Fantasia" and "Love Let Thy Name Be Darkness" stand out for their haunting vocal harmonies. "The Torch", with its pounding rock beat, features Brian John Doran's humorously operatic vocals accompanied by Leonie Jackson, and a bouncy, slightly blues tinged solo from Damien Page.

A crowd screaming "Its paaaaaarty time!" leads off the closing number "Rock & Roll Lifestyle". Gary St. John carries the tune with his Elvis-like singing backed by, what I call, the party chorus. And, of course, the synths bubble away occasionally to remind us this is a sci fi adventure.

I gave MMATT a thumbs up for offering something of a twist to my conception of both space, and rock 'n roll, as well as producing music for a cosmically damn good time.

For more information visit the Music & Elsewhere web site. Music & Elsewhere has been aggressively releasing cool indie music of all stripes for years. Check them out!!!

Reviewed by Jerry Kranitz

And then there's the plenty of radio support Jerry has given us and other M&E bands over the years. I'm sure there's a lot more than this, but these are just the playlist snippets I can find in the post-moving-house chaos...

Aural Innovations Space Rock Radio show #60
Judge Trev - "The Personality - The Mind" (from God and Man)

Aural Innovations Space Rock Radio show #61
Pseudo Sun - "If I Only Had Time" (from Atomic Dogs Don't Bark)
The Invisible Band! - "Muzik 106" (from Galactic Citizen)

Aural Innovations Space Rock Radio (show #79)
Sons Of Selina - "Existing Services" (from Nour D'oui)
 

Aural Innovations Space Rock Radio (show #80)
Unlimbo - "Intertia" (from Prahna Fish)

March 12, 2006: NEW RADIO SHOWS

Aural Innovations Space Rock Radio (show #146)

Magic Moments at Twilight Time – “The Starship Psychotron” (from

Creavolution)

Drool Trough Radio (show #45)

Drool Trough is an all genres show featuring cool music from the underground. Anything is game for Drool Trough, and from one track to the next you will hear completely different sounds and styles, all from homemade musicians and teeny weeny but ultra feisty labels.

Magic Moments at Twilight Time – “Rock & Roll Lifestyle” (from Creavolution)

Doug Walker of Alien Planetscapes, lost from Planet Earth in April 2006

"It is with deep regret that I have to share with you all that Doug 'Dr Synth' Walker died in  his home in Queens, New York on Tuesday April 4th. As the driving force behind American  underground Space Rock legends, Alien Planetscapes, for over 2 decades, it is no exaggeration  to say that Doug was an icon of the global Space Rock scene. I had the opportunity to see the
band perform live on a number of occasions and was always blown away by the performances. Doug was also a contributor to Aural Innovations, having submitted several insightful articles  and reviews. Talking to Doug about music always left me in awe. His knowledge of music was  encyclopaedic, and it wasn't uncommon for him to talk enthusiastically about such diverse bands  as Hawkwind, Sun Ra, Lard Free, Richard Pinhas, and Genesis... all in the same breath. Only recently, another of Doug's friend's, Scott Heller, took the initiative to register the  domain AlienPlanetscapes.com. Scott and I had been discussing his plans for the site before  this sad news, wanting to document Alien Planetscapes and Doug's work over the years. With  Doug's passing this week I think we'll be even more inspired to move forward with this project. To that end, I would be grateful if anyone that has any photographs, articles, reviews,  interviews, even recorded interviews, or anything else that you would be willing to share, to  contact me. We were  also discussing conducting interviews with as many former members of Alien Planetscapes as  possible, of which there were MANY. We know several of them but any contact info in general  would be appreciated."

Jerry Kranitz

Although Doug has gone, his music will live on and I can't see me ever parting with the master of M&E's Alien Planetscapes release, "Celestial Dance Hits" (M&E 253, January 1994). Jerry is very much alive and still out there, I shall drop him an e-mail and get the latest ASAP... (UPDATE)

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