Expo 70 is a quite well-known psychedelic rock/drone/space rock project of Justin Wright, who started the project in Los Angeles. Expo 70 has released a lot of albums through the years, and the material has usually been a mixture of drone, drone rock, psychedelic rock, space rock, ambience and even doom. This means that while Expo 70 does have a pretty clear signature, then the albums do tend to offer quite a bit of variation and different approaches from album to album and even song to song. One of Expo 70's best albums to date is however ''Sonic Messenger'', which was released back in 2009.
The first track on the album is titled ''The Gathering'' and it packs some rather heavy and psychedelic drone, or rather ambient drone doom, with the second track ''Amplifying Umbras'' starting off in an ambient manner, only to move into some slow droney psychedelia with some rather fascinating guitar sounds throughout. ''Analog Dreamscape'' on the other hand starts off with a mixture of drone and some electronic drums that are accompanied by some meandering echoing psych guitars that evolve throughout the song. All in all this track tends to be one of the most interesting ones on the entire album, and portrays a spaced out droney soundscape that distorts mundane reality to its core. The fourth track ''Hamadryad'' packs a rather murky and heavy drone approach, with some spaced out Eastern influences clearly visible as well in a rather acid soaked kind of way. ''I Nzambi Awaken'' is another marvellous piece of droney psych engineering, with the track also packing a great Bong'esque riff. ''Journey To The Sun'' also packs a rather catchy droney psych bassline, with the repetitive motion working wonders on this highly addictive piece as it grinds through the minutes in its slow mesmerizing march. The album ends with a rather droney and ambient ''Temple Of The Shadow'' - a long track that is more similar to the earlier tracks on the album.
All in all after numerous albums and EP's ''Sonic Messenger'' remains as one of the best Expo 70 releases of all time. Tracks like ''I Nzambi Awaken'' and ''Journey To The Sun'' are classic Expo 70 pieces and pretty much a pinnacle of droney psychedelia in general. While having said this, then most Expo 70 albums are worth checking out for anyone on the lookout for some slow psychedelia with a droney core. Be sure to check out more Expo 70 releases.
Some related links:
Bandcamp: https://exposeventy.bandcamp.com/album/sonic-messenger
Discgos: https://www.discogs.com/artist/1026268-Expo-70
