Alientar is a five-piece band from Santa Cruz that was formed in 1999. Their music has influences from psychedelia, funk, prog, blues and reggae. This is their first, self-recorded, produced and distributed CD. The band is at their best when they start spacerocking on a few tracks. The most spacious side of the album is presented for example with the long and excellent “Music Box” that is a bit Hawkwind-like. The melancholic “Letting It Ride” reminds me of “Green Finned Demon” by Hawkwind, although it also has a happier and friskier part. One of the best tracks is the last, long one called “Hypnosis”. Some of the tracks sound a bit like the prog rock of Nektar and Eloy. One reviewer compared the band to English Mandragore, and pretty much hit the spot since many parts sound very much like the early material by this band associated with the free festival scene and the early 90’s psych revival in the UK. As musicians the guys are all right, and for example the guitar solos work nicely. It might be a good idea to concentrate a bit more on the compositions, and it seems that they are still sort of searching for their own style, but this still is a very nice album of rather psychedelic alien rock music. You can download the whole CD from their website. www.alientar.com

– DJ Astro