This is a piece about the mighty psych presence that is Cybotron and some epic digging. Now before you get confused that’s not the brilliant Detroit Techno masters behind Clear above, it’s the prog masters from Australia led by the epic-ly legendary Steve Maxwell Von Braund and Geoff Green.

Cybotron were a band from the depths of 70s Melbourne who loved Krautrock, and made a couple of brilliant albums that the heads all rave over. And wore capes (naturally). Real experimental rock from down under just as everyone went pub-rock and Sharpie crazy. I reckon if you know that their second record came out on the Clear Light Of Jupiter label, and they were influenced by AshRa, Hawkwind and Tangerine Dream you will get the idea.

Their 1978 album Colossus is brilliant both sonically and visually…

Here’s the title track along with a brilliant 1970s video which doffs its hat to the Pink Floyd so you can get the idea of how great they were.
 

But then it seemed they’d disappeared bar a few reissues.

So imagine our surprise when this popped up on record collector extraordinaire and ultimate digger Andy Votel’s Twitter account earlier this year:
 

along with the news that Andy has reworked the strange funkiness that is Steve Maxwell Von Braund’s Monster Planet into something funkier still (the track comes from SMVB’s solo album that was basically Cybotron in all but name).
 

Amazing digging chaps, and keep an ear open for Steve & Geoff of Cybotron on the Jane Weaver album track Argent from her excellent Silver Globe album which blends her trusted new folksiness with all sorts of psychedelic goodies like Hawkwind loops.
 

A new kind of folktronica – progfolktronica maybe?

Meanwhile last word goes to Jane who prepared an amazing playlist for her friends at Q music and as part of it gave us her feelings on Cybotron:

“(i) was impressed with its over ambitious Aussie epic-ness, to me its like Goblin with Sax.”

We couldn’t put it better ourselves. (And the playlist is a must listen too).

-TH