Tuesday 20 June 2017, 7.30pm
THE SPACE LADY began her odyssey on the streets of San Francisco in the late 70s, playing versions of contemporary pop music an accordion and dressed flamboyantly, transmitting messages of peace and harmony. Following the theft of her accordion, The Space Lady invested in a then-new Casio keyboard, birthing an otherworldly new dimension to popular song that has captured the imaginations of the underground and its lead exponents ever since, with the likes of John Maus, Erol Alkan and Kutmah being devotees. Of her early street sets, only one recording was made, self-released originally on cassette and then transferred to a homemade CD. "The Space Lady’s Greatest Hits" released in 2014 through Night School features the best of these recordings - mostly covers but with some originals - pressed on vinyl for the first time and features archival photographs and liner notes from The Space Lady herself. “Greatest Hits” contains The Space Lady’s personal favourites; her haunting take on The Electric Prunes’ “I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night),” a frantic “Ballroom Blitz” amidst other reconstructed pop music. Following on from this wonderful record, The Space Lady released last year a split LP with the Burnt Ones on Castle Face records which included her spectral take on ‘Across The Universe’.
FLOWERS MUST DIE have a name inspired by Ash Ra Temple's great masterpiece, so you might easily assume that Flowers Must Die is just yet another band on the, stylistically rather narrow, spectrum of space rock revivalism that has grown increasingly crowded over the last decade. And you would be right, but only to a certain extent. Sure the Hawkwind and Amon Duul II influences are there and yes, there is definitely an abundance of effect pedals and improvised freak-outs. But if you try to look beyond that you might be able to catch the nuances. It's these nuances that inspire some listeners to come up with new labels like Doom Jazz and Oriental Hard Rock to describe FMD's music. Flowers Must Die started playing together in 2006 in Linkoping, Sweden. They have shared a bill with a lot of great bands like OM, White Hills, Konono No1, Master Musicians Of Bukkake, Hills and In Zaire. Check out their recent album 'Kompost' on Rocket Recordings.
