LP | RSR022

RELEASE DATE :
2011

PRESSING INFOS :
300 copies

13.00 € : BUY IT

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EXPO70 / ALTAÏR TEMPLE
Split
Radar Swarm Records



TRACK LISTING :
Side Expo70 :
01. Land of the midnight sun

Side Altaïr temple :
01. Exconjuration des angles
02. Mountain drone
03. Ars theurgia




LINER NOTES :
EXPO70 song recorded by Brodie Rush at the Goldroom KCMO during same session as "Death Voyage" Cd/Tape
Justin Wright : Guitar, Analog drum machine and Moog

ALTAÏR TEMPLE songs recorded at boogaloo, théâtre barbey and waldeck rousseau, mixed at radar house, Bordeaux.
Fred : Guitar, effects, synth
Johan : Analog synths, computer and audiomulch

Mastered by Cyrille Gachet
Artwork by LLCOOL JESUS JO

REVIEWS :
Justin Wright’s Expo 70 is back, this time sharing vinyl space with French duo Altair Temple for a trip headlong into the bonged up psych-drone ether. On Wright’s side we’ve got a jam from the same sessions as his righteous Death Voyage outing, and he sculpts swirling dark masses of sound with heavily effected guitar and Moog, sometimes underpinned by the steady pulse of an analog drum machine. Flip it and Altair Temple deal out some gently pulsing mid-end synth drone that’s most relaxing and mystical-sounding, with subtle playful melodies right on the periphery to tease you deep into the hypnotic swells as it slowly builds and morphs. It’s sending me into a right old trance. Both sides of this fine split provide some of the best in finely detailed drones for the connoisseur. Well worth investigating.

Mike's review - Read more from Norman Records: Expo 70/ Altair Temple vinyl @ Norman Records UK

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Expo 70 / Altair Temple split on Radar Swarm.........

Just days before Christmas and here I am up at my monitor screen writing this set of words....

Another month another Expo 70 release! Not that I mind,especially when they are this great.

This one is limited to 300 copies on snow white vinyl,....and I only mention snow because ,for some reason,that's what this album sounds like to me.....


Expo 70 gives you "Land of The Midnight Sun" and this side to me sounds like the feeling of "suspension" you get while driving in a blinding snow-storm. You may know the feeling I am refering to? When ,late night, you are driving through what starts to feel like a tunnel ,...and yet it's just the snow blurring reality into a float-space. Your headlights reflect against the flakes blowing towards you and suddenly it's a bit like you are standing still and the whole ball of the Earth is just rolling magically under the rubber of your tires. Yes,you've achieved the perfect speed and direction of the spin of the Earth itself. You suddenly spin out into space and you imagine that you can see your car standing there steady as the globe moves under you,.....you shake your head and clear your thoughts as you catch slight glimpses of what may be truck tail-lights ahead of you. That's the feeling I get here. "Suspension" in a flurry of white sounds,with occasional sounds flashing out at you to keep you just about teathered to your version of reality. This is just about 20 minutes of really stunning work. I'm so glad it didn't just end-up on some out-takes cassette.

Now Altair Temple is a duo I've never encountered before and their side on this "white-out" of a disc doesn't swing you more into the loop of any other reality than it's very own ....so, don't think your drift will be broken by flipping this thing over! "Exconjuration Des Angles" is a slightly darker drone than Expo 70's side,.....but it's organ-like swells are like some darkened acid cathedral in a snowy woods. Here is an expansive drone with swells of over-tones and ghostly sounds rising from the mix that could seem like it's full of candle-light and incantation,but is fully instrumental. "Mountain Drone" does sound like a suspended organ drone,......and yet I see no instrument of that type listed on the cover. Like a very mellow Lamont Young piece,and it's a nice 4 minutes long...staying just enough for it's welcome. "Ars Theurgia"( I think that's the spelling?) is a bit more breathy and open than the past two tracks. Etheral would be a good description. There is "openess" in the mix here,with room to hear the strums of the guitar that supplies the main drone work,along with some sounds a bit like wind and ,although it could be another over-tone, what sounds like voices acting with the guitar sounds. Here again this sounds like some snowy hibernation ,if not cryo-sleep dreams. It's all a bit icy and yet inviting....a pleasant dream drone for these winter nights.

I think that this Lp is pretty great,.....but maybe I hear things that even the bands (especially Altair Temple) may not have "meant" to be heard , after hearing they are a dark metal drone off-shoot of some band or another I've never come across. But ,never the less,on this cold dark night in Pennsylvania.......that's what my mind's eye sees.


Cool white vinyl,on a cold winter night might be swaying my visions a bit? A great floating trip of an album in any sense ,'though. Buy it fast....300 copies could fly right off of the shelves.

Oh yeah,written in reverse on the LP's back cover.....," Our Starry Universe.....Realm of Chaos and Night".

Psychatrone Rhonedakk - 12/21/11

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Vital weekly 821 :

EXPO 70/ALTAIR TEMPLE (split LP by Radar Swarm Records)
On the for me unknown Radar Swarm Records three releases. I had a hard time reading the track titles on the split LP. I don't understand fonts like this. Its a split, so I learn from the label's website of Expo 70 and Altaïr Temple. The first is Justin Wright, who plays guitar, analog drum machine and moog and his piece 'Land Of The Midnight Sun' spans the whole side. It sounds a bit like an ongoing jam, but it does sound coherent. Slow drums, spacious guitar sounds, fine use of the moog. It slowly evolves and expands into the darker realms of psychedelic music. The other side has three pieces by Altaïr Temple, a duo of Fred (guitar, effects, synth) and Johan (analog synths, computer and audiomulch). Three excellent pieces of drone music that is quite synth/effect heavy, more than being based on the guitar sound. I was remembered of some of the old Windy & Carl stuff here. Quite static in approach, but with gentle melodies meandering just below the surface. Quite dark, but never unsettling, this is some fine mood music. Tow new names, for me, and both are quite good. (FdW)