Dreamweapon

Though Spacemen 3 received little attention during its six-year career, the band was hailed in the '90s as pioneers of ambient electronica, mostly due to guitarist/keyboardist Pete "Sonic Boom" Kember's work with Spectrum and Experimental Audio Research and guitarist Jason "Spaceman" Pierce's commercially successful career as the leader of Spiritualized. Ironically, for a band that many believe was an avatar of a completely new musical era, Spacemen 3's best album is a respectful homage to the band's '60s forebears. Facetiously subtitled "An Evening of Contemporary Sitar Music" after the album's stunning 45-minute centerpiece, an extended drone that recalls the early minimalist work of LaMonte Young and Terry Riley, DREAMWEAPON is easily the band's most experimental and least pop-oriented work. Of the remaining, much shorter, tracks, the clear highlight is Kember's solo feedback exploration "Ecstasy in Slow Motion," which foreshadows the sound-for-sound's-sake cast of EAR.