Spaceheads and Max Eastley: The Time of the Ancient Astronaut Spaceheads and Max Eastley: The Time of the Ancient Astronaut (BiP_HOp - 2001) When you find an act named Spaceheads releasing an album called The Time of the Ancient Astronaut, you're bound to have certain preconceptions as to what sort of music must be inside... you'd most likely be wrong. With Max Eastley on the "the Arc" (an electro-acoustic monochord), the duo form radically unusual soundscenes with trumpet, processed vocals and various percussion, including sheets of metal. As if arising from a distant medieval battlefield, slow brassy movements begin to stir in The Black Drop of Venus, pockmarked with sporadic acoustic drumbeats and faint twirly sounds. Droning rays and obtuse-though-animalistic activities live a Life Without Gravity, surrounded by insect-like chitters, quavering moans and metallic squeaks. The trippy, squelchy little ups and downs of Air as Matter (1:41) are backed by horn drones and cymbal patter Organic blurp-chatter meets a mutant freeform jazz trio in the honking, bleating, beating swirl of Hubble Bath which segues into the downright Zorn-esque chaos of Hail Bop (8:09), twisty trumpet squalls whiplashing amongst scattered drumhits and churning energies. A return to mellower strains, Invisible Nature lolls upon an ocean of warmly streaming resonance. Tuba-sized blurts and peppy drumming are met by quirky Ancient Astronauts and their vaporous rays of sound, closing the disc with a curiously rousing finale. Not at all like the glitchy beatronics you've come to expect from the BiP_HOp label... Instead discover the surreal soundworlds of Spaceheads and Max Eastley warping the noises of their monochord, trumpet, drums (and more) into unimaginably skewed sonic streams and explosions. By my watch, The Time of the Ancient Astronaut literally blares with weirdness, to the tune of a slightly overwhelmed 8.2. Turn to Dutch East India for all your ear-filling needs. This review posted July 31, 2001 AmbiEntrance © 2001-1997 by David J Opdyke (except CD cover art, rights retained by original owners).