The musical super-duo Ashtar Command, composed of Chris Holmes (Sir Paul McCartney‘s go-to DJ) and Brian Liesegang (Founding member of Filter) first showed up on our radar with a track on the PS3 game ‘Red Dead Redemption‘. Their debut album ‘American Sunshine‘ was an unexpected and delightful revelation.
Chief Cougar Microbes collaborator Kyle hailed it as an “incredible masterpiece that should be known collectively throughout the web as the most underrated album of 2011.
The album is slightly conceptual, non-surprisingly themed around an “American Sunshine” indie-super-collabo-album idea. This basically means they have everyone from Har Mar Superstar, Rachel Yamagata and Alex Ebert, to Joshua Radin and Z. Berg doing their thing.
However, it never feels that these artists were just added in ‘just because’. There is no gimmick here, it’s pure music. The tracks combine a range of haunting algorithmic synth-outs to indie progressive rockfests that leave your ears and soul wanting more.
Hopefully, Holmes and Liesegang feel that yearning and continue to release incredibly original and unique musical experiences long into the future. If 2012 isn’t the end of the world that is“.
