ALBUM REVIEW: The Intergalactic Connection – Exploring The Sideral Remote Hyperspace – Giöbia / The Cosmic Dead

October 27, 2021 Jack Moar

At a glance, you’d be forgiven for mistaking The Intergalactic Connection – Exploring The Sideral Remote Hyperspace for the soundtrack to some long-forgotten sci-fi serial. This double-billing comes from Italian space rock institution GIÖBIA and galactic Glaswegians THE COSMIC DEAD: a split release on Heavy Psych Sounds records. GIÖBIA have been making a name for themselves on the underground psych scene since 2004, creating synth-heavy retro-rock out of Milan, while THE COSMIC DEAD celebrate their 10th anniversary this year, looking back on a decade of long-form space rock gems. The Intergalactic Connection promises to be one of the far-out trips this year, and with artwork from the retro-minded Branca Studio, it makes quite the package.

GIÖBIA’s side is divided into three tracks, each of which explore a different dimension of their influences. Canyon Moon’s driving blues bass line and vibrant, playful melodies are straight out of the AMON DÜÜL II songbook. That semi-improvised, accelerating intensity is the bread-and-butter of any space rock band’s compositions and GIÖBIA here remind us of their considerable pedigree. The krautrock energy dissipates on Julia Dream, whose soporific, blissed-out melancholia owes more to the US school of psychedelia: painted in shades of JEFFERSON AIRPLANE, THE BEAU BRUMMELS and the like. The vocal and organ elements here are handled by Melissa Crema (of LA MORTE VIENE DALLO SPAZIO) who joined bandmate Stefano Basurto’s main project on Plasmatic Idol last year. The ambient sci-fi qualities which their other project left behind reappear under the GIÖBIA name for Meshes Of The Afternoon, which concludes this side of the split with a soothing and atmospheric outro.

THE COSMIC DEAD rarely venture below the ten-minute mark, and the ‘buckfaustian quintet’ spread their legs across all twelve inches of their side for Crater Creator. The sprawling vicissitudes of the instrumental are their domain: pushing a simple motif to its nonsensical conclusion, before falling back on to a beat with gurning satisfaction. It’s a chaotic and effect-laden upper-end, and the bass does an admirable job creating a semblance of a melodic structure whilst maintaining rhythm. Crater Creator has an unrepeatable ‘live’ feel to it, which definitely feeds into the overall intensity of the track. It’s a less whimsical and more confrontational take on the psychedelic style: not so much a tripping soundtrack as a dark trip made musical. This feels like a back-to-basics single after the prog-insanity of Scottish Space Race, and it’s good to hear THE COSMIC DEAD doing what they do best.

The stars have aligned for The Intergalactic Connection, which sees two of space-rock’s finest coming together to create something unmissable for the mess-heads of this world. GIÖBIA’s vibrant, traditional style is well-matched by the sprawling near-chaos of THE COSMIC DEAD to create a balanced split release. These are two very different trips, but a clear demonstration of the good health which modern psych-rock finds itself in.

Rating: 8/10