Red Fiction

Atomic Ape is a Los Angeles-based experimental ensemble led by composer and multi-instrumentalist Jason Schimmel (Estradasphere, Secret Chiefs 3), formed out of his earlier project Orange Tulip Conspiracy. Their sole album, Swarm (Mimicry Recordings, 2014), took over four years to record and fuses surf-rock, avant-rock, Balkan and jazz idioms into cinematic, odd-metered instrumentals. The record drew on a large cast of collaborators, including Secret Chiefs 3 leader Trey Spruance, violist Eyvind Kang and members of Estradasphere. The band later changed its name to Red Fiction.

Orange Tulip Conspiracy is Estradasphere guitarist Jason Schimmel's own instrumental bandleader project, formed in 2008. Its self-titled debut (Web of Mimicry) moves through prog fusion, 1950s-style jazz, Romani melody and 1960s Italian film-score homage, with Secret Chiefs 3's Trey Spruance and members of Estradasphere guesting.

Alamaailman Vasarat ("The Hammers of the Underworld") is an avant-garde Finnish instrumental band formed in Helsinki in 1997 as a side project of members of the prog group Hoyry-kone. Guitar-less by design, they build a dark, cinematic sound from distorted cellos, pump organ, brass and saxophones over primal drumming, welding klezmer, Balkan and European folk to jazz and metal into what they dubbed "kebab-kosher-jazz-film-traffic-music." Led by multi-reedist Jarno Sarkula, the band released a run of acclaimed albums from Vasaraasia (2000) through Valta (2012) before going quiet after 2014; Sarkula died in 2020.

Mamelukki & Musta Leskiplay in the dock

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Secret Chiefs 3 is guitarist-composer Trey Spruance's genre-dissolving ensemble, formed in the mid-1990s out of Mr. Bungle and expanded into a rotating cast of virtuosos. Its music braids surf rock, Persian and neo-Pythagorean modal systems, Indian raga, film-score exotica, electronics and death metal, and since 2007 has been presented through 'satellite bands' (UR, Ishraqiyun, Traditionalists, Holy Vehm, Electromagnetic Azoth and others), each embodying a different facet of Spruance's mystical and musical preoccupations. Spruance also runs the Web of Mimicry label that anchors much of this extended universe.

Combat For The Angelplay in the dock

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High Castle Teleorkestra is a remote avant-fusion "supergroup" assembled during the pandemic by Estradasphere alumni Tim Smolens and guitarist Chris Bogen, with members scattered across the US, Norway, Australia and France. Their 2022 debut, "The Egg That Never Opened" (released on Art As Catharsis), retells Philip K. Dick's "Radio Free Albemuth" through a cacophonous fusion of Eastern European folk, swing jazz, exotica and technical metal. The lineup draws on Estradasphere, Mr. Bungle, Secret Chiefs 3, Farmers Market and Umlaut.

Fishtank Ensemble was a gypsy rock group that first formed at The Fishtank in Oakland, California in 2004, blending Balkan, Romanian, Romani, French hot jazz, flamenco, Turkish, Greek, and rock 'n' roll into a high-energy, virtuosic live show. Fronted by singer and multi-instrumentalist Ursula Knudson and French violinist Fabrice Martinez, the band released albums including Super Raoul (2005), Samurai Over Serbia (2007), Woman in Sin (2010), and Edge of the World (2014). Though not a metal act, it sits within the Estradasphere web through shared personnel, including bassist Tim Smolens, shamisen player Kevin Kmetz, and accordionist Aaron Seeman.

TDK are an avant-prog/jazz-metal band from Plovdiv, Bulgaria, self-styled as from the 'Separatist Republic of Dobrina,' blending psychedelic post-metal, free-jazz dissonance, noise and punk energy. Records like Uspeh (2019) and Nemesta (2023) mix spastic mathy technicality with hypnotic grooves and washed-out ambiance, augmented by saxophone, accordion and electric organ over largely Bulgarian-language lyrics.

Tin Hat Trio (later just Tin Hat) is an acoustic chamber ensemble formed in San Francisco in 1997 by violinist Carla Kihlstedt, accordionist/pianist Rob Burger, and guitarist Mark Orton, weaving jazz, Eastern European folk, bluegrass, and neoclassical music into what they call freewheeling chamber music. It earns a place in this atlas as the antipode of Kihlstedt's heavier work: it is where she goes when she leaves metal entirely, trading Sleepytime Gorilla Museum's avant-doom for delicate, composed acoustic filigree. Guests across their albums include Tom Waits, Willie Nelson, and Mike Patton.

Hesus Attor is a self-described 'surrealistic' Dadaist avant-garde act from Rijeka, Croatia, formed in 2003, blending mathcore, cabaret, opera, prog rock, surf and 'ethno' world-music elements into an unpredictable, theatrical live show. Regarded as one of the strongest live acts in the Balkans, they've released music through their own Izdali Smo Metal label, then Moonlee Records and Geenger Records, including Sonic Gastronomy Volume 1 (2008), Señorai (2011) and Pardon (2013).

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SNAILFORCE! is the genre-hopping instrumental project of Greg Eldridge and Adam Stacey, based in Portland, Oregon, blending metal, Balkan, prog and other styles into what the band calls a "musical slime project." Adam Stacey is also known for recording with Estradasphere, Atomic Ape, Secret Chiefs 3, High Castle Teleorkestra and Igorrr. The band's debut, the two-track EP "Greg and Adam's Wilderness Adventure," was released on May 24, 2024, mixed and mastered by Justin Phelps at The Hallowed Halls, with a rotating cast of guest players on strings, horns, shamisen and more.