Soft Machine "Thirteen"

Country: UK
Genre(s): Instrumental Canterbury, Jazz-Rock, Fusion
Label: Dyad Records (CD), Tonefloat (vinyl)
Format: CD, digital, vinyl 
Release date: March 13, 2026
Tracklist

1. Lemon Poem Song (3:27) 

2. Open Road (7:30) 

3. Seven Hours (5:12) 

4. Waltz For Robert (4:19) 

5. The Longest Night ( (13:08) 

6. Disappear (3:55) 

7. Green Books (5:46) 

8. Beledo Balado (4:32) 

9. Pens To The Foal Mode (2:42) 

10. Time Station (2:46) 

11. Which Bridge Did You Cross (2:49) 

12. Turmoil (5:30) 

13. Daevid’s Special Cuppa (3:10) 

Total Time 64:46

Credits

John Etheridge - guitars

Asaf Sirkis - drums

Theo Travis - saxophones, flutes, duduk, Mellotron, pianos, electronics

Fred Baker - bass

   With

Pete Whittaker (Double Talk) - Hammond organ

Daevid Allen (Gong) - guitar (13)

Recorded by Ru Lemer at Temple Music Studio, Surrey in April 2025
Produced by Theo Travis
Mixing and mastering by Andrew Tulloch

Cover by Esra Kizir Gokcen 

Design by Carl Glover

Description/Reviews:

The album is incredibly broad in its breadth and scope. Tracks include ‘Pens to the Foal Mode’ which is a completely free group improvisation; ‘Open Road’ a rocky track which sees the band soaring on all burners with fiery solos by both Etheridge. and Travis; the ballad ‘Disappear’ which starts with ethereal looped flutes and develops into a beautiful piano led and drum less miniature and ‘Turmoil’ penned by bassist Fred Baker which brims with deranged fuzz bass, manic solos and an almost unhinged clamor. ‘Daevid’s Special Cuppa’ sees a cameo by founder member Daevid Allen (his guitar part being recorded years earlier, and the track built around it) in a psychedelic tribal set piece with soprano sax, guitar and duduk (a haunting Armenian traditional wooden flute like instrument) floating over hypnotic rhythms.

Media/Samples
Trailer
Bandcamp

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Soft Machine "Hidden Details"

Country: UK
Genre(s): Canterbury, Jazz Rock, Fusion
Label: Moonjune Records (NA), Dyan Records (UK/EU), Vivid Records (Japan)
Format: CD, digital
Release date: September 8, 2018
Tracklist: 
1. Hidden Details
2. The Man Who Waved At Trains
3. Ground Lift
4. Heart Off Guard
5. Broken Hill
6. Flight Of The Jet
7. One Glove
8. Out Bloody Intro
9. Out Bloody Rageous, Part 1
10. Drifting White
11. Life On Bridges
12. Fourteen Hour Dream
13. Breathe
14. Night Sky (Bonus Track)

Line-up: 
John Etheridge – electric & acoustic guitar
Theo Travis  - sax, flute, Fender Rhodes piano
Roy Babbington - bass
John Marshall  - drums
  With
Nick Utteridge - wind chimes (13)

Description/Reviews: 

'Hidden Details' is very much the product of an active, contemporary sounding outfit striking out with its own agenda. Though informed by the past, the music here is neither weighed down nor beholden to it. Animated with the same ineffable and inquisitive spirit that has always made this group throughout its fifty years such a compelling experience, it’' good to have a new Soft Machine with us in 2018. The yearning tenderness of 'Heart Off Guard' and the come-down reveries of 'Broken Hill' and 'Drifting White' showcase the more intimate aspects of Soft Machine's personality while in contrast, 'One Glove' gives the more pugilistic side of John Etheridge's playing an outing. The terse angularities of the title track and 'Life on Bridges' highlight a fearless disposition, as does the buzzsaw interplay heard during 'Ground Lift' and 'Flight of the Jett,' both featuring Roy Babbington's decisive interventions. The surging lyricism of 'Fourteen Hour Dream' flirts with an almost popish sensibility, underscoring the sense that this is a quartet that is fundamentally at ease with itself. The return of what some older fans of the band have called 'cosmic tinkles’'– the appearance of layers of cyclical electric piano motifs – is especially welcome. Their brief manifestation on 'The Man Who Waved at Trains' and Third-era, 'Out-Bloody-Rageous,' both stone-cold Mike Ratledge-composed classics, adds an extra spacey dimension to the overall sound. Travis' use of looping technology with his flutes creates its own beguiling world and can be heard to powerful effect on the beautiful and enigmatic 'Breathe,' where his hovering notes are underpinned by Marshall's oblique yet atmospheric percussion.(Sid Smith at Bandcamp)

Media/Samples 
Bandcamp

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