All God's Children Got Space
Ian Holloway/Psychic Space Invasion has created a minor masterpiece of static minimalism which you'd be silly not to grab, especially considering that all Elvis Coffee's releases come in limited editions of 50 to 75 copies and are sent in exchange of postal costs only. All evolves from a fixed organ chord which somehow recalls Charlemagne Palestine's synthesizer pieces circa "Four manifestations on six elements", all oscillating harmonics and undulating frequencies which truly free the mind from extraneous thoughts and tense interferences. Halfway through the CD, slightly contrasting currents generated by different chords and a few minutes of flanger-like treatment of the sound move the music a little bit while remaining coherent to the grand scheme of things. At the end, everything returns to the initial flux, a quasi-immobile procession of elongated reflections whose conclusion finds us relaxed, almost intoxicated, our heartbeat slowed down of several notches. Warmly recommended. - Massimo Ricci, Touching Extremes
Would someone please explain why an artist of the calibre of Ian Holloway… Mr Psychic Space Invasion himself… isn’t better known? Why he has to stick in the shadows of a cult record label… no offence Elvis Coffee Records… when lesser deserving individuals get a higher profile on more well renowned record labels. Madness. Utter madness. One day realisation will finally dawn on all the music lovers out there to just what they are missing out on. Here’s hoping it’s not too late.
There is a school of thought, although in truth more like a classroom, that says that minimalism in music is dull and far too easy to produce. They, the philistines, do not fully understand the complexity involved in creating such intricate patterns that are finely balanced to the nth degree. Ian Holloway does. His music attempts to go places where Maeror Tri failed to go. And there are similarities between the music of Psychic Space Invasion and Maeror Tri. There is. Trust me. On the one track, 43+ minute release "All God’s children got space" Ian takes electronic drones into another dimension. This one long undulating piece is the epitome of cathartic release. A monumental swirling revelation that manages to reach out and touch the void. There is an underlying sereneness to the music which is quite breathtaking when you let it permeate and take hold. Free flowing, ever expanding and changing, it envelopes the listener just as Maeror Tri accomplished throughout their work. Whether Ian classifies his work here as ‘pure drone’ is a moot point and one that can be argued at will some other time To me it fits that category and thus it will stay there.
Another reviewer called Massimo Ricci, credit where credit is due, described this work as a ‘minor masterpiece’ and you know…I’d have to agree with him. Damn him for getting in there first. If two different reviewers can share the same viewpoint then the release must be worthy of immediate investigation. But knowing things the way they are you’ll let this gem go undiscovered. Madness. It’s all around. - ANM. Aural Pressure
Ok, ignore the bad layout, first because this cdr is available for postage costs only, second (and most of all) because this is a dramatic improvement from PSI's previous releases, which by the way were not bad at all. Ian Holloway hasn't changed the nature of his project (i.e. synth-driven cosmic ambient), but has surely created a more daring and focused piece of minimal music. The single 43' 30'' track starts begins with a huge organ sound which will float in the air for some 20 minutes, when a synth sweep and then a pitch-shifted melody are slowly added. Then the organ returns, closing the piece in a circular way. While I'm still not a fan of overtly audible synth sounds, PSI has written a great composition, with a skillful use of timing and sequences; and the organ-like sound is splendid (think of jliat's "The Nature of Nature"). Well worth the few pennies to cover postage. - Eugenio Maggi, Chain DLK
This is the umptienth full-length of Psychic Space Invasion, main artist on Welsh experimental label Elvis Coffee Records. All God´s Children Got Space is quite a peculiar album, even for PSI.
The album consists of an endless organ-like drone, accompanied by slow, slow minimal changes in the background. Additional drones of the same sound fade in and out, and shape into tiny looping melodies. Extremely monotonous and minimalistic is another way of putting it. In this case, minimalism does not work out for its own benefit, at least in my opinion. The record is an excellent example of how someone can make music that is essentially the same as, for instance Moljebka Pvlse, just completely uninteresting. It is simply the quality of the sound that fails to fascinate me, grab a hold of me or affect me in any other way. It does not succeed in being hypnotically monotonous, or alive enough to create an encompassing atmosphere. It is just boring. Those seeking good, vibrant organ drones can start on Current 93:s Sleep Has His House.
I do find Psychic Space Invasion to be a talented artist, but this one is simply a miss. - -john björkman, kuolleenmusiikinyhdistys
This UK one man band (Ian Holloway) has released 7 CD-Rs on the Elvis Coffee Records label. This CD is one 43 minute piece of music. Be patient, sit back and absorb the sounds. IT begins with a ringing like drone that is slowly taken over by another drone by the sound of an organ. As the ringing disappears and the organ sound develops into a special drone some spaced out sounds are starting to filter into the sound (17mins or so). IT gets very spaced out in the min 20 minutes and then the sounds are modulated further until it slowly fades out into nothingness as it began. Phew….Special stuff… - Scott, Lowcut
Also avaliable from the same label is “All Gods Children got Space” the latest recording from Psychic Space Invasion which features one long ambient drone that leaves feeling becalmed one an endless sea,as it gently undulates around you,the subtle changes in texture and tone giving the music the feeling of disintegration and timelessness. - Simon Lewis, Rumbles
One long 40+ minute track.....first off i dont usually like droney stuff like this starts off with this LONG keyboard drone reverb thing that goes on and on for about 19 - 20 minutes before it gets going with some slurpy whistling sounds and some mellow distortion this goes on for 10 minutes or so before it starts to melt.........continues to melt for 10 minutes gets stuck panning back and forth....etc....the end...something to get high to and mellow out with not really my thing..........2 out of 5 - Pat Rubbish, Introspect
In Vital Weekly we first encountered the music of Psychic Space Invasion, aka Ian Holloway via two releases that were a bit different from each-other. One of them was drone music. For his new one he expands again on the subject of drone music. In a forty minute piece he plays one long drone, which starts out quite solemnly, but over the course of the next forty minute, things get expanded and more spacious through the use of sound effects, mainly the phaser or flanger. I am not sure, but it doesn't need be expensive synthesizers to make something that sounds very good. There is a strong similarity between this release and the first few Jliat releases, with a kind of similar organ like sound, but Psychic Space Invasion does just a little bit more than Jliat did in the past. - FDW, Vital
All God's Children Got Space is one of the more recent releases by Welsh drone artist Ian Holloway, under the guise of Psychic Space Invasion. This particular CD-R contains one long track of organ based drone. Actually, I can be rather quick about it. It's nice, but not as good as his other material.
Like I said, the track is actually one long drone, based on an organ sound. It begins softly, with a subtle pulse to it. Gradually it's enriched by more layers of the same sound, but with slight differences to give the whole a fuller sound. This method is employed more, adding lower sounds along the way. After about 10 minutes, a different tone takes over, which fades after a few minutes again, giving way to the original one, which is then embellished by some effects. The second half of the album elaborates further on this, keeping the effects, and interchanging different tones and layers, and finally ending with the same sound as the album started with.
It's an elaborate drone, and the many layers prove that it's made by someone who knows how. Yet still, it's a bit too long for my tastes. The sound of this album is close to that on the follow-up, Pendulum, but All God's Children Got Space lacks the variation and more pronounced rhythms that made Pendulum so good. Because of that, this album tends to drift into the background more. Still, if you liked the other Psychic Space Invasion material, this is a nice album, and also if you're into very extensive and long drones. - Oscar, Evening of Light
