Astral Social Club - Octuplex

Another outing from UK’s leading experimentalist

Neil Campbell started exploring, recording and releasing music in the 80s on cassette and vinyl, and has collaborated with an ear-boggling number of people. He was a vital member of the Vibracathedral Orchestra, whose sonar explorations in drone-beauty filtered outwards like a musical Mississippi delta.

Since 2006 Campbell’s main outlet has been Astral Social Club. A previous release on vhf pulled together – retooling – material from a stream of CD-R releases. This new album kicks off at frenetic speed with Caustic Roe bucking like a Techno Antichrist overlaid with dense, restless, almost unsettling loops and textures. Mugik Churn maintains the pace and, like the Velvet’s Sister Ray, Campbell submerges his own attempt at a solo organ melody in sheer exhilarating weight of instrumentation. Aggro Vault is all voodoo percussion and Pilgrim Sunburst drones set into a really addictive sonic landscape that reveal more touches of cartography with every play. The same applies to Radial Hermaphrodite, which sounds like the hull of a submarine being subjected to increasing pressure as it dives towards the ocean floor. Elsewhere, Hot Toxer pounds and writhes to perfection, while Sweet Spraint should be on a Buddah Machine so you can slow it down and mess with the pitch.

vhf | 114

Reviewed by Ian Shirley
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