San Fran space rockers set their
course out the heart of the sun to find
exciting stability.
This band, a cosmic project of former UK
SUBS’ axeman Nicky Garratt, are reaching
velocity speed on their fourth album.
Following The Fall Of Chronopolis that
rested on a literary foundation, “Orbit”
envelopes the band’s sci-fi ideas into a
new concept which is vague and engaging at
the same time, with Alicia Previn’s
vocals set to trace such a trek among the
celestial bodies.
Theatrical yet tasty, “Judas Star” has
what it takes to become one of the
greatest hard rock tracks this side of the
event horizon, its sparse throb getting
fleshed out in a blood-pumping organ rush
and a riff that’s caught in the unison
crossfire between guitar and violin before
distorted voices are beamed through a
toxic fog. The haze may dissipate in “Walk
Above The Clouds” – if only to carry the
piece’s bleak folk vibe on punchy twang –
but “History Of Light” will bring this
psychedelic hysteria back for a new bout
of bluesy ebb and flow, while wah-wah’s
circle around in quite a predatory way
In different skies, the delicate
“Hedersleben” – another chapter in the
ensemble’s “Dreamstate” series – sees an
acid-smelling innocence sculpted by a knot
of male and female singing and washed in
sensual synthesizer’s water, whereas the
initially wordless “Rarefied Air” comes
redolent of the ’70s European
middle-of-the-road. But there’s a sparsely
heavy, in its spaced-out baroque,
instrumental “Apogee” and naturally
textured, exquisitely acoustic “Perigee”
to unwind the experience… although
breaking an orbit can be quite dangerous.
Calamity isn’t something this group are
afraid of; that’s why reaching velocity
speed feels so exciting here.
Let It Rock - Canada
Für das vierte, gerade (Ende 2016)
erschienene Hedersleben-Album hat Nicky
Garratt die Band heftig umgebaut. Von den
auf "The Fall of Chronopolis" zu hörenden
ist nämlich bis auf Garratt niemand mehr
auf "Orbit" (oder "Hedersleben 4")
vertreten. Die instrumentale
Zusammensetzung hat sich dabei aber
interessanterweise nicht verändert. Auch
hier erzeugen vornehmlich E-Gitarren,
Keyboards (E-Orgel, Mellotronartiges,
Synthesizer), Violine, Bass und Schlagzeug
die Musik. In stilistischer Hinsicht hat
sich ebenfalls nicht viel verändert. Ein
druckvolles und durchaus komplexes Gemenge
aus Retroprog, Neo-Psychedelischem,
Krautrock und Spacerock ist auch auf
"Orbit" zu finden. Vielleicht haben die
Geigenbeiträge etwas zugenommen und ist
man etwas erdiger, stellenweise auch etwas
jazziger am rocken (der
Mahavishnu-Effekt). Zudem hat Alicia
Previn, die nun für den eher selten
auftauchenden Gesang zuständig ist, eine
andere, etwas rauere und schneidendere,
manchmal auch etwas wackelige Stimme als
ihre Vorgängerin Ariana Jade. Ein
durchgehendes Konzept wie beim Vorgänger
liegt "Orbit" offenbar nicht zugrunde.
Trotzdem kommt die Musik wie eine
mehrteilige Suite aus den Boxen, gehen die
einzelnen Stücke meist ineinander über
(oder werden ineinander übergeblendet).
Das Ergebnis ist ähnlich farbig und
vielschichtig wie "The Fall of
Chronopolis", wobei man sich aber – wie
oben schon angedeutet - ein wenig vom dort
vorzufindenden Retroprog wegbewegt hat und
sich wieder verstärkt in
klangschwebend-krautig-folkig-psychedelischen
Gefilden aufhält (wie auf den ersten
beiden Scheiben), bzw. druckvoller am
jammen und retro-rocken ist (man höre z.B.
"History of light", oder "Be there").
Allerlei elektronisches Fiepen und Wabern
sorgt zudem für das kosmische Element und
diverse repetitive-hypnotische Einlagen
für klassische Krautrockatmosphäre.
"Orbit" bietet somit alles in allem nichts
Neues aus dem Hause Hedersleben, kann aber
durchaus das musikalisch-klangliche Niveau
des Vorgängers halten. Wie allerdings
Kollege Siggy schon in seiner Rezension zu
"The Fall of Chronopolis" angemerkt hat,
würde man sich durchaus wünschen, dass die
rezenteren Nummern von Hedersleben etwas
ausladender ausgefallen wären. Man könnte
nämlich jeweils durchaus noch ein paar
Minuten länger mit dem thematischen
Material arbeiten. Ich würde mich auch
sicher nicht daran stören, wenn auf dieser
Scheibe 10-15 Minuten mehr an Musik
vorhanden wären. Sehr gut gemacht, und in
dieser Mischung immer noch originell, ist
das Ganze aber trotzdem.
Babyblaue - Germany
Yet another band helping to bring
progressive rock back into public
consciousness. Although you wouldn't
know it from the name, the musicians in
Hedersleben are based in San Francisco,
California. Orbit is the band's fourth
full-length studio album. These tracks
are chock full of nifty guitar riffs and
smart keyboard runs. Some of these
tracks remind us of the often overlooked
British group Greenslade, whose music
has fortunately seen somewhat of a
resurgence in the past few years. If
there's a single word we would use to
describe these tracks, that word would
be...authentic. In a world full of
copycat artists, the folks in
Hedersleben come across sounding like
the real thing. Unlike so many modern
progressive groups, these folks do not
overproduce their songs. These tracks
sound very much like what we would guess
the group sounds like playing live. Nine
totally groovy compositions including
"Judas Star," "Walk Above the Clouds,"
"Apogee," and "Perigee." Nice solid
intelligent stuff.
Babysue - USA
Sometimes I like to get it out in the
open right off the bat. This new
Hedersleben album sounds really great
and is totally satisfying in every way.
I was hooked by the end of the first
two-minutes and forty-five seconds and I
was not disappointed working my way
through the album’s nine compositions
running a total of thirty-five minutes.
This San Francisco based musical outfit
creates a stirring Space-Rock that hit’s
all the right notes. It’s nostalgic only
in a sense that you can hear a direct
musical linage from late sixties
Psychedelic sounds and seventies bands
like Hawkwind but then Hedersleben’s
music is so self-contained that it
delivers a fresh take on those sonic
vibes. As is their custom when they
choose to have a vocalist add to the
musical foundation the band recruits a
new member and here those vocals, along
with some great violin parts are
supplied by Alicia Previn daughter of
famed composer Andre Previn. Her
“off-kilter” approach to concocting the
tunes melody adds a delicious bit of
irony to the music. As band members
whirl and dive in furious threads of
musical sounds she flies overtop,
audibly resonant and sounding curiously
confident. It’s very cool and uplifting
in a way. The music itself as I say gets
pretty thick at times, lots’ of spacey
sonic layers blending together building
“fat” atmospheric textures all the while
an individual solo lead instrument can
often be heard tracing out a hummable
melody. Great searing guitar lead lines,
organ runs, sounds, voices and other
sonic elements appear, inserted in odd
places and yet it all seems to fit
together. If I had one complaint, and
it’s an old bugaboo of mine, most of
these tunes are in the three-minute
range and too many of them are simply
faded out for time. I like songs to have
endings, when they’re played live
they’ll probably have endings and if you
don’t actually have an ending cross-fade
with the next song please. I know it’s
just me. But hey if you are a fan of the
Space Rock genre Hedersleben’s new album
Orbit will be a great addition to your
collection. Recommended for those so
inclined.
The Progressive Rock Files - Canada
This act occupies an intriguing
territory between space rock, folk prog
and symphonic prog. At times it's a bit
too freeform for my tastes, and I'm not
crazy about all of the vocals. All that
said, though, this is a diverse and
dynamic album that works well and does a
great job of continuing Hedersleben's
musical traditions.
Judas Star
Suitably spacey sounds bring this into
being. It's trippy electronic stuff.
Some other musical elements threaten to
join, but are more tentative at first.
As it hits around the one minute mark,
it powers out to a killer jam that's
part psychedelic rock and party Meddle
era Pink Floyd. It drives forward from
there. This gets into more potent
progressive rock territory as
instruments solo over the top. It even
leans a bit toward fusion. It drops way
down around the two and a half minute
mark. Then vocals enter, a bit distant
and distorted. I'm again reminded of
early Pink Floyd, but mixed with Gong
and more pure progressive rock. It works
into harder rocking territory,
definitely showing off more of that Pink
Floyd thing.
Walk Above the Clouds
This cut comes in with an insistent,
but more melodic symphonic prog sound.
It drops back to the mellower after the
introduction, but it works out to more
of a rocking thing. There are multiple
vocal sections, and the cut makes me
think of Gong in a lot of ways.
Distant Sun
This seems to come out of the previous
number. It has a tentative, spacey
element as it moves forward, gradually
rising upward. Vocals come in as slow,
mellow music serves as the backdrop with
noisy elements dancing over the top. It
turns to a melodic instrumental break
after a while, but then powers back out
to the earlier section with the noisy
elements taking more control. This is
freaky stuff, but somehow melodic at the
same time.
History of Light
Now, this is a rocker. It's more pure
prog rock and has some fusion in the
mix. It makes me think of Hawkwind in
some ways. It's less strange than some
of the rest, but it's definitely not
mainstream. I dig the driving bass work
on this, and the organ adds a lot to the
mix, too. It's one of my favorites here
and has some cool shifts and changes. I
particularly like the jam later in the
track. It's a real powerhouse.
Apogee
Strange swirling keyboard elements
create a definite space texture on this
thing. It's almost a minute and a half
before anything else is heard. At first,
it's just a guitar, but then the rest of
the band join in a full on space rock
jam. This is classy stuff. It's an
instrumental.
Hedersleben (Dreamstate)
Mellower and rather intricate space
rock styled sounds open this cut. It
grows only gradually before the vocals
dance over the top in a dreamy kind of
way. We're taken through some intriguing
changes, but it never alters
drastically.
Rarefied Air
Much more of a mainstream prog sounding
piece, this is melodic and quite cool.
It has some intriguing non-lyrical
vocals over the top of it. There is also
some cool synthesizer soloing. Lyrical
vocals are heard later in the track.
Be There
Much more of a driving hard rocker,
there is a lot of psychedelia built into
this smoking hot tune. This is one of
the more mainstream tunes here, but it
still has a decidedly left-of-center
edge to it.
Perigree
The sounds of birds wrap over acoustic
guitar work. This is a mellower
instrumental that has a lot of folk prog
built into it. It's intricate and pretty
and a nice way to end the set.
Gary Hill - Street Music Journal - USA
Et de 4 ! Voici le retour du plus
allemand des groupes
américano-britanniques ! Si HEDERSLEBEN
est le nom d’une ville Allemande, c’est
à San Francisco que le groupe est
établi.
Toujours sous la houlette de Nicky
GARRATT, HEDERSLEBEN reste fidèle à ses
principes: évoluer en marge de la
musique actuelle pour poursuivre
l’aventure du Krautrock et du Space-Rock
des seventies et renouveler les
musiciens et principalement la chanteuse
à chaque album.
Adoubé par le co-fondateur de HAWKWIND,
Nik TURNER, le groupe se compose de
Nicky GARRATT à la guitare et principal
compositeur-parolier, Alicia PREVIN, la
nouvelle chanteuse violoniste. Si ce nom
vous est familier, c’est qu’elle est la
fille de l’illustre chef d’orchestre
André PREVIN …Doc MILLER à la basse, au
chant et Jai Young KIM aux claviers et
au chant complètent la formation. Tout
est en place pour un album portant bien
son nom, Orbit puisqu’à travers les 9
titres, les étoiles, le soleil, la
lumière ou encore les nuages seront en
première ligne…
Judas Star est une invitation au voyage
dans l’espace. Avec son orgue Hammond en
arrière-plan, HERDERSLEBEN propose un
space-rock comme il sait si bien le
concocter: la guitare fleure bon les
années 70, tandis que le chant d’Alicia
PREVIN est noyé sous divers effets de
distorsion. Sur une mélodie faussement
simple, les musiciens font preuve de
cohésion pour aboutir à un résultat des
plus satisfaisants.
Avec Walk Above The Clouds, le groupe
montre qu’il est parfait dans la
concision. Et en un peu plus de 3
minutes seulement, HERDERSLEBEN délivre
un superbe titre, aux accents de
psychédélisme. Alicia PREVIN est à son
avantage, nous faisant profiter à la
fois de sa très belle voix médium,
idéalement adaptée à ce style et de son
jeu de violon en fin de morceau. Idéal
pour se familiariser avec l’album.
Distant Sun fait preuve de plus de
mélancolie. Accompagné uniquement de
bribes de violon et de deux accords de
guitare à la répétitivité obsédante,
Alicia se montre touchante, ce troisième
morceau est assurément l’un des plus
sensibles du groupe.
Vous préférez le rock à la HAWKWIND ?
History Of Light est fait pour vous.
Beaucoup plus rock, les guitares sont à
l’honneur, permettant à GARRATT de nous
rappeler qu’il n’est pas le dernier dans
le domaine. Dans une ambiance Stoner, ce
titre est aussi simple
qu’enthousiasmant. Apogee, superbe
instrumental, est parfaitement
représentatif de l’esprit du groupe ;
sur un son d’orgue d’Eglise, des
bruitages galactiques prennent
possession du titre, sur lequel se joue
une musique emplie de paradis
artificiels. Toujours dans un format
très court, HEDERSLEBEN réussit à
produire de petites pépites. Hedersleben
(Dreamstate) apporte de l’apaisement,
retrouvant le chant voluptueux de PREVIN
sur des nappes de claviers savamment
vintage de Jai Young KIM.
Un bon titre qui se prolonge dans sa
sonorité avec Rarefied Air. Kim est très
présent, lui permettant de distiller son
jeu clair, fondé sur le sentiment, sur
l’atmosphère qui s’en dégage. Un titre
aussi calme qu’embrumé. Be There voit le
retour du rock énergique. Plus classique
dans sa forme, il apporte de la
stabilité à l’ensemble, avant la superbe
conclusion Perigee. Sur fond champêtre à
base de gazouillis d’oiseaux, GARRATT
joue une tendre mélodie à la guitare
sèche, tendrement mélancolique et
sereine…
Il est toujours périlleux de
renouveler son équipe. Le pari a
fonctionné puisque ce quatrième album se
situe dans la lignée des précédents.
Reprenant habilement les codes de ce
rock qui navigue entre psychédélisme,
space-rock voire Stoner, HEDERSLEBEN
propose 39’ de musique totalement rétro,
au charme seventies envoûtant. Ayant à
cœur de prolonger un état de grâce, le
groupe parvient à distiller du charme et
de la mélancolie à sa musique. Un très
bon album. (****)
Axel Scheyder - Highlands Mag 086 -
France
After listening to Hedersleben 's third
album , " The fall of Chronopolis " , I
had hoped for an ever more interesting
evolution of this group with the German
name but actually composed of Americans
and English. The expectations are now
filled with the new delivery of Nicky
Garratt's band , "Orbit" . The great
coherence of this album and its perfect
integration into the Hedersleben record
continuum are in fact a paradox, since
Nicky Garratt has renewed all his
musicians, taking the risk of ending up
with collaborators taking full
benchmarks to the detriment Of musical
cohesion. Aaria Previn (vocals and
violin), Jai Young Kim (keyboards and
vocals), John Daren Thomas (drums and
percussion) and Doc Miller (bass) And
singing) immediately found their marks
to serve the compositions of this new
album, mainly due to the pen of Nicky
Garratt (guitar) but on which Jai Young
Kim, Alicia Previn and Doc Miller
participate actively. "Orbit" is a
well-found name for an album that will
link progressive rock to English-style
Curved Air ( "History of light" , "Judas
star" ), Of the cosmic krautrock
reminiscent of Embryo ( "Rarefied air" )
and stratospheric space-rock touches (
"Distant sun" , "Hedersleben Dreamstate"
). Alicia Pervin's percussive voice
gives the album songs a boost that is
not lost in unnecessary progressive
convolutions (nine titles, 35 minutes,
four minutes on average). The songs
speak of stars, sun, clouds, light,
rarefied air and perigee ( "Perigee" ),
which is the point of the elliptical
orbit of a planet where it is closest to
the center Of the star attractor, a
useful reminder to all the astrophysical
doctors that we are. Not to say, we do
not go down here below the "
Geostationary orbit and this
interstellar journey is fueled by the
energy and intelligence of the pieces,
enriched with violin, very seventies
synths and an effective guitar that
serves as the link between all these
titles ( "Be there" ). Hedersleben
remains faithful to his style, a music
that ignores everything that happened
after 1973 and that brings us back into
the beautiful era of progressive rock
for blouse with floral shirts and
elephant paws. When I opened the
newspaper this morning, I learned that
there was a new horror film, "The
Exorcist," which made a carton and that
the Israelis had been attacked by the
Egyptians on Yom Kippur. With this war
in Vietnam, the world is becoming more
and more dangerous.
Music In Belgium - Belgium
Among supporters including Hawkwind
co-founder Nik Turner and Black Flag’s
Henry Rollins, Hedersleben are this
cross between psychedelic adventures
with a space rock expedition. This is a
band that just took me by surprise. Not
only that it’s very good and very
interesting, they have released three
albums from 2013 to 2015. This year,
they have released their fourth album
entitled, Orbit on the Purple Pyramid
Records. The band launched in the
outskirts of Quedlinburg, Germany which
is a town situated north of the Harz
Mountains, located on the district of
Harz of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany by UK
Subs guitarist, Nicky Garratt. He also
worked with Nik Turner on the Space
Gypsy album four years ago. The fourth
album is a story structure dealing with
a great elliptical orbit around our
solar system around the sun extending
the reach of the Kuiper Belt. Which is
called the Edgeworth-Kuiper belt, a
circumstellar disc beyond the planets
extending Neptune. Now while I’m very
new to the band’s music, it can be heard
in two films starring Michael Madsen
(Reservoir Dogs, The Doors, Species,
Dishonored) the action heist film
Diamond Cartel and the horror revenge
thriller, The Devil’s Domain. The music
dives towards the adventures that made
me realize, this is a band I’m might be
interested in checking out. Hedersleben
with three of their albums released,
they featured new singers. This one
features vocalist and violinist Alicia
Previn who is the daughter to conductor
Andre Previn and a member of The Source
Family. Keyboardist Jai Young Kim
returns from The Fall of Chronopolis
returns to the cosmos to bring both the
Organ, Mellotron, and the Moog for
another adventure with the band. Also
featuring the rhythm section of Drummer,
Percussionist John Darren Thomas and
Bassist Doc Miller. When I was listening
to Orbit, I was completely near the edge
of my seat to be a part of their take of
the Millennium Falcon to be set and
geared up to go into outer space and
heading towards other planets through
their music. The epic chord rising intro
on History of Light brings essence of
Blood Ceremony’s organ roar with a
cosmic voyage meeting into psychedelic
hard rock atmosphere while the opener,
Judas Star has the Bass and Organ
ascending the countdown for lift-off as
both violin and guitar share the same
melody with an alarming sound for the
first 2 minutes and 37 seconds. It’s
this cross between String Driven Thing
meets the early Moody Blues meets Van
Der Graaf Generator’s Pawn Hearts-era
while the Mellotron and Moog set the
futuristic scenario before Alicia is
speaking through a gigantic megaphone as
the lyrics are essence to the mind
between Michael Moorcock and Blue Oyster
Cult’s Eric Bloom as if they’d worked
together again since Fire of Unknown
Origin. Rarefied Air is a spacey
atmospheric mid-fandango groove. Nicky’s
guitar riffs are similar to the opening
introduction to Malaguena as the
vocalizations are cool, relaxed before
the Moog sets the jump to light-speed by
heading towards the star system. Apogee
is the Organ and the Moog revving up as
Nicky, Doc, and John channel the styles
between Arthur Brown’s Kingdom Come,
Amon Duul II, and Sabbath approaches.
While the beat is slightly molto, it has
a bright energy and it continues with
the quest as the closing track, Perigee
gives Doc Millar moving from Bass to
Classical Guitar. It’s this cold and
haunting finale instrumental as Birds
chirp through the sunset as the
double-tracking on the guitar sees Doc
go back and forth through his
instrument. Again, I’m new to the world
of Hedersleben’s music, but this shows a
very interesting concept by travelling
towards the galaxy. Orbit is worth
exploring and recommended if you admire
the space rock sounds as prepare
yourself to hurtle through the cosmos
with Hedersleben.
From The Other Side Of The Room - USA
HEDERSLEBEN have gained some attention
in the meanwhile, or how does it come
that some of their tracks are featured
in upcoming action movies like Diamond
Cartel and The Devil's Domain? The band
name originally derives from a small
German village. This relation, and I
would say it will affect mastermind
Nicky Garratt most likely, manifests in
a German speech at the end of Distant
Sun for example. Hedersleben however
includes the word 'life' too, which also
stands for a constant coming and going.
And this is significant when it comes to
the line up over the course, completely
renewed again, solely Nicky excluded of
course. Hence every album will sound
remoulded too. Hey, what a benefit!
There's a focus on female vocals here
somehow, due to Alicia Previn being
involved, a wonderful find equipped with
so many variants. Either an otherworldly
appearance while digitally retouched on
Judas Star. Or concerning Rarefied Air
massively reminding me at some early
experiences comprising Embryo and Missus
Beastly featuring Maria Archer on vocals
during the mid 1970s. Furthermore, when
counting her in playing the violin,
Curved Air comes into mind occasionally.
Please forgive my ... eh, feasible
narrow-mindedness ... just when having a
very sceptical eye on this, ... somewhat
strange is the album's total length,
even if aiming at a vinyl issue. So much
the more when they are taking the
liberty to fade out most of the given
nine songs! On the other hand though,
the more this is proving the band's
compositional prolificness, one may say.
Either way, the entire song collection
appears like a well sorted string of
shiny tiny pearls, one after another,
ending with Perigree like arriving in
paradise, this accompanied by looping
acoustic guitars and bird's twittering.
No loss of spirit, you're welcome again!
Progressive Rock Archives - USA
Je ne connaissais pas HEDERSLEBEN avant
la réception de l’album « Orbit » mais
voici quelques détails intéressants sur
leur début. Le groupe a vu le jour dans
le village du même nom à la périphérie
de Quedlinburg (Allemagne), sous l’égide
du guitariste Britannique, Nicky
GARRATT. ???En 2012 GARRATT est devenue
le directeur musical de ?Nik Turner
(Hawkwind), à sa demande il réunit des
musiciens pour collaborer et enregistrer
l’album ?? « Space Gypsy » de Nik
Turner?? à Los Angeles. ?C’est de cette
façon qu’une première version de
HEDERSLEBEN fait ses premiers pas. En
2013, le groupe accompagne Brainticket
sur leur dernier album « Past, Present,
and Future » puis dans la même année il
enregistre leur premier album « Upgoer
». Par la suite le groupe produit à la
cadence d’un album par année, ce qui est
assez rare, il faut l’admettre.
Toutefois « Orbit » fait une légère
entorse à cette règle car il parait deux
ans après « The Fall of Chronopolis ».
Le style revendiqué par le groupe
s’apparente au Krautrock proche du
spacerock. Pour ce dernier album Nicky
GARRATT prend un risque car il modifie
entièrement le line-up en accueillant
Alicia PREVIN au chant et au violon, Jai
Young KIM (claviers et chant), John
Daren THOMAS (batterie et percussions)
et Doc MILLER (basse et chant). Tous ont
trouvé leurs marques pour servir les
compositions de ce nouvel album,
principalement dues à la plume de Nicky
GARRATT (guitare) mais sur lesquelles
Jai Young KIM, Alicia PREVIN et Doc
MILLER participent aussi. « Orbit » est
un titre bien choisi pour un album qui
va mettre en relation le rock progressif
britannique proche de Curved Air avec «
Judas Star » ou « History of Light », du
Krautrock cosmique rappelant Amon Duul
avec « Rarefied Air » et des touches de
space-rock stratosphérique "Distant
Sun", « Hedersleben (Dreamstate) ». La
voix envoutante d'Alicia PREVIN donne de
la profondeur aux chansons de l'album
qui ne se perdent pas en voyages
progressifs inutiles, l’album dure 35
minutes étalé sur neuf chansons donc
aucune perte de temps. Les sujets
exploités nous parlent des étoiles, du
soleil, de nuages, de lumière et d'air
raréfié. Pas à dire, on ne descend pas
en dessous des nuages car ce voyage
intersidéral est alimenté par l'énergie
et l'intelligence des morceaux, enrichis
de violon, de synthés très seventies et
d'une guitare efficace qui sert de liant
entre tous ces titres. HEDERSLEBEN nous
présente pour la première fois, du moins
dans mon cas, un album qui est fidèle au
style décrit dans sa biographie, une
musique qui ne se laisse pas influencée
par toutes les modes ou styles qui se
sont offerts à nous depuis l’époque
faste du Prog. Elle nous renvoie à l’ère
des chemises à fleurs et pantalons patte
d'éléphant. Pour les nostalgiques, les
curieux et tous ceux qui sont friands de
cette période unique. J’oubliais, sortez
votre casque d’écoute, ça vaut la peine.
Profile - Canada
Mit "Orbit" ist das mittlerweile vierte
Album der in San Francisco beheimateten
Band mit dem deutschen Namen Hedersleben
über das Label Purple Pyramid Records
erschienen. Und auch hier hat sich das
Personal-Karussell rund um den
Bandgründer und -kopf Nicky Garrett
wieder mal ganz kräftig gedreht.
Zumindest hat "Orbit" wie jede bisherige
Scheibe einen neuen Sänger. Zwar
spielten die Vocals bisher eine eher
untergeordnete Rolle bei der sich
hauptsächlich auf die Musik
fokussierenden Band, aber das könnte
sich schon bald ändern. Für dieses neue
Werk stand Alicia Previn (Source Family)
– Tochter des weltbekannten Dirigenten
Andre Previn – vor dem Mikro, während
sie zusätzlich die Violinen-Parts für
"Orbit" beisteuerte. Die neue
Rhythmus-Abteilung besteht aus Donald
'Doc' Millar am Bass sowie John Darren
Thomas am Schlagzeug. Abgerundet wird
das Line-up von dem Keyboarder Jai Young
Kim, der bereits auf The Fall Of
Chronopolis einen Gast-Einsatz hatte und
für das neue Album scheinbar eine sehr
wichtige Rolle hinsichtlich des Sounds
und Songwritings einnahm. Hedersleben
konnte bisher durch ihre ersten Alben
sowie Tourneen mit dem
Ex-Hawkwind-Saxofonisten Nik Turner auf
sich aufmerksam machen. "Orbit" ist
sowohl auf Vinyl, als auch auf CD in
einem Gatefold-Cover erschienen.
Rock Times - Germany I must
admit that I couldn't do a Top 10 if I
tried, because I simply haven't found that
many current artists that excite me, and
the few that I know haven't released their
most mind blowing material this year. But
I can tell you that EASILY that
Hedersleben IV - Orbit would make my top 5
even if you guys could turn me on to 10 or
more other killer albums from the year.
Psych/prog/space rock from a band
featuring Nicky Garratt who, of all
things, was once in the punk band UK Subs.
Great music and great sound
quality/production too.
Steve Hoffman
Music Forums - USA
HEDERSLEBEN/Orbit: Did you ever think
you’d consider pairing Andre Previn’s
daughter with space rock? Ah, you know how
kids like to rebel. A chops filled
prog/space date that finds the crew
expanding their reach as their tunes are
populating more and more cult pics, they
aren’t manqué-ing around as they claim
territory normally roamed by well funded,
classic outfits as they did it back in the
day. Genre fans will be tilting the
discussion heavily toward this crew. Well
done.
Midwest Records - USA The
San Francisco-based band, Hedersleben
recently released their 4th studio album
titled "Orbit" through Purple Pyramid
Records. Each of the band's first three
albums have featured a different lead
singer and this time around it is Alicia
Previn (daughter of world famous conductor
Andre Previn) taking on the lead vocals.
While the majority of the tracks center
around the musicianship within the band as
they begin your journey with the
six-minute epic sounding "Judas Star."
Then they continue with a heavier
progressive rock sound on "Walk Above The
Clouds," before delivering the atmospheric
space rock of "Distant Sun." Previn's
angelic vocals highlights the gentle flow
of "Hedersleben (Dreamlike)," before the
band finish the new album with the hard
edge, seventies rock feel of "Be There"
and the gentle nature of "Perigree." To
find out more about Hedersleben and their
latest release "Orbit," please visit their
Facebook page at
facebook.com/HederslebenBand.
JP's
Music Blog - USA Krautrock still
exists ... and is based in California now.
To tell the truth this band was born in
Germany and all the classifications still
give it as a German band, although playing
on this album has not remained any German
and the band has basically, California. We
need to take a small step back and tell
the story of the Hedersleben, which was
formed in the homonymous village in
Germany on the thrust of British Nicky
Garratt (ex UK Subs), who in 2012 became
the artistic producer of former Hawkwind
Nik Turner. Garratt then brings together a
number of musicians who can support
Turner's new project called Nik Turner's
Space Gypsy. The band so formed also took
part in the new Brainticket work in 2013
together with their founder Joel
Vandroogenbroeck. In the same year came
the first Hedersleben album entitled
"Upgoer". For an album that needs such a
long historical introduction, music might
not require a long treat ... mainly
because this album lasts just 35 minutes.
We talk about krautrock, it was said,
essentially of space rock, even though we
are not caught up with spooky cosmic
couriers and reckless sideways journeys.
The 9 songs, all fairly short, still have
quite delicate tonalities if not even
ethereal at times. Sometimes we can get
some songs to the Curved Air, or we're in
the mix of Hawkwind, Amon Düül and Van Der
Graaf Generator or even Yes (Alicia's
voice helps), alternating more spatial
themes at softer moments and suffocated.
The album is undeniably pleasing and is
not necessarily reserved for the usual
sauerkraut tastes. His brevity, and that
of individual songs, is in theory one of
the biggest defects, not allowing us to
appreciate the various facets that the
group shows us. It certainly does not bore
and does not miss the interesting ideas
but in my opinion it fails to catch the
interest of the listener.
Articoli -
Italy The first track is the six
minute opus, 'Judas Star' and is one heck
of a way to get introduced to not only the
album, but for those not in the know, the
band itself. From low ebb creations to a
thrilling, soaring amount of organ work,
the song is a real gem on this nine track
album. That's backed by the more playful
Prog work of 'Walk Above The Clouds', the
screechy ballad 'Distant Sun', and then
both the upbeat 'History Of Light' and the
Church-esque 'Apogee.' The contemplative
acoustic guitar ballad 'Hedersleben
(Dreamstate)' is my favorite track here,
that's for sure. A builder complete with
female-sung lyrics, it's ethereal and
stoic all at the same time. Quite
stunning. The playfulness returns on the
pick-hop guitar work of 'Rarefied Air' and
then the album is brought to a close with
the rocker 'Be There' and then the chirpy
bird garden acoustic guitar delight,
'Perigee.'
Russel A. Trunk CD Reviews
- USA