Alpha Stone - Stereophonic Pop Art Music

Mojo, November '96:

This album was recorded at the band's own Rugby 8-track studio and is the brainchild of former Spacemen 3 bassist Pete Bain. Think Roswell, think zero-gravity guitar arpeggios, think hypnotic deep space grooves. Joe Meek meets H.G. Wells. A corker.

Magnet, Sep. '96:

Founded by Peter Bain, who played with seminal psych rockers Spacemen 3 and fronted the way-out Darkside, Alpha Stone has quite a space rock pedigree. So, it's no surprise that Stereophonic Pop Art Music has an alien on the cover and lunar mood music inside. Like a less sublime, more groovy, danceable Spiritualized, the band merges spacey riffs with urban samples and mechanical drumbeats. This formula works best on more structured numbers like the droney, melodic "Destiny Angel", the upbeat "Transfixed" (which adds maracas to the phased music) and the funky "Farmer C". But on some sample-heavy songs, like "Apollo 11" and "Fall on Me", Alpha Stone gets lost in space as it wanders on for close to 20 minutes with long, trance-like passages, leading to more long, trance-like passages. Though not as transcendent as Spiritualized or Sonic Boom, Alpha Stone's down-to-earth sensibility and out-of-this-world sounds have an appeal of their own.

--Laura DeMarco

Alternative Press, November '96:

Whether following the path of Sonic Boom or Jason Pierce, no one who was once a Spacemen 3 member leaves without residue. Pete Bassman first broke free with the Darkside, a garagey Velveteen affair whom the British weeklies slagged for being pale imitations of prior affiliations and for exercising Petey's admittedly limited tonsils. Well, he's back with Alpha Stone and a new image: extraterrestrial phenomena! Forgive him for once again looking like a band-wagoneer: he and his new mates could have been interested in such pursuits before The X-Files explosion. Besides, I think he's finally found his niche. The Darkside were good, but Alpha Stone succeed on a higher level. They take all the kitschy space-age trappings, lace them with nitrous oxide and wrap them around a foundation that alternates between a more stratospheric version of the Darkside's tributes to the swingin' '60s ("Special One" stands out) and reverberating space mantras easily good enough to compete with Spectrum ("Astro" tunes in, turns on and blasts off). "Fall on Me" comes pretty damn close to actually being Spectrum. Best is the criminally short cosmic joyride that is "Farmer C"--a true wobbler on sensory perception. Alpha Stone's chemistry could very well provide a longstanding residence for Bassman. No longer a shadow figure under the Spacemen legacy, Pete and crew are coming up and ready to challenge either co-founder of his original gig.

--Troy Palmer

Be the first to review this record. Best reviewer each month gets £10 off their next order!