astral magic

Psychedelic, Psychedelic Rock, Space Rock, Experimental, Electronica, Krautrock, Neo-Prog (Finland)

Astral Magic is a psychedelic solo project of Santtu Laakso, the ex-bass/Moog player and backing vocalist of the Finnish Space Rock band Dark Sun. Some might also know him as Dj Astro. He has been writing interviews and reviews for several UG mags and sites and djing for example many times at Roadburn Festival as well as organizing psych etc. festivals and gigs in Finland.

This solo project was started in March 2020 when not much more could be done because of the virus situation. Santtu has lots of international psych musician friends all over the world, so it has been easy to get many of them to collaborate (including Nik Turner, Jonathan Segel, Jay Tausig, Gregory Curvey, Peter Bingham, Ilya Lipkin, Fred Laird, Scott Heller, Martin Weaver, Bridget Wishard, just to name a few). At the moment (Jan 2023) you can find 28 releases on Astral Magic’s Bandcamp site as well as Spotify etc., and there are at least a dozen albums ready but unreleased so it can be said that Santtu has been very productive!

There is no specific style for Astral Magic, but all needs to be psychedelic at least in some way. So far there have been everything from psych/space/kraut/prog rock to electronic, ambient, cosmic and experimental music. Even some synth pop, so pretty much everything goes!

Astral Magic is sort of his big experiment in many ways. The main idea is to make uplifting, healing and trippy music for the mind and soul but like life itself it also has some darker elements.

All Peace to You, Galactic Brothers and Sisters!