The Seventh Ring of Saturn

Artist Information

Biography

In the fall of 2005, musician/astronaut Ted Selke (Joybang!, Mr. Crowe's Garden) departed from Earth on a mission to investigate the mysteries of interplanetary sounds and their effect on the musical form commonly known as "psychedelic rock". Accompanying him on the mission were fellow space travelers Jeremy Knauff (Tryptamine Breakfast) and Jamie Reilly (The Tao of Xerxes). Taking up residence at a space station just outside of the seventh ring of Saturn, the group used sophisticated technical equipment to measure sound waves and to create their own otherworldly sounds. In February of 2007, Nusrat Records released a document of their findings: a recording of the sounds they had experienced called "The Seventh Ring of Saturn". The long period spent away from Earth left them disoriented and barely able to cope with the day to day Earthling experience, still the team has been spotted exhibiting it's otherworldly sounds alongside legendary music icons such as Richard Lloyd and the Sufi Monkey Trio, Dungen, Green Milk from the Planet Orange and Six Organs of Admittance. In the spring of 2008, astronaut/guitarist Jacob Brown was sent from Earth to perform repairs and maintenance on the crew's ship. That June, with Brown in tow, the group returned to Earth for a series of demonstrations on their findings. Now, refreshed and rejuvenated, they have begun work on a second document of even more amazing sounds and concepts to be unveiled to the Earthling public in the spring of 2013.

Instrumentation

stuff you've never even heard of!

Discography

The Seventh Ring of Saturn - limited edition LP and CD (Nusrat - 2007)

V/A - Keep Off the Grass - limited edition 2LP set (Fruits de Mer - 2011)

V/A - Sorrow's Children - limited edition LP (Fruits de Mer - 2012)

V/A - Summer Solstice, Vol. V CD (Trip Inside This House blogspot - 2012)

V/A - The White EP - limited edition 2-7" set (Fruits de Mer - 2012)

V/A - Re-Evolution ~ FdM Sings The Hollies - limited edition LP + 7" (Fruits de Mer - 2013)

Links

• at the Brick House Pub in Housatonic, MA 8-12-11
• opening for Dungen at the EARL 9-14-10
• live in Candler Park - Oct 2009 - pt. 2
• opening for Richard Lloyd at the EARL 4-26-09

Audio

• Alice Sunshine
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• Pillsbury Palace
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• Sour Milk Sea
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• Colonel Green
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• Yedikule
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• In Time
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Video

Photo Gallery

Press

• No need for penalties [+ Show ]
  

  THE SEVENTH RING OF SATURN - S/T (LP/CD http://cdbaby.com/cd/tsros ) As they often say d...THE SEVENTH RING OF SATURN - S/T
  (LP/CD http://cdbaby.com/cd/tsros )
  
  As they often say during football commentaries "It’s a game of two halves’", and it certainly is with this glorious slab of vinyl, with side one containing some sweet psych-pop nuggets, whilst the flip side has some very psychedelic spaciness running though its grooves. I guess this analogy may be slightly stretched with the CD now, but hey, I’ve started now.
  
  Opening with the delightful ‘In Time’, the band have a fine sense of melody, the song up there with the likes of Tyrnaround or The Petals, complete with a lysergic coating of perfect hue. Continuing the theme, ‘Colonel Green’, repeats the trick, you can almost see the oil blobs on the wall. After this excellent brace, the band step into covers mode, getting to grips with songs by Vangelis Papazoglu (a composer from the 30’s) and George Harrison. Starting with ‘Yedikule’, the band have turned the song into an eastern flecked guitar workout, the song reaching the inner corners of your mind, an interesting change of pace that lifts the album up a couple of notches. Following on, the cover of ‘Sour Milk Sea’, takes us back to the psych-pop and will have you grooving ‘round the living room.
  
  Finally, ‘Alice Sunshine’ slows everything down, a dreamy slice of neo-psych that presses all the right buttons, with flickering synth and hazy flute adding to the magic. Right, I’m off to get some half-time oranges, see you on the other side.
  
  As though they have undergone some strange mutation, side two sees our heroes leave the planet and head for distant galaxies, with two long deep space improvisations. Opening with a dustfall of electronics, treated guitar, and all manner of scrapes rattles and noises, ‘The Cassini Division’, is a haze of noise that fills the room, the band obviously enjoying themselves immensely. With a brief nod to side one, ‘Pillsbury Palace’ begins in 60’ psych mode, another perfectly formed pop gem. This time however the band have filled the middle of the song with a long intense drone, (sounding more like My Cat Is An Alien than The Beatles), a sound so dense, yet distant, it threatens to engulf the room entirely, turn it up and see what I mean. Then right at the end the song returns as if it had never left, a shimmering guitar solo spreading light as the band finish off in grand style. An away win and no need for penalties. (Simon Lewis)
  
  

• An intergalactic trip [+ Show ]
  

  I was lucky enough to receive this album a few days ago by a band called The Seventh Ring of Saturn....I was lucky enough to receive this album a few days ago by a band called The Seventh Ring of Saturn. Before even listening to it I was fully prepared to be greeted with a nice heavy dose of psychedelic inspired music. However, what I wasn’t prepared for was its very deep rooted influence in sixties pop/rock, which at first I couldn’t decide whether this was a nice addition to the bands very throwback psychedelic sound or not. After listening to it off and on throughout the week, I’ve really warmed up to it and thus now I figured would be a proper time to write about it.
  
  The albums opener “In Time” is actually one of my favorite songs off the album, despite my mixed reactions upon hearing it for the first time. It’s a wonderful wave of sunny feel good sixties rock that really thrives on its sort of laid back hazy vibe. That and I honestly find the riff during the chorus to be amazingly catchy. The rest of the album sort of runs with this theme, although opting to vary it up every once awhile and relish more in the psych side of things. The albums last two tracks are prime examples of this. The eight minute freak out “The Cassini Division” is yet another highlight on the album, which to me is the most impressive track off of it. After hearing repeated songs that were practically all smiles and sunshine, this instrumental piece is almost disturbing to hear as it quickly establishes itself as a very menacing and unsettling affair. The album is then wrapped by a track that sort of combines the bands varied influences, mixing in another improvisational jam before capping it off with a tiny portion that slightly reminds of The Beatles. While I probably prefer the more improvisational explorations that the band performs near the end of the album, it’s a still a solid album all the way through. And for folks that want to take a bit of an intergalactic trip, then this is definitely something that you’ll want to check out.
  -- Jonathan Harnish

• Support Our Troops [+ Show ]
  

  "With it's acid-inspired (if not induced!) cover art, were it LP sized you might at first glance mis..."With it's acid-inspired (if not induced!) cover art, were it LP sized you might at first glance mistake the debut album from The Seventh Ring of Saturn for some obscure '60's artifact, and indeed the seven selections - referencing the more kaleidoscopic, chiming psych-folk moments of The Byrds and Beatles as well as expeditions into denser trip-prog and zone-out territory - offer little reason to doubt that assumption. It's the latest group from local multi-instumentalist and record retailer Ted Selke, but while we've grown accustomed to hearing Ted in a supporting role in his many groups over the eons (including but not limited to Joybang!, Arms Akimbo and the pre-Black Mr. Crowe's Garden, not to mention a drumming stint in short-lived Massachusetts band Yellow Dog Contract in the mid-80's alongside future Jane's Addiction member Eric Avery…), Seventh Ring finds him stepping front and center. Four of the CD's tracks were composed by Selke, alongside covers of George Harrison and Vangelis [Papazoglu]…
  -- Jeff Clark
  

• Spotlight [+ Show ]
  

  Six months after Ted Selke's psychedelic rock band the Seventh Ring of Saturn released its self-titl...Six months after Ted Selke's psychedelic rock band the Seventh Ring of Saturn released its self-titled debut CD, an LP edition of the recording has arrived -- one that Selke calls "far superior." This isn't just the ranting of a vinyl junkie, though he admits to having an affinity for vinyl over CDs. Just step into his undersized Candler Park record shop, Full Moon, and the record-to-CD ratio says it all.
  TSROS's LP features refined numbers that mislead the tone of the CD. And the warm, vinyl hum draws out a much thicker sound. Selke's smooth bass and organ lines and soft-focus singing in "Colonel Green" build around themes of escape. Guitarists Jonathan Beckner and David Bryant lay down waves and riffs that mingle with elegant harmonies in a cover of George Harrison's "Sour Mile Sea." Jeremy Knauff's bubbling synthesizer and Jamie Reilly's drumming build a frame where subtle world-music inflections simmer with a '60s-centric rock edge.
  But as the song aesthetic becomes clear, the record turns weird. On the flip side, "The Cassini Division" takes on a new lysergic glow. Structure fades into echoing feedback and drumroll as sawing clusters of cello and flute float to the surface.
  "Pillsbury Palace" reaches the summit of the group's journey into psychedelia. Droning and open-ended sounds are mellower here, creating a more inviting atmosphere. "'Pillsbury Palace' is supposed to be a magical, fantastic place where you can go to get away from all the BS, and I wanted the music to symbolize that," Selke explains. "On the CD, the music symbolizes why you want to get away."
  TSROS's LP improves the group's vision by stripping things down to the basics in both sound and format. - Chad Radford
  

• Music Menu [+ Show ]
  

  "The Seventh Ring of Saturn crafts deep psych rock and pop grooves that could have easily been culle..."The Seventh Ring of Saturn crafts deep psych rock and pop grooves that could have easily been culled from a long-forgotten cache of outtakes from Lenny Kaye's Nuggets comp., swimming in improv noise and freak-out."
  -- Chad Radford
  

• Skip Williamson says: [+ Show ]
  

  "The Seventh Ring of Saturn is an intergalactic, subterranean psychoactive experience whose music se..."The Seventh Ring of Saturn is an intergalactic, subterranean psychoactive experience whose music segues from edgy cacophony rooted in Miles Davis through intense, hard-driving rock 'n' roll rhythms and transcendental vocals like a cryptic spirit at haunt in the darkened recesses of the Fillmore West."
  -- Skip Williamson
  

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Setlist

Basic Requirements

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