I have those good people at Sky Lantern Records to thank for introducing me to the aural phenomena that is Centralstödet.

As an already confirmed devotee of Kikagaku Moyo, Sky Lantern’s release of Mammatus Clouds earlier this year brought me the added bonus that has been the music of Tolchock and Centralstödet.

Centralstödet are the Swedish instrumental quartet of Ulrik Lindblom and Daniel Johansson on guitar, Joni Huttunen on bass and Jonas Fridlund on drums. The band describe themselves as “Swedish Psych” and “Amplified Madness”, and are described by Sky Lantern as “Garage Proggers”.

Centralstödet’s debut 7 track album, ‘Solkurva, Krök, En Böj’ was released by Sky Lantern in April as a limited edition of 100 hand numbered cassettes, and very quickly sold out.

Somewhere back in September, Sky Lantern Records posted a piece on the Japanese ‘Spacy Drone Neo Psychedelic duo’ Tolchock, and on first listen I was immediately hooked.

The 3 track digital album, ‘After Fog Open’ by Taku Idemoto and Shoko Yoshida became a constant companion.

‘After Fog Open’ kicks off with the 19 minute sprawling epic that is ‘Behind The Ground’, a slow burning fuse of an exercise in sonic experimental drone layering.  An aural kaleidoscopic feast, restlessly folding and unfolding, merging, colliding, rippling and tumbling. This is a masterclass in building and sustaining chilled-out tension, it is a testament to the excellence of the track that after 19 minutes you are still left longing for more.