- Who is Ashtar Lavanda? An ancient deity? An alien that sends messages to UFO truthers? Or a diamond-in-the-rough Detroit electro producer who made music in the '90s that never saw the light of day? Ultramajic says it's that last one. This record, the first from Ashtar Lavanda, comes with notes explaining that Jimmy Edgar found this music on DAT tapes, dated from 1995 to 1998, in a storage unit in East Michigan. Ultramajic compares the recordings to mid-'90s classics from artists like Drexciya, AUX 88 and Ectomorph, creating impossible expectations for an EP that turns out to be derivative electro.
Judging from the tracks on this self-titled EP, Ashtar Lavanda is more of a competent impersonator than a forgotten genius. The first four tunes emulate the sound of early Drexciya until the only impression the thrusting rhythms and staccato melodies leave is a vague nostalgia. (The shouted vocals on "Moth" feel like a homage to the Drexciya track "Take Your Mind.") "Gratiot Shake," another outlier, sounds more like a Jimmy Edgar track than anything from the mid-'90s, so you'd be forgiven for having doubts about this release. And that's the problem with Ashtar Lavanda, an EP with a story more interesting than its music. Only "Unsolved Mysteries," a kooky and off-kilter jam, offers something to perk up your ears.
TracklistA1 Opulence
A2 Moth
A3 Rozwell
B1 Gratiot Shake
B2 Unsolved Mysteries
B3 Marfa Lights