A “heavy session players” release from Phil Todd’s Ashtray Navigations, with the A side featuring the duo  line-up of Todd and Neil Campbell (Astral Social Club/Vibracathedral Orchestra) and the flip a trio jam with Mel Delaney and Phil Legard (Xenis Emputae Travelling Band). A side has a great Velvets play two-chord infinities feel while all sorts of astral fireworks explode just beyond the horizon. Very beautiful and with a slow-motion euphoric appeal that is highly addictive. The trio side hews closer to Faust’s “Krautrock” but with a semi-erased/subliminal edge. Packaged in the usual classy Medusa style with a two-colour silkscreen fold-out cigarette box style sleeve. 

Originally issued on Larkfall in an edition of 32 copies, Stella And Astrophel presents four tracks from Phil Legard’s (Ashtray Navigations/Churinga Canaries et al) Xenis Emputae Travelling Band that combine deep drone logic with electro-acoustic trance constructs and song forms that skirt the magick/folk fringes of the World Serpent catalogue. This one has more of an atmosphere of ritual and improvisation, with deep droning vocals opening out onto the kind of cultic flute/hand percussion/eternal volk of your favourite kosmische courier. Hand-numbered edition of only 45 copies.