"Saturnia, the brainchild of multi-instrumentalist Luis Simões began with the idea of fusing the classic psychedelic sound of late sixties bands like Pink Floyd and Ash Ra Tempel with their modern trippy counterparts, the artists of the rave and electronica culture.

Their self-titled debut blended exotic instruments like sitar and Theremin with more traditional instruments like guitar and organ, and all sorts of wild effects, set to sharp metallic hip-hop and techno rhythms. Simões, joined by M. Strange and guests Flapi Simões and João Gomes create blissed out sonic voyages like the organ and flute driven Club Aquarium and the epic East Indian jam of The Twilight Bong. With its heavily processed vocals, meandering Moog soloing and languid, trip hop beats, Gemini sounds a bit like Portishead on acid.

The deep space slide guitars of Iris give it an early Pink Floyd feel until the rapid fire electronic rhythm takes it in completely different directions. And just when you get totally mellowed out, Sculptress Sublime kicks in with its screeching guitars crashing piano notes, juxtaposed against oddly haunting notes that sound like vibes in space."

Aural Innovations.