(Psychedelic Space Rock, Ambient) Psychomuzak - Send - 1997, FLAC (tracks), lossless

Inspired by the experiments of Fripp, Eno and Hillage and compared to various Kraut Rock luminaries guitarist Dean Carter has been developing his one man Psychomuzak project in clubs and at festivals since the late '80s. The first Psychomuzak album The Exstacie, produced by Porcupine Tree's Steven Wilson, came out on the Delerium label in 1995 and was hailed as a classic of its genre.

With his new album, Send, Dean moves his Psychomuzak experiments in broader sonic directions. Produced by Mandragora's main man Simon Williams, Send offers the listener a journey through varied and expansive musical dimensions, combining a wide range of styles from Rock, Techno, Reggae, Ambient and Ethnic to just plain weird. In addition to Dean's guitar and keyboard pyrotechnics the album features Tibetan overtone chanting, African percussion and performances by Al Jenkins and Simon Williams (Mandragora) on bass and keyboards respectively. Andy Ward (Bevis Frond / Camel) fills in n drums and there is a breathtaking violin solo from virtuoso David Cross (King Crimson). An invigorating and varied musical brew is held together by Dean's ability to interweave trance inducing drones, chants and rhythms with melody and musical structure. The first 1000 copies of Send come with a free CD of drones and chants, recorded during the album sessions.

Send is an appropriate title for an album that should indeed "Send" the listener. It's genre defying make up is a fascinating musical experience.

Audion, July 1997.

Almost a year ago, Dean Carter sent me a cassette of rough mixes of what was to be his next album as Psychomuzak - SEND, which would be accompanied by the limited edition bonus disc DRONE. Anyway, it took so long to come out that I'd almost forgotten about it! For me, the Psychomuzak concept was best presented on Dean Carter's cassette of such instrumental guitar music. THE EXTASIE (his debut with Delerium) took this style to trendier realms but was still pretty good, and showed a trend of moving away from echo guitar music (for which the Psychomuzak moniker was coined) to more straight-ahead melodic space-rock. The finished product is actually quite an odd mixture of styles, notably with Andy Ward (from Camel) playing drums on the opening tracks Keep Breathing, and Deep Heat, two rock numbers linked by an uncredited gliss guitar void. The first is a very Ozric Tentacles cum Porcupine Tree, Hillage cum Pink Floyd space drive, whereas the latter is an odd dub and Arabic hybrid feeling closer to Suns Of Arqa than anything else, though this also diverts to Ozric territory. So far then, not what you'd expect. Next we have the near on 20 minute Send itself, which starts as an oozing soundpool of scuttling echo and gliss guitars, growing into an ethnic raga complete with mock sitar and ethnic percussion, later topped by a very Simon House styled (i.e. in the Third Ear Band vein) violin solo courtesy of former King Crimson wizard David Cross. Excellent stuff. But then it's all change with Sea Of Tranquility (this wasn't on the cassette), a lush Hank Marvin styled new-age number. Too sweet for my palette. The bonus CD DRONE contains further variations on the soundpool facet of Send, Keep Breathing and Deep Heat (could have fooled me) feeling like an infinite trance meditation in the vein of Gьnter Schickert (back to the old Dean Carter territory) or some recent Robert Fripp. These two tracks along with Send from disc 1 would have made a great CD. Next, just to confuse matters are Send [drone + chant} and Send [chant], which are of a different genre entirely, not related to Send itself, the first being a muddle of vocal and guitar loops, reminiscent of Zoviet France, and the second just overtone singing in the manner of David Hykes Harmonic Choir. It's a very odd direction for the disc to end in. So, all together it's mostly good stuff, but a bit haphazard and ill conceived. Apparently as a double it's a limited edition, and the second pressing will omit disc 2. I wonder why?
Kindred Spirit, Winter 1997.

A very original idea to include a second CD without the rhythm section -another mix with just drones and sounds of the same recordings as on the first CD. You might already know the musicians on this album: David Cross (violin, King Crimson), Andy Ward (drums, Camel, Bevis Frond), Simon Williams (Mandragora), and guitarist/composer Dean Carter. As on his first album The Extasie two years ago, Dean keeps to a psychedelic style, popular first in the early 70's (eg. King Crimson, Doors, John Mayall); long improvisations on electric guitar with effects, some spacey electronic sounds, electronic bass, percussion and real drums. A well made musical trip.

Dean Carter - Electric and acoustic guitars and effects drone guitars, guitar synth ('Tranquility'), keyboards (mellotron, choir and sitar), keyboard bass on 'Keep Breathing', overtone chanting, tape effects, hand drums, congas, finger cymbals, shaker on 'Send'.
Simon Williams - Production, samples, keyboard washes and burbles ('Keep Breathing', 'Deep Heat').
Andy Ward - Drums on 'Keep Breathing' and 'Deep Heat'.
David Cross - Violin on 'Send'.
Al Jenkins - Fretless bass on 'Deep Heat' and 'Send'.
Simon Cowburn - Percussion, djembe, darabouka, finger cymbals.
Millenia, Ita O'Brien, Mo Doyle, Robbie Crow - Overtone chanting on 'Send'. Plus vanda, in spirit.