice me taking off into orbit during class.
~ Bernardo

For Fans Of; Red Sparowes, Grails, Giants, Om, White Hills

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Mc Goyl Style (320kbps)